50mw green laser review (from ebay) (warning lots of PICS!)

Okay, so the package came in yesterday however I wasn't home, so I have to run down the road to get it. I actually haven't even picked it up yet exactly, but after I do the dishes and feed the cats - it's LASER GETTIN' time.

This'll be my first review unless you hear me complaining about those cheap-@$$ 8mw lasers from ebay. *These ones:

I have two of them. One, the IR works fine but the crystals are mis-aligned so much so that it doesn't actully display green anymore.

I complained and got another one. (Neither have the IR filter on them either) So this other one works, and it's between 10-15mw from the best I can tell (still don't have a coherent laser check, but I DO use the green LED method)

At any rate, it's cheap, inconsistant, needs to be warmed up, played with, tweaked, and needs special batteries JUST to get it to work right.

If I were to rate the 8mw ones - I'd rate them a 1/5 for no backwards compatability, lack of use, though the seller had great generic customer service: I said neither worked as advertised (because this second one you REALLY have to toy with to get the alignment right to get anything from it) and I got a refund which is nice.

NOW!

About that OTHER laser:

This is the one I'm going to pick up after the dishes - I'll run down to the local depot where they dropped it off, I'll buy a spare battery, take pics, etc.. and get this review up and running with pics. *I might at the same time take apart that OTHER one that's broken and take pics of that too so everyone knows what's inside and WHY they're so cheap*

Re: 50mw green laser review (from ebay)

Okay, so I got the laser just a few minutes ago. Without a battery. I imagine for some stupid reason customs might have taken it but I'm going to ask the seller about it too (Or see if it says "batteries not included" in the post)

Anyway, I have PICS!! Now I'm by no means a photographer, and moreso I have a cheaper camera that isn't exactly good for macro shots but I did my best.

Also, I don't have this type of battery - it looks like it takes a weird size, so I'll have to stop off at the mall a little later and pick up a few. I never thought to get one while I was at the post office, but then I doubt they'd carry unusual batteries like these anyway lol


So: ON TO THE PICS!!


My first impression was to see a pretty small box that it was sitting in. It's a nice box, does it's job I guess.




The laser itself is QUITE small compared to what I was picturing. The duty cycle the little guide that came with it says 10sec on, 20-30 sec off. I've not bothered to open it up to see inside exactly, but we'll see what happens when I get to that point. I'd rather play with it first before breaking it LOL

Anyway, it's very heavy, quite solid feeling *I like that*
Looking inside, it looks like it's using a 500mw 808nm diode, but I HONESTLY can't really tell until I take it apart. I'll show you what I mean in a minute
When I look through the lens - NO IR filter. (mind you I looked into it with no battery so no chance of eye-frying lol) That I can fix though.
What I CAN see is that the lens looks to be of decent quality - not this plastic POS like the little silver one I have above.

Here are some more pics.



This is the button - it *IS* a click on/click off button type.

This is the inside of the endcap. It looks possible that like the GPL's, this is where laser power mods would happen. *but again, we'll see, I DO see a driverboard of some kind in there*





So this is just a shot of the lens



Now something else I just realized is that the actual laser module itself comes off - so I took some pics there too






Looks like it's a regular diode. I can't tell if it's 200, 300 or 500mw 808nm, but I imagine for 50+ mw, it SHOULD be a decent crystal (crosses fingers)

Honestly, I'd be happy with a 50mw stable laser instead of a 80mw unstable laser... but that's just me

Continuing on:

This one is simply a comparison to how big my hand is *which isn't that big* compared to the laser itself. Also, I have another pic with it next to one of those silver lasers you see on e-bay as well *same size roughly as a leadlight*




So that's what I have so far. When I get a battery for it, I'll get some action shots, so everyone can see what it's capable of, what it looks like compared to my other laser, etc..

I also decided while I'm taking pictures, I'll open up the silver one too so everyone can see what a POS this is.

Re: 50mw green laser review (from ebay)

Okay, I thought that I'd post 2 posts so I didn't lose everything in the first one and get it all put together.

This first picture is what it looks like dismantled. It's actually VERY simple to do: everything twists off!



