Which one would you get

teslacoiler1

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Oct 16, 2005
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I have been looking around for a decent 80-90 mW laser. I want enough power to do all the cool stuff. Cutting tape, popping balloons, and lighting matches. I was looking at the wickedlaser website and saw that they have a starphasor 85mW for $309.99 I also found the starphaser website and they have starphaser 80mW for $260.00 and a 90mW for $310.00. For a penny, I can get 5 more mW. I thought starphaser and wicked laser were the same company. If they are, why would they try to beat their own price? What is going on here? Which company is better to order from? Is the starphaser a decent laser for the money?

Then I found this laser. It has a bit less power but it is built like a tank. I like the idea of a 100% duty cycle. It says the typical beam output is 80-100 mW even though they say it's a 75mW. I wonder if this is true. Anybody here have one? If so, how about a review? How were they to deal with?

If anyone has a better suggestion for a laser in the same price and power range, I would love to hear it.

Thanks,
teslacoiler1
 
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Athoul

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Oct 5, 2005
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391
Re: Which on would you get

I think the Starphaser website is currently under updating and to my knowledge they are the same company as Wicked. Also what laser are you talking about, I don't see a link.

cheers,
 

Athoul

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Oct 5, 2005
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Not bad, if your looking for a good price on a 75mW laser where the minimum will be 75mW Wickedlasers sells a 75mW model for 259.99. The only difference would be that it does not have a 100% duty cycle.

As far as the truth to the beam ofthat being over 75mW it is possible... I have one of the Wicked 75mW models and it measures an average of 80mW.

Cheers,
 

nero_design

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Sep 30, 2004
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Sydney, Australia
I'd get the laser that didn't have a 2.5 second delay. I can't stand those features. I prefer a laser to fire up when it's needed and to activate when it's supposed to. I can tollerate the safety-keys etc but when you add up the size involved, these larger lasers are usually unnecessary except for those persons needing a 'constant on' device. I note though that manufacturers of these GLP III style lasers wrote to me a few months ago and warned against contunuous use... recommending an on/off ratio of 2:1 to allow the unit to cool down. I'm curious to know why this might have been advised since so many suppliers of the same model claim that it's capable of continuous use without a cooldown period.
 

Athoul

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Oct 5, 2005
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391
Thats true I find the delay to be very annoying...I wasn't aware of the 2:1 duty cycle that kinda defeats the purpose of all these added "features".
 

Databyter

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Oct 12, 2005
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San Diego
I like the heat sink and the larger batteries, and the tough durable looking design. The smaller pointers seem delicate and more likely to fail if dropped by accident or from overheating.

I don't like the delay, although I bet it's easy to defeat.

I also don't like the 1.5 Mrad beam divergence which might indicate that the optics don't have quality components or aren't well focused.
Maybe they do that on purpose to make the beam appear wider or brighter. Me I prefer a laser to be tight and sharp. I'll use a flashlight if I want my beam to widen alot with distance!
If you want to heat stuff you want a tight well defined beam!
I realize it wouldn't make that much of a difference inside of 10 feet but it bugs me because most inexpensive simple pointers are 1.2 Mrads Div. Why not the cadillac advertised here?

I'm not an expert so maybe I'm wrong about this but based on what I do know I'd suspect the optics might not be up to par with the price until I was told differently by some flashaholic.

On the other hand I'd love to have it if someone would buy it for me:wave:
 

Athoul

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Oct 5, 2005
Messages
391
I don't know the lens set up in the larger c-cell units, however in the smaller AAA units the lens can be moved by unscrewing it with tweezers. They are set to <1.5mRad I believe on purpose, you can try to adjust it better by shining the laser on a dark surface at over 10 meters while trying to get the smallest dot possible.

cheers,
 
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