# Looking for my first laser, Wicked lasers?



## z_TyJo (Dec 8, 2010)

I'm looking to purchase my first laser. I know about LED flashlights but I do not know anything about lasers. I am looking to spend around $50, but can go up to $100. I was considering the green wicked laser e3 but did not know if it is worth $70 or to spend $100 for 200 mW.

Thanks.


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## LegitBright (Mar 20, 2011)

I wouldn't purchase from Wicked Lasers because of there expensive pricing i'd rather get it used off someone or get it off dealextreme


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## Throwjunkie (Mar 20, 2011)

I agree. I build my own now but have bought good stuff in the past from O-like check them out 

Joe


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## Mantis (Mar 22, 2011)

z_TyJo said:


> I'm looking to purchase my first laser. I know about LED flashlights but I do not know anything about lasers. I am looking to spend around $50, but can go up to $100. I was considering the green wicked laser e3 but did not know if it is worth $70 or to spend $100 for 200 mW.
> 
> Thanks.


 
I have always had great experience dealing with wicked lasers. I had about 100 questions about lasers before I bought. I called and they were more than willing to teach me all I needed to know.

Mantis


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## jayflash (Mar 23, 2011)

Given the constant complaints about DX, is WL better known for their quality of products and customer service? I'd rather buy a more expensive laser if it's higher quality. I'm a laser newbie, so I don't know whether DX offers a similar product at a much lower price, or how customer service compares.


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## VegasF6 (Mar 23, 2011)

There is no comparison between the two. Wicked may be a bit over priced...or not depending on how you look at it. But, quality wise and service wise there is no comparison between the two. Don't trust there batteries though 

For a happy medium, consider o-like as stated above, rayfoss... Certainly used or new stuff on laserpointerforums. And our own jayrob is a very prolific builder.

For parts, consider stonetek.org and radiantelectronics.org.

I am not even sure who this post is aimed at anymore. If its you Jayflash, you are going to be limited to who your order from being in the U.S. At least, KD and DX are out.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Mar 23, 2011)

Vegas, you have no doubt heard about the WL incident with the cell that they originally shipped with the Spyder3Arctic or whatever it is blowing up. I heard recently that they started shipping them out with unprotected Sanyo 18650 cells, so they're working on being better, and that's a good sign.


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## VegasF6 (Mar 23, 2011)

Yep, I did. Good to know they are trying to remedy the situation. But now they have to concern themselves with end users running the batteries too low, and over charging them.

Since you too are active at LPF why don't you suggest a few more reputable manufacturers so I don't look like a shill


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## jayflash (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I've enjoyed the learning process of owning bright incans, then the LED revolution, LiIon and LSD cells, HID light cannons and now, finally, I'm indulging in lasers.

Learning from the beginning, is full of new science and excitement for me and I will appreciate any advice from those who've been into this sport for years. After eight years of CPF yet another aspect of photons has piqued my interest. Most cool!


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## bshanahan14rulz (Mar 24, 2011)

I have bought a few pen-styles from o-like with good results. Shipping takes a while, but that's to be expected. 

My green custom laser uses a P60-sized drop-in heat sink made by a certain pyrotechnician over at LPF.

Of course, you can't talk about the laser hobby without mentioning http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
I've gotten lost in there for hours at a time.


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## jayflash (Mar 25, 2011)

It seems to take a few weeks to a month between ordering and shipping from laser sites. Considering the quick shipment of other flashlight orders from the Orient, I'm curious about the long time frame for receiving lasers.


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## jayflash (Apr 15, 2011)

I took a chance and ordered from Wicked. Over one month later and they don't know when it will ship, so I cancelled. I hope this isn't typical, but it seems long waits are one negative aspect to acquiring lasers.


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## rhd (Apr 17, 2011)

6 months ago I would have shuddered at this recommendation - but I've actually been really impressed by the Dino Direct "power certified" line of lasers.

They're not exactly "typical chinese gadget site cheap", but I'm sure you can find one for your budgeted price of $70.


I ordered their "power certified" 300mW firedragon. I was skeptical, but it arrived fairly quickly, and LPM'd at ~350mW without much trouble, and even hit 400mW when I irresponsibly used 2x 16340s instead of 1x 18650.


Having said that, the battery spring broke off and I needed to re-solder a new one on. But in fairness to DD, I never bothered even asking them to do the repair - so who knows, they might have stood behind it had I requested so.


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## jayflash (Apr 26, 2011)

After six weeks the greem WL penlight laser still wasn't expected to ship so they refunded my CC and canceled the order. At least their service was prompt on the refund. I wonder how their 100mW, 2AA cell, penlight style laser would have compared to the 35mW, 123 cell, O-Like, which came in less than two weeks, for half the price. BTW, a RCR123 cell came with the light.

