High powered laser pointers available(new pictures

[bootleg2go]

Since I recently became unemployed do a reduction in force at my company, I've decided to take a shot at becoming the sole US distributor for a Chinese laser company. I'll be announcing the company soon as the agreement is in writing, it's only verbal at this point and the contract is being written and signed as soon as I verify the quality of the samples they are sending me. I've been told by them that they buy the high powered pointers from the same company that CNI get theirs from, so I think the quality evaluation will go quickly and be positive.

I will be getting 6 sample laser units, Right now they will only be available in 100mw as that is the highest power the company makes, these I've been told have a typical output power of 115-120mw (stable I'm told) (not sure how CNI is getting >150mw units from the same source; they tell me that maybe they are cherry picking the 100mw units and seeing which ones can be pushed to 150mw or more; this would go a long way towards explaining why my PGL-III is very unstable and jumps from 170mw to over 300mw). Of the six samples on order, three of them will have built in blanking inputs and three will not; I think they will also be much easier to mod for higher power as they are much like the old style PGL-III units, so they are most likely easy to mod (tweak the pot or increase the voltage)and get perhaps 150mw or more out of them. After my evaluation is complete these units will be up for sale here or on the website I'm building (2 are already spoken for, so 4 remain). These are not the small pointers like wicked laser is selling, but the larger style very similar to the PGL-III (same manufacturer that CNI uses) and operate on 2-C cell batteries; much better than the WL models as they are designed from the ground up for high power at 100% duty cycle.

The advantage I'm offering will be that I plan on trying to keep supply in stock so that if someone wants one, it will only be a matter of a couple of days shipping (in the beginning there may be some delays until stock is built up). My selling price will be $625 for the 100mw units without blanking input and $650 for the ones with blanking input included. I decided to try doing this as when I wanted my PGL-III there was not the option of the group buy and it took over 3 weeks to go directly to CNI and then the hassle with customs and duty payments and such. What I wanted was the ability to just buy the darn thing and not worry about it and not have all my money sent while I waited many weeks. I thought I want instant gratification or something close to it where if I want a high powered laser I just send the money to someone who has them in stock and I get my laser overnight or in a matter of days instead of weeks if I choose to expedite the shipping. Using the group buy option gets rid of a lot of the hassle, but all of it. You still have to pay in full up front and then wait a week or two while the orders are being taken and then 2-3 weeks more while waiting for the order to come in; so in the end it can end up being a month or more before 1st light. I won't ask for payment many weeks in advance. A small deposit may be in order while backlogs exist in the beginning, but this won't be a permanent way of business; I will also in the beginning offer a 5% discount of the listed price for those who do what to pay in full even if they are not in stock and are looking at a 3 week wait, I figure if I use your money, I pay you for the use of your money and 5% return is a pretty good on a 3 week investment. I plan on running just like any other business; product is shipped to you as soon as payment is received.

If you are interested in maybe buying one of these 4 remaining sample units at this price after I do a quick evaluation, let me know and I'll hold one for you, they are due to ship by April 20th, so those who are interested in these should be able to have them in their hands by May 1st. Until I get regular stock in I do ask for a 10% deposit to be made as I don't want to hold someone a laser and then turn others away and have the person I'm holding a spot for back out. The 10% deposit shows that you are serious about buying.

You can check my Ebay transaction history as a reference, I have ~+300(99.7%)rating and nearly all of them have been with me being the seller. My ebay ID is "bootleg2go" and my paypal account for payment/deposits is [email protected]

Thanks
Jack

 

[senecaripple]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

what kind of test will you be performing on these lasers?
how extensive olr quick will they be? how many minutes or hours will you be placing on these pointers
will the prices you have now be the same for the in your future orders?
these prices include shipping?
what is blanking? how are they different from the nonblanking? any power difference?

