RPL-165

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lazercraze45

Newly Enlightened
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May 10, 2007
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I was wondering what you guys think about the RPL-165 or just optotronics in general?

Thanks :)
 
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I think I wish I could afford one. If I could afford it would be towards the top of my list along with the EnVee and the Fusion "Laser to be named."
 
I've got a rpl-260 ( certified to 269mw ). I personally have seen it peak at > 350mw and hold that for almost a minute then drop to around 300 and stay there on a full charge.

beam diameter is ~ 1mm and .95 mrad of divergance (dot as viewed through goggles at 100feet)

at power level 1 it's 44mw, level 2 is 80-100mw, level 3 is 180mw and level4 is max power 250+mw and climbs to max. all other settings perform the same.

I see less than 1/2 mw of IR leakage for 280mw of green ( when i measured )

It's my favorite handheld laser, and my second favorite overall laser ( i've got a 5watt yag too )

as far as burning, yes. almost anything, instantly. I've even lit a candle with it ( that's NOT easy ). it will light white paper matches ( not red and not sharpied ) in less than a second... from a foot away. I can smoke "test foam" ( basially black cellulose, like what you get electronics, cpus and diodes packed in ) for over 25 feet along the entire length of the beam.

Optically the laser is nearly perfect, with goggles there's a slight artifact beam 1 degree or so off of the primary beam, that's internal to the laser ( it's not lense related ). you cannot see it even with goggles unless you mask the primary dot emmision. ( think trying to see the planet mercury against the sun)

I love it.. even more so that I bought it for so cheap ( I got it second hand for just over $600 ). However i will add that it need some clean up work, the optics needed a lot of cleaning, laser had been opened, stickers removed etc.. Once cleaned up it's very very nice. Well worth the full price.

My only worry about not buying a rpl outright was runtime, that's has been quelled with this laser. on the low power levels it runs until i turn it off. I've let it run for over an hour. At high/max power it will run for about 10 mins straight, and then cut out or start blinking. The laser will get warm/hot to touch at this time.

Now for support. I originally emailed several laser manufacturers when I started looking at integrating handheld lasers into a scientific device. Jack was the first to respond, the same day, and not just a canned response, but a well detailed response and included examples from a previous customer. Laserglow took over a week and bascially sent me a form letter and avoided every technical question I asked. Wicked never responded at all. A few other oems ( be meyers, coherent,SP, axiz ) also responed over several days and didn't have what I was looking for, didn't have things that were the right size or were too hard to integrate, or just plain too expensive. Jack also looked up the history of my rpl, gave me additional info on it and also has answer some other technical questions I had.. all without me personally paying him a dime. That's excellent support, and the type of place I'd want to do business with. If and when the time comes that I can go from prototype to product, I'm talking to him first.
 
Aseras said:
I've got a rpl-260 ( certified to 269mw ). I personally have seen it peak at > 350mw and hold that for almost a minute then drop to around 300 and stay there on a full charge.

beam diameter is ~ 1mm and .95 mrad of divergance (dot as viewed through goggles at 100feet)

at power level 1 it's 44mw, level 2 is 80-100mw, level 3 is 180mw and level4 is max power 250+mw and climbs to max. all other settings perform the same.

I see less than 1/2 mw of IR leakage for 280mw of green ( when i measured )

It's my favorite handheld laser, and my second favorite overall laser ( i've got a 5watt yag too )

as far as burning, yes. almost anything, instantly. I've even lit a candle with it ( that's NOT easy ). it will light white paper matches ( not red and not sharpied ) in less than a second... from a foot away. I can smoke "test foam" ( basially black cellulose, like what you get electronics, cpus and diodes packed in ) for over 25 feet along the entire length of the beam.

Optically the laser is nearly perfect, with goggles there's a slight artifact beam 1 degree or so off of the primary beam, that's internal to the laser ( it's not lense related ). you cannot see it even with goggles unless you mask the primary dot emmision. ( think trying to see the planet mercury against the sun)

I love it.. even more so that I bought it for so cheap ( I got it second hand for just over $600 ). However i will add that it need some clean up work, the optics needed a lot of cleaning, laser had been opened, stickers removed etc.. Once cleaned up it's very very nice. Well worth the full price.

My only worry about not buying a rpl outright was runtime, that's has been quelled with this laser. on the low power levels it runs until i turn it off. I've let it run for over an hour. At high/max power it will run for about 10 mins straight, and then cut out or start blinking. The laser will get warm/hot to touch at this time.

Now for support. I originally emailed several laser manufacturers when I started looking at integrating handheld lasers into a scientific device. Jack was the first to respond, the same day, and not just a canned response, but a well detailed response and included examples from a previous customer. Laserglow took over a week and bascially sent me a form letter and avoided every technical question I asked. Wicked never responded at all. A few other oems ( be meyers, coherent,SP, axiz ) also responed over several days and didn't have what I was looking for, didn't have things that were the right size or were too hard to integrate, or just plain too expensive. Jack also looked up the history of my rpl, gave me additional info on it and also has answer some other technical questions I had.. all without me personally paying him a dime. That's excellent support, and the type of place I'd want to do business with. If and when the time comes that I can go from prototype to product, I'm talking to him first.
Click to expand...

Do you think a RPL-165 will be like that
 
lazercraze45 said:
Do you think a RPL-165 will be like that
Click to expand...

it wont be as good of a performer burning wise, but it will do almost everything the same ( just a bit slower ). brightness wise you probably wouldn't be able to tell the diffrence much at all. you need almost 4x the power to double the brightness.

