XPL discussion - the mystery company

[dden4012]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...-green-laser-pointer/1722148_32603221740.html

Price for 1.5W now 395 USD, but I see no mention of whether part of that power is IR and if so, how much IR?

I don't want to be that guy but looking at the LPM photo in the advertisement that dot isn't anywhere near the projection of the laser host. And I'm not talking about a little bit either. Way the hell off like 20-30* to the left. :wtf:

 

[CaliKirk]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

I don't want to be that guy but looking at the LPM photo in the advertisement that dot isn't anywhere near the projection of the laser host. And I'm not talking about a little bit either. Way the hell off like 20-30* to the left. :wtf:

I've noticed that many times..I've stared at the picture on all of the high powered 532s and my mind tells me something doesn't look right.. could be a trick of camera idk

 

[dden4012]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

I've noticed that many times..I've stared at the picture on all of the high powered 532s and my mind tells me something doesn't look right.. could be a trick of camera idk

Edit: I don't see why he would need to fake those numbers when it's been proven they send out overspec units, but still looks weird

No i dont think they would attempt to fake a LPM reading. What im tying to bring out is you might buy a $300 laser that has a HUGE alignment issue. I was almost ready to get the one I linked but after what i got last time my next 532nm will be from Jet Lasers. XPL is great for a decent cheap pointer though. Im just spoiled with the quality of the handhelds i have. I can say the hosts have potential. I am curious to see how they build with direct diodes in the 310 host i have. Im going to send this thing off to Electricplasma to have him fit something up.

 

[Encap]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

Several people purchased the 150mW 301s from XPL, which were apparently extremely good (rock solid in TEM00, excellent divergence.) My 500mW, while it isn't in TEM00, does not mode hop. Hopefully they improve their consistency.

Also, from what I've heard from Peng, this is a side market for XPL. There is not a huge demand for this type of high-powered laser. XPL makes a lot more money from things like the Christmas laser lights sold at Wal-Mart.

Yes I saw that people were OK with the 301's the received. I was talking about the 532nm 500mW and great output models.

Consistency --what consistency? XPL has yet to demonstrated an ability to deliver anything consistent with what their Spec. says they offer on 532nm 500mW or or higher output. Making excuses for them doesn't make it any different was my point. Cheap/low price is only attractive if you get the same like, kind, and quality of product compared to other makers products that cost more.

Makes sense for XPL to say not a huge demand for high powered 532nm---XPL doesn't produce any that are quality competetive/comparable with other makers in that market yet--what else could Peng say.

Will be interesting to see what XPL can deliver in 500+ mW with the coming new host--even if slightly higher prices are necessary for the better host w. features.

 

[Sta]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

Yes I saw that people were OK with the 301's the received. I was talking about the 532nm 500mW and great output models.

Consistency --what consistency? XPL has yet to demonstrated an ability to deliver anything consistent with what their Spec. says they offer on 500MW or or higher output. Making excuses for them doesn't make it any different was my point.

Makes sense for XPL to say not a huge demand for high powered 532nm---XPL doesn't produce any that are quality competetive/comparable with other makers in that market yet--what else could Peng say.

Will be interesting to see what XPL can deliver in 500+ mW with the coming new host--even if slightly higher prices are necessary for the better host w. features.

Peng didn't specifically say that there wasn't high demand, that is my own inference. He did mention that his company makes much more money from non-handheld products like laser Christmas lights.

 

[dden4012]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

Peng didn't specifically say that there wasn't high demand, that is my own inference. He did mention that his company makes much more money from non-handheld products like laser Christmas lights.

I want laser Christmas lights... can't believe i never knew about this. :drool:

 

[kaunak]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

My XPL-311 finally arrived today after waiting about 3 weeks for the shipping. After a few hours I finally get around to testing it out. I open the package and red box the laser came in, and the first thing I noticed was that the laser was NOT focusable, even though it was listed as being focusable on their site. That did annoy me quite a bit because I wouldn't have bought the laser in the first place had I known it wasn't focusable. Although it annoyed me I figured as long as it had a somewhat stable output at its rated power it wouldn't be too much of a big deal.

I was excited to test it so I put in a Panasonic NCR18650BE only to find out that the host has a flat positive terminal in the tail cap, and this particular battery has a flat positive as well, so it wouldn't work with that battery. These batteries work fine in the 301s. I still had a cheap ultrafire battery on hand so I had to use that to test this laser.

