Wicked Lasers 445nm <1W Spyder III Pro Arctic Series

[senecaripple]

got notice that my sparta shipped today and my arctic "will be shipped" on the 27th.

 

[fabienne]

I read in Facebook for Wicked Laser, one people with order no. 541xx already got their hands on G2, but I just checked that my order no. 535xx still have not got shipping notification. How about you guys ? What order no. have you got ?

 

[Wiseguyzz_Inc_]

I read in Facebook for Wicked Laser, one people with order no. 541xx already got their hands on G2, but I just checked that my order no. 535xx still have not got shipping notification. How about you guys ? What order no. have you got ?

Order 636xx here....btw check WL's page, they now have a shipping schedule up with dates... don't know how accurate it is tho....

 

[Illum]

the more testing is done, the more it becomes apparent that they can't safely sell this thing...then all of a sudden operations told productions they can't produce it, which then ticks off marketing and CS, etc...

Have we considered the fact that there might be a fistfight within WL?

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

illum, you are complicating the process.

Standard business model:
Step 1: collect underpants.
Step 2: ...?...
Step 3: Profit!

But seriously, I doubt that they care if they can't "safely" sell it. They're already shipping "safety goggles" and "safety lenses" with the thing, I'm amazed that they even went THAT far...

 

[Shiftlock]

Let's not forget that WL is a Chinese company, and as such, they don't have to (and just plain don't) adhere to the safety laws that a US company would. More likely all the delays are simply due to sourcing the parts to make the things. Does anyone know how quickly Nichia is churning out these high power 445nm diodes? With WL reportedly needing 50,000 of them ASAP, that may make them the largest buyer. Certainly the second largest, behind Casio. So, that could be the entire problem right there.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

That's not a bottleneck. Nichia has barely anything to do with these lasers. WL guts them out of casio projectors, just like the rest of us.

 

[wyager]

That's not a bottleneck. Nichia has barely anything to do with these lasers. WL guts them out of casio projectors, just like the rest of us.

Yeah, 50,000 is NOT enough to warrant nichia producing diodes for wicked. Casio probably has a contract to buy millions of diodes in the next few years. WL has to wait for whole projectors or projector parts to become available in bulk. If wicked alone created enough of a demand, we could have had these diodes years ago. They actually have been available for quite some time, they just cost $30,000 apiece.

 

[hugodrax]

Just checking in, I guess nothing new. Folks still waiting, and no CPF members chiming in on their experience with the laser.

Will be back next month.

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

lpf has plenty of info on users' experiences with the arctic. Most of it bad. Remember, though, that the sample wasn't random, but relied on voluntary participation, so the data may or may not be skewed.

 

[SmurfTacular]

Order number 486**

Still no order confirmation :shakehead :thumbsdow

 

[Fat Boy]

I canceled my order 517xx and got my money back within 48 hours. I will buy a custom one that is better.

 

[CKOD]

Got mine in just now... figured Li-Ion batterys ship at 3.8 volts so I should be able to cheat and test it out for a little bit before charging the battery.
Put it in the laser and it wont even recognize it has a battery. Throw it on my Cellpro charger, and the cell voltage is 2.0V. They shipped the battery sitting in the charger cradle, presumably draining it :thumbsdow and its a cheap 1300 mAh 18650 too. Only loose 18650 I have around so I'll try and charge it gently, but if it fails I have some trustfire 2500 mAh's at a friends from working on projects there.

 

[Kenom]

I figured I'd post my figures over here of the Arctic G1 that I've got. You do have to take off the normal lens as it does drop the output power by over 100mw.


This was graphed with a Kenometer Pro using luminosity the software that comes with the Kenometers. Ophir thermalpile.

 

[Shiftlock]

I figured I'd post my figures over here of the Arctic G1 that I've got.

Now that you've given us an indication of quantity, tell us about the quality of the beam, which is more important in my opinion. Do those photons stick together?

 

[Kenom]

Now that you've given us an indication of quantity, tell us about the quality of the beam, which is more important in my opinion. Do those photons stick together?

The beam is pretty much what you expect a multimode laser diode to be. it's a wide beast. The width of the dot at aperture is about 5mm at it's thickest and 2mm at it's thinnest. [==] is what it looks like. Just gets wider as it goes out. The focus is adjustable if your willing to open it up and twist the lens.

I do want to say that my ONE laser out of the run is NOT an indication of the general quality of these lasers. They are breaking down left and right over at the other laser forum and folks are generally dissatisfied with the overall quality of the laser.

I've got some beam shots..

A picture of the dot extremely DEFOCUSED.

 

[photon1c]

When you say 'extremely defocused' do you mean it comes like that, or you opened it up and defocused it on purpose?

 

[wyager]

When you say 'extremely defocused' do you mean it comes like that, or you opened it up and defocused it on purpose?

He moved the lens. But does it matter? Why would you buy an arctic given all the crappy feedback?

 

[photon1c]

Who said I was buying one? I just wanted to know if they came like that or he defocused it.
Plus, when it first went on sale,it was $199 and so far I don't know of any other company selling 1W blue laser that cheap (even Wicked increased their price). Even if it takes a little tinkering, that's not a bad price for a laser pointer that would have cost $1500 2 years ago.

 

[wyager]

Who said I was buying one? I just wanted to know if they came like that or he defocused it.
Plus, when it first went on sale,it was $199 and so far I don't know of any other company selling 1W blue laser that cheap (even Wicked increased their price). Even if it takes a little tinkering, that's not a bad price for a laser pointer that would have cost $1500 2 years ago.

First-there are lots of companies that sell them for cheaper. Second, it would have cost many, many thousands years ago and wicked is too clueless to have done it. Wicked learned from LPF members how to make the 445nm lasers. Wicked isn't bringing you a good deal, they're capitalizing on a cheap laser with a cheap diode. It probably costs them $50 apiece to build (if that).