The next two are the crystal assemblies. You can kind of see in that there's not a lot for heat protection, etc..




These next two are simply a look at the driverboard inside




I'll see if I can totally dismantle it and come up with something, though I'm not making any promises

Re: 50mw green laser review (from ebay)

okay, I took it apart even more, and was able to remove the crystals to look DIRECTLY at the diode. Interestingly enough, it's not sealed - it's all open. And still works as such too...

Here:






Take what you will from it, and I'll take it apart more if necessary - just let me know what you want me to do and I'll see what I can do for ya

Nice post! So... Out of what 3 lasers... None of them had an IR filter.

Exactly - welcome to Ebay hey?

So as an update I bought batteries *CR123 but I guess the 50mw takes CR2... interesting because the pic from ebay shows CR123*

So I ended up buying the wrong size... I should have tried them at the store, but I was in a hurry to get out. *sigh*

Whatever - I gotta go back tomorrow anyway, so I'll return 'em and get the right ones.

I'd have to go out to Wally World, but I'm a fiend and have no patients...

Are you happy with the performance and do you think it was worth the price? What did it cost, if you don't mind me asking?

Well, I did manage to "jerry rig" a power supply for the 50mw laser and I'd say it was WELL worth it. I paid about 100$ USD for the price of the item and shipping... I'd definitely do it again.

The mrad's are kinda crappy but it does what I want it to honestly! I'll try and get pics so everyone can see when I get my battery tomorrow!

This looks like a particular laser that Craig (The_LED_Museum) reviewed: 50mW, 532nm, CR2, tail clickie...

He posted a review on his site. Click in the navigation frame, and search for the following: "50mW CR2 Green Laser Module" (without the quotes).

Cool! I will check out that review too, thanks.

yesterday i also got my first pointer, the same as you did. I didn't expect to much from it because it a cheap one, but you got to start somewhere.

i must say it's a lot brighter then red one, it does have a lot of speckles around the dot though.

but after pointing it on a white wall at +/- 25 feet you can clearly see that the dot is getting bigger and blurry...

now i don't care about getting more power out of the module, but i would like to get the beam sharper.

your pictures show the module dismanteled. can you tell me if it is possible to adjust the lens so that i can get a better dot over greater distances?

you also say it is easy to dismantle and that it twists off, what did u use as a tool because mine is realy stuck and can't get it off, and i don't wanna risk it to get it scrathed badly...

if you can help me i would appeciate it.

thanx..

Well I ended up using pliers in the end *so yeah, NOW it turns easy lol* but the cheapie ones aren't that bad if you get a good one. The crystals mis-align really easy though. As far as opening, I used 2 sets of pliers - one to hold the case and the other to grab the very top to twist the end off. As long as you apply steady pressure, you'll be fine.

The actual module is threaded as well so the whole thing twists out unlike Leadlight where it's sort of pushed into place. from there though, you CAN adjust the lens in a minor way.

My evaluation of the 50mW green CR2 with tail clicky is right here if you wish to read about what a PWPOSMF mine has been.

Yeah, I just checked it - no problems - 45mw the best I can tell with my method (with the IR filter) *green led* however there's *NO* issue with the tailpeice now that I have batteries honestly!

I'll get action shots a little later, going to the casino for a little while

BTW: No instability problems here, it's solid as a rock and again my ONLY complaint is that the mrads kinda stink. I can't get a really tight focused beam from about 200 feet away. (seems to be about 1-2 feet wide at 200 feet ish)

5-10mrad huh? Wow that's pretty bad.

The_LED_Museum said:

My evaluation of the 50mW green CR2 with tail clicky is right here if you wish to read about what a PWPOSMF mine has been.

Click to expand...

LEDM - There is no doubt you are a valuable resource around here. Down with PWPOSMF's. :thumbsdow

In other news,... just heard a story tonight, about a friend of a friend who got an eBay 150mW green for $150 a couple months ago. I mentioned the IR filter safety thing, but not sure the message got through... I'll mention it again for sake of friend's friend's eyesight.

Bump for a good topic.