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Hi senecaripple, I'll try to answer your questions, but don't know what you meant by "olr quick they will be?"
I'll be doing divergence tests from a distance of 400ft like I did on my PGL-III to confirm they are in spec, measure output power several times on each of the six units. Observe the stability, although I'm not sure how to measure this, I guess it will be just watching the output compared to my PGL-III which can be quite unstable at times. Observe general build quality as compared to the PGL, I don't expect much difference here as they are made by the same manufacturer I'm told. If they look easy to get into, I'll open one up and may even try adjusting the pot to see how much can be gained here. I won't be modifying the circuit on these though. Measure current draw. I am open to other tests possibly if anyone has any in mind that I didn't cover. I expect actual "on time" for these to be 10 minutes at the most and probably much less as I'm not testing battery life or anything like that. The price of the regular full shipment(non-sample) may increase by up to $20 as I've estimated the shipping and customs duties into the US. This does not mean they are certain to be more, it is just possible depending on the shipping and duties that are due. I plan on keeping these prices as long as they don't raise prices I don't think I will either. The blanking input is a way to remotely shut off the beam for very short periods of time. This is usually done under computer control for shutting down during a retrace of the beam when doing a laser light show or projecting shapes with galvos. There is no power difference with or without the blanking input. The price includes all shipping to me from overseas and any duties/import taxes into the USA. You the buyer pays shipping from me(Colorado, USA) to you. The shipping to your home depends on your zipcode, I won't be overcharging on the shipping at all. I will only be shipping via Fedex either 1,2 or 3 day, some may say that fedex is too expensive, but they are reliable and do handle packages with care which is more than I can say about USPS or UPS. An esitimate for someone living west of the mississippi river and choosing 2nd day would be ~$20.00 and includes the price of the shipping container and full insurance. A signature will be required for delivery as well. 3rd day was only 85 cents less, so most would choose to get it a day sooner for the 85 cents. On the east coast the price difference may amke 2rd day a better option. To find out the cost just go to the fedex website and use my zipcode (80501) and yours, put in a custom box of 4"x5"x10", package weight of 2.0lbs. and add insurance for the value. After you get the total add $2.00 to cover the shipping box.

Hope this answers most of the questions you have.

Thanks
Jack

 

[trident]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I don't suppose you have a picture of one yet? Are they nearly identical in form factor to the PGL-III?

 

[senecaripple]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

what if these lasers dont measure up to the cni's or wicked. would you mention the con's with the pro's? does this company make their own lasers or just buy them in bulk and resell them? do they modify them?

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I'll post detailed pictures when I get them in. I do know the one with blanking lokks nearly if not exactly like the lder version of the PGL-III without the voltage regulation and the output adjust in the endcap. the other is more slim lined with the large head on the end.

senecaripple, that's why I only got six to begin with, so I could evaluate them both pro and con. I think there will have to something majorly wrong for them not to work out. I say this because with the recent price increases at CNI and the fact that most if not all of the >150mw CNI units suffer from a big stability problem. I think if the power and divergence is as promised and the stability is equal to or better than the CNI units it'll be a big go. Either way I'll just be posting the facts good or bad. This company buys their laser modules from the same 3rd party that CNI does ( yes, I've been told that CNI does not manufacture their modules either) so they'll probably be very similar to each other. I've been promised that I won't be disapointed in the product and it's quality; I'll be finding out very soon. As far as wicked...hehe they are toys compared to the likes of these larger pointers so there really is no comparison; unless your looking for something you can put in your shirt pocket and not exceed the 1 minute on one-two minutes off duty cycle. These can be on 100%, you can put in a new set of C cell batteries and run them completly down and not worry about overheating or rig them up to a power supply and run them for hours on end. In fact they told me as part of the final QC test/check they are put through a continuous 48 burn in to make sure everythings working ok.

Jack

 

[Raccoon]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I think you should be able to post this announcement in the Laser thread too. As long as you don't directly advertise a physical laser for sale, you should be able to tell everyone that "a new distributor exists" and that distributor happens to be you. Even post a link to your website or something-- it's purely reference material, no sales pitches.

 

[Raccoon]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Additionally, I have the following concerns you may wish to address. The company you are dealing with, I will refer to as XYZ.

You mentioned XYZ receives their laser modules from a 3rd party; do you have any idea who ACTUALLY manufactures the "PGL-III" components? If CNI is simply a "wicked laser" that buys in bulk and tampers with the POT screw, then we still have the issue of inconsistencies and irregularities of the PGL-III and its components, and yet another separation from the true manufacturer who can actually comment on or DO anything about it.

Issues to be dealt with:
<font color="white">-</font>
[*]Complete and concise audit of design specifications.
[*]Complete and utter control over design specifications.
[*]Guaranteed consistency so that each model arrives with known specifications, and none of this pot-luck of receiving one of six possible random combinations of features under the same product name.
[*]An understanding of WHY these units are so unstable and what it would take to correct it.
[*]Safety labels are accurate and not misleading.

