# Amazing Green Laser Review! Awesome Beam! Cheap!



## Mo13 (Jul 7, 2011)

This is my first review for this forum, and I hope it helps anybody looking for information on this particular laser. Hopefully there will be many more to come. So, without further ado:

BudgetGadgets 50mW CR2 Handheld
All ratings are on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best. Price is kept in mind for the ratings, so a 10 here does not necessarily mean it is better than a $500 50mW laser that has a 7.


First Impressions: 9
This laser has a very comfortable feel to it. It has a nice weight and a great tailcap switch which makes extended use a breeze. The dot is incredibly bright right out of the package with the included battery, so you won’t have to wait to play with your new toy. It might be too bright to use inside for too long without goggles, but outdoor use over distances is perfect (as long as it doesn’t reflect back into your eyes)! The price is only $31.10, which makes this laser a great buy for the common laser enthusiast, and the serious spender.

Shipping/Packaging: 10
Shipping was free and took only *8 DAYS* from China to Florida, which is by far *the fastest* shipping I’ve ever experienced from a China based website. The laser came in a bubble-wrap padded envelope and was labeled as a gift with a $10 value.






The option of including a padded tin gift box is offered for an additional $2.33, but I opted not to get it since the laser is for me and not a friend. There is one 3.0V CR2 battery included, but I recommend buying a few rechargeables to save money in the long run.





Unlike DX, BudgetGadgets does ship to the US. I experienced no problems getting the laser through customs.

Build/Design: 7
The laser is made up of three parts: The tailcap, the body, and the head which houses the diode. All three components screw together smoothly and tightly, with no wobbling on the inside or out (a major issue with my LS50 Pen-Style).





The on-off tailcap switch has a solid design and, as stated before, makes extended use for experimenting very easy.
The diode is held in place with two drops of glue. This could make removing a bit of a challenge, but still possible for skilled hands.
The material seems to be brushed aluminum, giving it a beautiful medium-gloss shine. The smoothness of the metal makes it a bit slick in the hand; however the included strap will prevent any accidental dropping when in clumsy hands.





Compared to the LEDShoppe 50mW Pen-Style: Over 9000!
Without any exceptions, _the BG50 greatly surpasses the LS50 in every way imaginable! _
The LS50 (LEDShoppe.com) is a popular pen-style laser recommended to me as the best “Beam Laser” available for under $50.





While the beam is impressive in the night sky, it’s almost invisible in a lit room and the divergence is so poor, the beam disappears after only 50ft (15.24m). At a distance of only 10ft (3.05m), the dot from the LS50 measures 1cm, and is surrounded by a circle of spill with a radius of 1.5ft (.5m). At 120ft (36.6m), the dot from the LS50 is the size of a Frisbee, and the spill covers a whole doorway!





It bears repeating: The BudgetGadgets 50mw surpasses the LEDShoppe 50mW in every category, and I will list the details of the BG50’s performance below.

Visibility/Performance: 8
*Dot- *The dot of this laser is remarkably small at close ranges (>20ft, >6m); I estimate it to be no more than 2-3mm. The quality is a clean TEM00, even at greater distances. At 10ft (3.05m), the dot’s spill only measures with a radius of 1.5in (3.8cm). (Sorry, the glare in the picture makes it appear larger. The bright center is the dot and spill.)





Goggles are required for any up close work, since the dot is so bright. At night, the dot is bright enough to compromise your night vision, so keep that in mind when using it for stargazing.
Here is a picture comparing the dots of the BG50 (left) and the LS50 (right).





*Beam-* In a well lit room, the beam is visible and razor thin. In a dimmed but still lit room, the beam is easily visible and impressively bright. Neither of these compare to the beam at night, which cuts through the air like a wire and seems to go on forever. It’s almost too bright to point out stars, since looking at the beam is enough to make you lose your night vision temporarily. In the simplest terms: The beam is more than enough to impress anyone around, and will leave your friends jealous. ;-)
My cheap point-and-shoot camera cannot perform well enough to get a beam shot in a lit room, but here are some night shots of the beam. Again, I have a very cheap camera and these pictures really don’t do the beam justice.