I tested the laser with the LPM and it put out 161mW so I was pretty happy with that, as the laser was rated at 150mw. After pointing it around for about 30 secs I did another test with the LPM and it was outputting about 125mW. I wasn't too upset with that, because Peng informed me the laser could have that typical 301 laser problem with the output dropping... but here's the issue... it was also outputting about 40-45mW of IR! Absolute crap. I heard that these xpl 532 lasers have IR filters in them but the one I have definitely does not.

This laser is about as bright as my 80mW sanwu 303 when warmed up, except it has more splash around the dot. I don't know if XPL typically sells this kind of crap or this laser was unusual, but there is no way I would recommend XPL to anyone or consider buying from them again. If I knew beforehand that this is what they sell I would have used the $56 to buy a quality 100mw from o-like, lazerer or some other company :/


Edit: The laser actually is focusable, but it flashes on and off sometimes, I'm guessing a loose connection with the battery.

 

[Sta]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

Kaunak, you should talk to Peng about that. He will likely be able to get you at least a partial refund.

 

[kaunak]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

Kaunak, you should talk to Peng about that. He will likely be able to get you at least a partial refund.

Ehh I think I'll just take the loss on this one. I mean, it's still a bit better than my Sanwu 303, even if only because it has the tail cap switch. It also holds its output a bit better than the 303 at around 80mW, which should be a given based on what it was sold as lol. I just hope it doesn't break anytime soon.

 

[GSS]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

I'm sorry to say this but this Ali Express does to lasers like when a car guy sticks a smog pump era Big Block Chevy in a Vega without doing any suspension or drive train upgrades.
You might have fun for a few but get so tired of "driving it" cause its so crude and the power is up and down.
Still though I do have that craving of wanting one but just might regret it:thinking:
A few members have already asked for some refund of some sort.

 

[dden4012]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

My XPL-311 finally arrived today after waiting about 3 weeks for the shipping. After a few hours I finally get around to testing it out. I open the package and red box the laser came in, and the first thing I noticed was that the laser was NOT focusable, even though it was listed as being focusable on their site. That did annoy me quite a bit because I wouldn't have bought the laser in the first place had I known it wasn't focusable. Although it annoyed me I figured as long as it had a somewhat stable output at its rated power it wouldn't be too much of a big deal.

I was excited to test it so I put in a Panasonic NCR18650BE only to find out that the host has a flat positive terminal in the tail cap, and this particular battery has a flat positive as well, so it wouldn't work with that battery. These batteries work fine in the 301s. I still had a cheap ultrafire battery on hand so I had to use that to test this laser.

I tested the laser with the LPM and it put out 161mW so I was pretty happy with that, as the laser was rated at 150mw. After pointing it around for about 30 secs I did another test with the LPM and it was outputting about 125mW. I wasn't too upset with that, because Peng informed me the laser could have that typical 301 laser problem with the output dropping... but here's the issue... it was also outputting about 40-45mW of IR! Absolute crap. I heard that these xpl 532 lasers have IR filters in them but the one I have definitely does not.

This laser is about as bright as my 80mW sanwu 303 when warmed up, except it has more splash around the dot. I don't know if XPL typically sells this kind of crap or this laser was unusual, but there is no way I would recommend XPL to anyone or consider buying from them again. If I knew beforehand that this is what they sell I would have used the $56 to buy a quality 100mw from o-like, lazerer or some other company :/


Edit: The laser actually is focusable, but it flashes on and off sometimes, I'm guessing a loose connection with the battery.

Dang thats a long quote. When you tear it apart in a few weeks post up pic of the pieces so we can see if there is something workable for rebuilding it

 

[CaliKirk]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

You might have fun for a few but get so tired of "driving it" cause its so crude and the power is up and down.

Nicely said! Totally know what your talking about, with each use my 1w is starting to show signs of component failure, and I literally have less than 10min of run time :cryyy:. Just in case, I have to justify breaking it everytime I want to use it

 

[diachi]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

My XPL-311 finally arrived today after waiting about 3 weeks for the shipping. After a few hours I finally get around to testing it out. I open the package and red box the laser came in, and the first thing I noticed was that the laser was NOT focusable, even though it was listed as being focusable on their site. That did annoy me quite a bit because I wouldn't have bought the laser in the first place had I known it wasn't focusable. Although it annoyed me I figured as long as it had a somewhat stable output at its rated power it wouldn't be too much of a big deal.