Other concerns I have include:
<font color="white">-</font>
[*]How well read are you on FDA/CDRH regulations.
[*]What type of units will be available.
[*]What limitations will be imposed.
[*]Do you intend to perform customer screening.
[*]Will you promote these lasers in a safe and responsible manner so to insure the longevity of our hobby (no bulls#it about illuminating the moon).
[*]Are you prepared to handle an onslaught of email pouring in from every orifice of the interweb, and to respond to your customers in a timely fashion?
[*]Could you maybe try and be like Arnold? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Some feature I would like to see in these lasers should you ever wield the power of authority:
<font color="white">-</font>
[*]Use of D-Cell batteries over C-Cell batteries because they can handle over twice the load, and last twice as long on the same load. This alone should add to stability of the laser. (Also, could you as a company look into purchasing these batteries bulk for us? They will only sell to a business with a Tax-ID number, and these are great batteries.)
<font color="white">-</font>
[*]Select diode and crystal quality, for a price, on demand. I'm certain these hand-held units could push 499 mW if the right parts were used.
<font color="white">-</font>
[*]Room for optional attachments and accessories: such as snap-on lenses and filters, a tripod screw mount, and a DC power source.

That should be all for now.

And btw. What do you intend to name your company? What do you intend to "name" these lasers?

The Bootleg Extreme Ultra Finger Of God!
i'll take two.

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Hi Racoon, I'm not sure I would call them that
I may be able in the future to push design changes like you suggest. However I really doubt that I would ever get access to design materail like a schematic or anything like that. I'm sure who ever is really amnufacturing all these laser modules. It very common for a single or few manufacturers to supply a whole industry with products under many dozens of "OEM/manufacturer" names. They are called ODM or original design manufacturers. Take the the notebook/laptop industry; there are probably notebooks with 40-80 manufacturer/OEM names on them like IBM, Toshiba, HP, Dell and dozens of others, but most people don't know they don't make those notebooks. All those notebooks can be traced back to between 3-5 ODM manufacturers. As for stability, I've been hinted to that the reason that the 150mw CNI units are having stability problems is that the "ODM" they get them from only sell up to 100mw, so that the extra push they are given is causing instability. This sound logical, but does not explain why the old model PGL-IIIs did not have stability issues. Most of the questions you ask are good ones, although I've thought about a lot of them, most decisions will wait until I get the samples in and they check out as well as the demand. For instance I have read through the FDA regs, but it's full of loopholes as wickedlaser shows us. The fax is nothing over 5mw should legally be in the hands of anyone without a variance. There are lower outputs available than 100mw and they are also working on powers above 150mw. I really want to promote the hobby and proive other products like perhaps experimenters kits, galvos and other laser related things as an owner can soon grow tired or melting tape and lighting matches and such. The site would also sell other products that are laser related from this company as they make laser crystals and such so do it yourself laser building kits are a possibility too. I've also found an online laser safety test and am considering that buyers take this short test(it's fun and informative)and either not sell to peole who don't want to take a few minutes for safety or charge them extra. You canbe assured there will be no claims of 10 miles or to the moon, those are very subject when there is no metric. My PGL-III is listed as a distance of 7000 meters and I would say that an accurate useful distance. If you look at my Ebay feedback, you will see I've been very responsive to my customers and quick to answer and ship product. I have not delt with arnold, so don't know what he is like, so it's hard to say. I've talked with shiftlock on this and he maybe helping send people my way via his lasershoppe wedsite and in return will get a piece of the action for directing inquiries my way. I'm not that HTML literate, but will come up with something after the samples are in and will be running banner ads here too. If you want to ask qestions about this in the laser forum< I'll answer them, but any delivery, purchase or money should not be talked about as I don't want to make any of the moderators mad.
I hope I've given you more insight on my venture and answered most of your questions.

Thanks
Jack

 

[Raccoon]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

All very good to hear.

I wasn't suggesting that you request for schematics, exactly. But perhaps a list of available parts can be defined, selected from, and set in stone during production. Say you want an MCA of such-n-such quality, or an LED that can draw 1.5A of current... you can guarantee these will appear in each of your orders. Same goes for the interlocks and other features.

We all know how these lasers work-- it's no trade secret. We just want to control what goes into them so we can better control what comes out. Allow XYZ to charge accordingly but assign a unique model number so we don't get confused.

Tell them this is how Americans like their technology. Made to order. "Have it your way." It's the McDonald's syndrome. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Hold the FDA, hold the keylock, bad divergence that upsets us! all we ask is that you let lase it our way /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Jack

 

[Raccoon]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Hehe. I'm not too thrilled with the voltage regulation (especially if it doesn't add to stability), but I'm rather fond of the key and dongle safety locks. As long as they are of highest quality and solid construction.