The green O-Like has a clearly visible beam and will be good for astronomy pointing. Are lasers similar to lights where a doubling of power is only somewhat brighter? Little info regarding runtime and the laser has a click on switch rather than momentary. Can larger size units like this run continuously? What's the minimum power recommended for a visible night time beam? Some have advised against too much power for astronomy. Thanks for your nube assistance.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Apr 27, 2011)

35mW is great for astronomy. Yes, often lasers will "saturate" the "sensors" in our eyes, so a 50mW dot might look just as bright as a 150mW dot. Like flashlights, a good way to compare two lasers is with a ceiling bounce. This will give you a qualitative analysis of the laser, although you need an actual power meter to get any real numbers. Something that comes up in lasers that doesn't apply so much to flashlights is the human eye's varying sensitivity to different wavelengths. You could have a 5mW green and a 5mW red, and the green would look a bajillion times brighter because our eyes see it more easily.

duty cycle in its ideal and basic form is how long the crystals can take lasing before they get too hot and start becoming irreparably damaged. In reality, you also need to take into account other things, like the components in the driver circuit. Just as an example, I own a ~130mW 12mm module. The driver board on the back of it is what gets too hot; specifically, a pair of piggy-backed smd resistors. I added solder to both ends to give 'em more thermal mass, but I still try to follow the duty cycle.

I ordered a blu-ray pen and a green pen from o-like. Other than the expected waiting (1-2 weeks, IIRC), they were great. Green pen that I bought has a great, clean beam, TEM00, low divergence.


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## elugelab (May 3, 2011)

If you can afford the WL prices, then why not buy a laser that has the quality to match the price tag?
Laserglow, Optotronics and CNI are top quality brands.
But if you're on a budget, then 0-like and Rayfoss are good choises. The LEDShoppe sells some pretty decent and cheap lasers too.


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## bnemmie (May 3, 2011)

I ordered a 500 mw green laser from them in June of last year. It arrived last month. Take that for what its worth. Yes I was not happy it took so long. But it got there in the end. And I am very happy with the laser itself.


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## jayflash (May 3, 2011)

I first tried WL because it was recommended here, but after a month they still didn't know when it would ship. I'm pleased they promptly refunded the $$, and because of that I may place a future order when I can wait for months.

So, even though the laser I got is much larger, using a 123 vs AA cells, I should limit the on time and not trust it for proper heat sinking? The O-Like's switch is a constant on type which would be good for telescope siting. What safe on-time might I expect. The laser hasn't felt warm yet, but I know that could possibly be due to poor heat transfer as well as larger thermal mass. Any further advice will be appreciated.


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## bshanahan14rulz (May 4, 2011)

With green lasers, you will know if it is getting too hot because you will see the beam do strange things, even though the laser itself may not be heating up very hot. It's best to stay within the recommended duty cycle listed with that particular laser, but generally speaking, going over by a little bit isn't going to hurt. 


Today I saw a double-ended blue laser at WickedLasers. I have lost all respect for this shady seller who sells a dangerous product like this and markets it as "the most dangerous ... laser we've ever created"
" the world's most powerful handheld laser now shoots backwards too" - Great, now not only can we fry our friends' eyes, we can fry our own AT THE SAME TIME!



WickedLasers, you make me sick. You might as well switch back to those dynamite sticks you shipped with the old Spyder Arctics; the Li Ion cells that blow up all the time.


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## 2100 (May 4, 2011)

Heh heh...."double ended laser", that's a good one from WL.


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## steviedezie (May 11, 2011)

IF you go with WL, you will get three things among others:
- an underspec laser
- crappy workmanship
- MONTHS of waiting for your laser.

the other things are: (relatively) expensive, horrible post sales support.


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## TyJo (May 12, 2011)

As an update... I started the thread a while ago and got some good advice and ended up getting the 200 mw waterproof red laser from O-like. The laser is fine, but I'm afraid of burning my retinas so I have it stored away, I never play with it.



bshanahan14rulz said:


> Today I saw a double-ended blue laser at WickedLasers.



Hahaha. I checked this out and it is remarkably stupid. I cannot believe anyone would produce something like this.


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## purplequark (Jun 14, 2011)

TyJo said:


> As an update... I started the thread a while ago and got some good advice and ended up getting the 200 mw waterproof red laser from O-like. The laser is fine, but I'm afraid of burning my retinas so I have it stored away, I never play with it.
> 
> 
> 
> Hahaha. I checked this out and it is remarkably stupid. I cannot believe anyone would produce something like this.


 

has WL or anyone else ever made a production UV laser to anyone's knowledge?

thanks.


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## Mad-Bassist (Jun 21, 2011)

*Customs troubles...*

You guys had better luck than me. I ordered a 50mW green laser from Wicked a couple years ago, and all I got was a package from China taped together with a slip announcing it had been confiscated by customs for not being FDA compliant. I had a black case with their logo and a product catalog to show for my efforts.

I e-mailed them, and they offered to try shipping another one. I declined and requested a refund which they quickly credited to my card, so I can't say they're bad that way. I just hope I didn't end up on someone's kook list. :tinfoil:

I went with Optotronics because they're domestic, and their 50mW pointer is pretty good (came with a paper saying it produced 57mW in their lab.) I sometimes use near-dead alkalines in it for cat use, making it as dim as my <5mW red pointer.


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## freakinrikan (Jun 21, 2011)

im also new at lasers, what are the options out there? I have heard of WL and buying from DX but what all options are there?


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