"Unmodified" High Power Laser Question

I'm curious if anybody else here who bought unmodified high power lasers from Atlas Nova (or other suppliers) has the same experience I do?

I found that if I look at the buttons on the 105 with a jeweler's loupe there are extremely tiny impressions the approximate size and shape of the tip of an an exacto knife. That is the case on BOTH of the high power units I bought, while the low power units that I paid standard low prices for have no such marks, so it doesn't appear to be from manufacturing.

Does anybody else see marks like that? Any ideas what they are from?

I emailed AN directly about this, but got no answer, so I thought it would be appropriate to see if others are experiencing the same thing.

The reason I'm concerned is that a high power unit I bought quickly lost power. It was replaced with professional customer service, but the experince got me thinking the units are not durable, and afraid to turn them on for more than a second or two for fear they will burn out.

ive had my atlasnova laser for almost a year now and i have never expereinced any sort of power loss from it. i dont see any impressions on the laser either.

I'll check when I get home..

I also have a couple of atlas novas, and they're performing flawlessly. No power loss (except for dead batteries :laughing and no inscriptions of any sort on the laser (or the button). Mine have been around for a year now

I'm new to this forum, but not to lasers. I'll do some more reading of this forum and then do some posting. I'm happy to have found this place.

emwonk,

If you e-mail Atlasnova as a customer and you do not receive a reply within 24 hours, you can assume that our Comcast connection is down, one of us is in the hospital or Mt. Spokane has blown its top. We have not gotten this far by ignoring customers.

I would like to correct the assumption that because an e-mail is sent that it will be delivered and read by the addressee. Many things can happen that can interfere with this process. Servers do go up and down. People, including myself, have been known to blow up their own computers while adding hard disks, video cards, replacing power supplies and so on. There is also the matter of the spam filters. For the past few months I have tried many different programs and services that try to eliminate spam. In every case they eliminated even regular and expected e-mails from eBay, PayPal, our merchant account as well as my many friends on the net as well as the spam. To make a long story even longer, the only way to be sure that your e-mail gets to its target is to request a read receipt.

As for the rest of your post, as I do not know who you are, I can only assume from what you say that your initial purchase from me was for a high spec device. And you experienced what in the electronics industry is described as "Infant mortality ". Our rate for this is below 0.5%. I only hold them on for one full minute and observe the output power using an analog meter to check for stability. At the end of the minute, I take a reading with my Coherent LaserCheck and write the reading on a yellow Post-it note, which I then attach to the box. If the sale is to an overseas customer I test it for a considerably longer time as it would be less convenient to return the pointer in the case of a failure.

You must have called and spoken to me, in order to obtain a high spec unit. We have a toll free number for use inside the United States. I am assuming again that you are in the United States as I cannot recall any instance of infant mortality outside the states in the past six months or so. Why not call me so that I can resolve your situation. The fact, as expressed in your last sentence, that you have something supplied by Atlasnova that you are "afraid to turn on for more than a second or two for fear it will burn out", is a less than satisfactory situation for either of us.

It's been more than 6 months. The infant mortality instance was dealt with by you quickly and professionally.


I now own two high spec devices I purchased a while back -- one has sat in the closet as a "backup" after seeing the first one fail. I did not want to be stuck without one if the replacement failed. At the time of the exchange, I was challenged by you about how I was using the device, and scolded that I should be careful.

Soon after that happened I wrote one of your competitors and asked about life expectancy on their models. They claimed the only way to get a reliable high spec device was to buy a more expensive model that was not AAA based. The other seller asked me to look at my devices with a loupe, alleging that ANY "high spec" lasers are merely modified Leadlights, and that there would be telltale exacto knife marks on the side of the button. I was told that this sharing information lead to the seller being banned from the forum. I checked, and sure enough, there they were -- marks the exact shape of an exacto knife.

At that point, I became suspicious, thinking that with modern manufacturing methods it is MUCH more plausible that the high spec leadlight 105s on the market on the time were in fact pot-modded before they were sold to unsuspecting customers -- rather than being some sort of manufacturing anomaly as explained by high-spec sellers. So I began using the device only occasionally, turning it on for no more than two or three seconds.

I never asked you about it directly, because trust was low. When my email was not returned, I wanted to see if others had the same marks on their pointers

I realize now there are several possible explanations for what happened:

1. All pointers of that model at that time were coming from the factory with marks that were related to install of the buttons.
2. Some pointers were opened at the factory and modded, and then sold to suppliers as high spec devices.
3. The device was opened after manufacture, modded, then sold to me as an unmodded high spec device.
4. Some other possibility I'm not guessing.


AN has an excellent reputation and customer service that are NOT consistent with any sort of bad acts, so I am surmising I just had an unusual experience, bad luck with one device and bad information from another seller.

However, I am extremely uncomfortable with any sort of conflict. I am also unhappy I paid good money for lasers I fear will burn out. That leaves both of us stuck, with you offering to help and me not wanting to experience something unpleasant. So I'm not sure what could be done now. These things are way out of warranty, and you provided what I paid for and both units function today long past the warranty period; albeit with no more than 60 - 120 seconds of actual use on one, and <30 seconds of use on the other.

Hi emwonk!

Perhaps I can clear up some misconceptions about 'high spec' lasers, 'modded' lasers, etc, as there seems to be quite alot of confusion over this on the forum in general... In fact, I will start a new thread with this, as my post has the potential of straying this tread away from the original topic of AtlasNova product. Please see my new thread.

The point of the new thread is that it doesn't matter whether the laser is 'modded' or not- anyways, the thread says it all...

-Dimitry Fedorov
LASERGLOW.COM LIMITED
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/143335

Dimitry: I added the thread you linked to the sticky thread "Laser Forum - threads of interest" so that it can be easily accessed whenever necessary.

Sorry I lost the thread. I searched and couldn't find it.

Yes, Arnold's customer service is stellar.

But I'm noticing that others found the exacto blade marks on their high spec units also. Question: How is relilability of your exacto-bladed high spec units? Are they safe to operate without burning out?

I have now owned the units for more than two years and used them less than 45 seconds. One has never been used more than 5 2-second shots. It's a backup.

When the first one failed I got scolded "how are you using it?" I was asked. "These things are not toys! I'm concerned about your eyes!"

Well, I hold down the button and look at the pretty beam, that's how I use it.

I'm way past the sell date to hope for a refund, and frankly don't want to even talk wtih AN. If I get scolded for having one burn out, imagine what happens when I raise this question on the forum?

caveat laser

I have only one "high spec" pointer. It's a DL95. I can tell you from what little inspection I can do that it's NOT a Leadlight. This appears to have been built for its rated spec. This is my only experience with a high spec. other than home made !!

Mike

I purchased two CPF Specials about a month(?) ago and have already run through the batteries supplied with them, and am now running them on rechargeables. They are great little lasers, nice beam quality, I've experienced no trouble at all, no dimming, no mode hopping, etc., not even after running them in long bursts for several minutes at a time (while checking to see if they are getting warm - barely) on many occasions. I have examined both (with a magnifier) and neither have extraneous/suspicious marks anywhere on the buttons or cases.