If I could choose, I would replace the key (on the side) with a reed switch (inside). You would have to be wearing a special magnetic ring on your finger in order to operate the laser. When the reed switch is within the field of the magnetic ring, it closes the circuit to the batteries. Completely internally. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

That simple safety feature would be on the level of police firearms that only work in the hand of the officer.

You should also ask about waterproof designs. CNI mentioned the possibility of a waterproof PGL-III. You should jump on that.

 

[Cornkid]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

SOunds cool... how much would such a laser cost?

-tom

 

[Raccoon]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Because of the addition of a reed switch safety lock? 2 bucks more, if that. Then the design of a ring concealing a magnet.

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I couldn't say how much these things would cost, like racoon said many of these changes are only a matter of maybe a couple of bucks in materials, but it's the cost of re-engineering and re-tooling that really can affect the cost most. Right now I'm just starting out, it will take awhile to build a reputation and a large customer base with lots of sales coming in to make my suggestions have much weight. For now it will be just selling what they have and hopefully some input into future devices. Remember I'm twice removed from the design & production as both CNI and the company I'm working with are basically primary distributors themselves and supposedly not the direct designers or manufacturers of these. When I asked last week about doing some custom changes they told me, and I quote directly. "Our main products are laser crystals such as Nd:YAG, KTP and Nd:YVO4 what used in laser systems and laser pointers. The pointer's market is not very good, if we can get large orders of pointer every month we can talk about doing some custom changes to your specifications."

3 of the 6 laser have been spoken for and 3 remain available. They told me their target date to ship was by 4/20 and are 3 days into their 7 day final test and burn in. So these units should be shipped to whoever buys in the 1st week of May.

{edited spelling and added more information}

jack

 

[xenophobe]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

[ QUOTE ]
Raccoon said:
That simple safety feature would be on the level of police firearms that only work in the hand of the officer.

[/ QUOTE ]

This technology is not available in any firearms commercially, and not a single law enforcement unit anywhere in the world has one out in the field, and most officers don't want this technology either.

It would be nice for the laser, but keep smart-gun technology in the lab where it belongs.

Anyways, before I even commit, I'd want to have them tested and a review done of both models.

 

[BlueMars]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I'll take one.

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

I still have a few that have not been reserved if anyone is interested.

Jack

 

[nemul]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

for me:

I'll take one = Take my pay check!

 

[bootleg2go]

Re: High powered laser pointers available

Hi All, The samples have arrived.
I'm waiting on a power meter, but have taken a quick look see at these and so far, in my opinion, they are just as good if not better than the units from PGL. Just in my fast look at the units I recieved, the stability does seem much better on the whole than my PGL, but I think there is still work that can be done in this area, we'll see when the full evaluation is complete. There is both good and bad news for some. The language barrier caused their description of what I believed to be a "blanking circuit" was only in fact(this needs to be verified, however I don't see any input for this) a full permanent on/off switch like the PGL units have. The less expensive unit only has a temporary switch which turns the laser on while the switch is being pressed; that was the only bad news. The good news part, both versions are nearly an inch shorter than PGL laser, so they are more portable. The more expensive unit that I thought had blanking, very much resembles the old-style PGL in that the head has large ridges which could help with cooling if the diode is actually making contact with it. The less expensive one is machined out of a straight section of aluminum tubing, so there is no big "head" on the end...much more portable in my opinion. The best news is that there is a key that goes into the endcap( though very cheap key)is not only an on/off key, but it's also a 9 position switch that controls the output of the laser from low to high power very nice. This in fact is very similar to the old style PGL that shiftlock is getting way over 300mw out of. My guess is that these are not regulated, so a higher voltage Pila battery in them will boost the power a good amount(90% confidence level). There is also no 2 second delay built into these units, they turn on as soon as the power switch is activated. Late next week after the evaulation is finished I'll be ordering 25-30 and my website for orders should be in place in 2 weeks or so; (prices listed above are valid only for orders placed for these samples after I'm done testing them and were based on estimated shipping, customs charges and did not include the overhead I'm just finding it takes to run a business with website development, hosting and advertising) I'll have final pricing and details on my wedsite in the next couple of weeks. Please give me feedback, especially if your interested so that I can try to have the correct amount in stock or with a shortened leadtime.

Thanks
Jack