I was excited to test it so I put in a Panasonic NCR18650BE only to find out that the host has a flat positive terminal in the tail cap, and this particular battery has a flat positive as well, so it wouldn't work with that battery. These batteries work fine in the 301s. I still had a cheap ultrafire battery on hand so I had to use that to test this laser.

I tested the laser with the LPM and it put out 161mW so I was pretty happy with that, as the laser was rated at 150mw. After pointing it around for about 30 secs I did another test with the LPM and it was outputting about 125mW. I wasn't too upset with that, because Peng informed me the laser could have that typical 301 laser problem with the output dropping... but here's the issue... it was also outputting about 40-45mW of IR! Absolute crap. I heard that these xpl 532 lasers have IR filters in them but the one I have definitely does not.

This laser is about as bright as my 80mW sanwu 303 when warmed up, except it has more splash around the dot. I don't know if XPL typically sells this kind of crap or this laser was unusual, but there is no way I would recommend XPL to anyone or consider buying from them again. If I knew beforehand that this is what they sell I would have used the $56 to buy a quality 100mw from o-like, lazerer or some other company :/


Edit: The laser actually is focusable, but it flashes on and off sometimes, I'm guessing a loose connection with the battery.

Thanks for your input - we've been needing more information on XPL products.

As for the turning on and off, perhaps check the driver is actually supported in the host? I know Calikirk had that issue with his 500mW. Could be a bad switch or contact too though...

 

[CaliKirk]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

With its last use, I think my switch is now going out or at least is starting to go out and acting even more finicky than before. The switch used to have some internal resistance to it but with each use the amount of force needed to turn the laser ON has became less and less, and unfortunately in turn also causes the switch to become more and more lodged.

Also it has recently started to dim while the switch was constantly pushed on, and I'm talking goes from ~1.6w down to maybe ~200mw then back up and did that multiple times within a couple seconds. I didn't want to push it anymore so I haven't used it since but fearing something has happened or is starting to go wrong with the driver. At that point, I had only ran the laser for ~15 seconds and tried (2) sets of charged batteries.

 

[diachi]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

With its last use, I think my switch is now going out or at least is starting to go out and acting even more finicky than before. The switch used to have some internal resistance to it but with each use the amount of force needed to turn the laser ON has became less and less, and unfortunately in turn also causes the switch to become more and more lodged.

Also it has recently started to dim while the switch was constantly pushed on, and I'm talking goes from ~1.6w down to maybe ~200mw then back up and did that multiple times within a couple seconds. I didn't want to push it anymore so I haven't used it since but fearing something has happened or is starting to go wrong with the driver. At that point, I had only ran the laser for ~15 seconds and tried (2) sets of charged batteries.

And this is why I haven't been recommending them - we don't have enough people who've purchased from them and had their lasers for any length of time to see how well they hold up. The reviews we have had aren't exactly great.

More reviews and longer term use is needed first IMO.

 

[kaunak]

Re: XPL discussion - "the miracle company"

I'm sorry to say this but this Ali Express does to lasers like when a car guy sticks a smog era Big Block Chevy in a Vega without doing any suspension mods.
You might have fun for a few but get so tired of "driving it" cause its so crude and the power is up and down.
Still though I do have that craving of wanting one but just might regret it:thinking:
A few members have already asked for some refund of some sort.

I think the thing with the type of green lasers that XPL sells is this:

Most people who have little to no experience with real quality 532 lasers will feel that they are pretty good, even though they have a large power drop. With all of the 301-303 type lasers you see being sold all over the internet and by XPL in recent years, they have kind of become a standard to many people who now believe it's completely normal for a 532 laser to have a large power drop when they warm up slightly by 10-15 degrees. It's definitely not a sign of a quality laser, but a laser that's being overdriven or has a low-quality driver.

I can't say that you'll be dissatisfied with your purchase if you make one from them, but I would still say that the <500mW green lasers that XPL sells are all 301-type lasers that have a significant power drop when warmed up and the one I have also has no IR filter, and about ~40mW of IR output when the total output was around 125mW.

This may not be an issue to someone who just wants a green laser to light a match in a few seconds, but I want my lower power 532 lasers to also have a great duty cycle, not a one minute duty cycle with a power drop. Basically, the 311 I bought was a slightly higher quality 303 laser with a tail cap switch, which I guess is an improvement just by itself IMO.