There's also the chance that since the 165 are overstocked, that you *might* end up with a higher rated laser. I'll guarantee you it will be more than 165, but by how much, who knows. Jack's also been known to throw goodies in the mix as well.. check out this thread..
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=158138

I can't guarantee something like that will happen as he shows up and does stuff like that from time to time, but there is a cpf special on rpl's according to Jack's signiture ( it's a free 8mw 532nm pointer ) his username is bootleg2go
 
Heh, define too large...
Its not like a typical Pen Pointer lazer, think of it more like a 2C maglight.
But it seems much tougher than a typical pointer, so its worth it.

but if you want something to carry around it may not be for you.
In the house, etc experimenting, its great.

~John
 
Aseras said:
it wont be as good of a performer burning wise, but it will do almost everything the same ( just a bit slower ). brightness wise you probably wouldn't be able to tell the diffrence much at all. you need almost 4x the power to double the brightness.

There's also the chance that since the 165 are overstocked, that you *might* end up with a higher rated laser. I'll guarantee you it will be more than 165, but by how much, who knows. Jack's also been known to throw goodies in the mix as well.. check out this thread..
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=158138

I can't guarantee something like that will happen as he shows up and does stuff like that from time to time, but there is a cpf special on rpl's according to Jack's signiture ( it's a free 8mw 532nm pointer ) his username is bootleg2go
Click to expand...


Yeah i asked him about that 8mw laser thing he said all i have to do is mension it when i order from him. Also if he were to give me those offers it would really sell me on the RPL-165 cuz i do need glasses and a free test would be nice. I hope i get luck. By the way im getting my laser in the beginning of June cuz thats when ill have all the $$$ i need.

:)
 
I am also thinking about buying the RPL 165 maybe in a few months,I ordered my first hi power above the tuned 5mw greenies I have now and was blown away with the Envee 80mw,it's only used for the wow factor not as a thermal flame thrower,I have to say that when you go with 80 to 100 mw all you can think of is a 200 or 300 mw model next it's addicting and expensive but it's definitely cool especially when showing others at safe distances,I have to watch out as my LED flashlight collection is expensive too,but what the heck you only live once so enjoy yourself...
 
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Optotronics is an excellent company to deal with amongst its other competitors. You will NEVER be disappointed with Optotronics, service wise and its products. The RPL are fantastic, and just recently got the RPL-300. I have to say, it has exceeded all my expectations.

I'm sure any RPL or PPL you're looking at will satisfy your needs, although that will never be the case. You'll always be asking for more! Right now, I can't purchase any lower power lasers cause they'll really never be the same as 300mW. So all I can look at is 300mW or more. I'm torturing my wallet.
 
Freyth said:
Optotronics is an excellent company to deal with amongst its other competitors. You will NEVER be disappointed with Optotronics, service wise and its products. The RPL are fantastic, and just recently got the RPL-300. I have to say, it has exceeded all my expectations.

I'm sure any RPL or PPL you're looking at will satisfy your needs, although that will never be the case. You'll always be asking for more! Right now, I can't purchase any lower power lasers cause they'll really never be the same as 300mW. So all I can look at is 300mW or more. I'm torturing my wallet.
Click to expand...
I started the laser collection out with the factory tuned greens and have to say they are still pretty cool to look at..so I guess that I am taking small expensive steps until I get up to a large mw model like you have,they are all cool..actually used the 5mw btg-10 to light up a laundry room in the dark to go back upstairs and it worked great.
 
I just picked up a RPL-260 on ebay for 345 dollars about 3 weeks ago. The guy selling it listed it as optronics and because of the misspelling no one found it and I stole it for that price. The laser module itself had never been opened stickers are still in place.

Im not quite sure on the actual output as I dont have any of the gadgets to test for it. I know I popped a black balloon from 25 feet away, popped 5 in a row , the first 3 almost instaneously. I need to get some goggles before I am really comfortable using this thing indoors.

On a bright sunny day you can see the laser dot clearly on trees and building's 50-75 meters away.

In moderate lighting situations the beam is visible. At night, its like a death star laser.

As far as size goes, its no pocket carry laser. When i showed my roomate he thought it was a light saber replica because of the body and the red button makes it reminescent of a star wars saber.

I really have no purpose for a laser of this power. I have a 40mw leadlight that performs great. I bought this light originally for a trade before knowing anything about it, but the trade fell through and I then realized after doing some research just how much of a deal I had gotten.

Furthermore my correspondance with Optotronics has been nothing short of wonderful. They are very informative, prompt and helpful. I would willingly do business with them in the future on any further laser purchases.
 
This is what he offered me

:) :) :)



Hi Nick,

The RPL-165 is really a great deal right now at this sale price, one reason being is that most of them are closer to 200mW than they are to 165mW in output.

If you want me to hold an RPL-165 for you until early/mid June at the sales price, you can do a layaway/ deposit on one by sending a 15% down payment ($100 on the RPL-165) If you change your mind about buying after sending the %15 only 1/2 of the deposit is refundable. Layaway can be paid by sending me a money order or by PayPal to our account ( [email protected] ). Once payment is made, I'll pick out the best RPL-165 I have and set it aside for you. The best RPL-165 I have right now averages ~188mW with peak output of 204mW.

Have a good weekend, here in Colorado it's going to be a hot one with no clouds and close to 90 degrees.

Jack
Click to expand...


:) :) :) :) :) :sold:
 
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