*Divergence-* The divergence (how big the dot gets as it gets farther away) of this beam is great at only 1.51mRads. For those of you unfamiliar with mRads, I’ll make it simple by saying that the dot from the laser only measured 2.25in (5.72cm) at a distance of 120ft, which is a really good divergence compared to other cheap lasers shown (see the LS50above).





Burning: 5
Although 50mW lasers are not usually intended for burning, this laser does possess some burning capabilities. While the laser cannot engrave or produce smoke on hard black plastic, it is able to burn a hole through a black garbage bag in less than 5 seconds, and cut through electrical tape in less than 7 seconds. Also, in less than 5 seconds, it can pop black balloons from up to 5ft (1.5m) away.

Overall: 9
This laser’s performance went above and beyond all of my expectations for such an inexpensive device. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to buy a high quality greenie without breaking the bank. This laser also makes an excellent gift for any geek. One thing I can’t stress enough is that *THIS IS NOT A CHILD’S TOY!* This laser *CAN* do serious damage if pointed in the eye of any person or animal, and should always remain in mature hands. That being said, it’s an excellent product at an incredible price.

Feel free to ask me any questions about anything I may have left out or made unclear.


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## Mo13 (Jul 20, 2011)

UPDATE! There is now a YOUTUBE VIDEO REVIEW for this laser! The video can be seen here.


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## bshanahan14rulz (Jul 20, 2011)

Your other laser's lens is dirty. qtip + 91% isopropyl worked for me.


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## Mo13 (Jul 21, 2011)

I tried compressed air and a Q-tip back and forth a few times. Nothing changed. It's just a very sloppy laser.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.


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## matthewcyho (Jul 22, 2011)

where can i get the green laser ?


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## bshanahan14rulz (Jul 22, 2011)

Re: cleaning: qtip will make it worse if it's dry. Seriously, try the qtip dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol. If you don't have rubbing alcohol, get some. It's good for disinfecting shallow cuts too, so it's worth having anyways. I made a custom 140mW DPSS 532nm, but its beam degraded noticeably and looked very much like that, except more widely distributed. Its power was also quite reduced, to around 100mW. After cleaning, it was right back up there at ~140mW, and the dot was clean as a whistle. It won't fix your divergence, but more of that scattered light will stay in the beam.


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## Mo13 (Jul 22, 2011)

matthewcyho said:


> where can i get the green laser ?


 
The moderators asked me not to post the link here. If you go to the youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXK_H9h-BU you will find the link to the laser in the description.


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## Mo13 (Jul 22, 2011)

bshanahan14rulz said:


> Re: cleaning: qtip will make it worse if it's dry. Seriously, try the qtip dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol. If you don't have rubbing alcohol, get some. It's good for disinfecting shallow cuts too, so it's worth having anyways. I made a custom 140mW DPSS 532nm, but its beam degraded noticeably and looked very much like that, except more widely distributed. Its power was also quite reduced, to around 100mW. After cleaning, it was right back up there at ~140mW, and the dot was clean as a whistle. It won't fix your divergence, but more of that scattered light will stay in the beam.



I'll give it a try. I'll make sure to post back and let you know how it goes.


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## matthewcyho (Jul 22, 2011)

Mo13 said:


> The moderators asked me not to post the link here. If you go to the youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoXK_H9h-BU you will find the link to the laser in the description.


 
Thanks you :wave:


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## matthewcyho (Jul 22, 2011)

what can the laser burns :wave:?


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## Mo13 (Jul 23, 2011)

matthewcyho said:


> what can the laser burns :wave:?


 
It can pop black balloons, and burn through black garbage bags and the popped balloon rubber (I show this in the video). If you are patient, it can slice through black electrical tape, but it takes about a minute.


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## matthewcyho (Jul 25, 2011)

I got one more question, will the laser burns my eyes ?


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## DM51 (Jul 26, 2011)

matthewcyho said:


> I got one more question, will the laser burns my eyes ?


If you need to ask that question, you have no business in this forum.


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## Mo13 (Jul 26, 2011)

DM51 said:


> If you need to ask that question, you have no business in this forum.


 
Thanks for taking care of that one for me.


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## Bigmac_79 (Jul 28, 2011)

Does anyone know if the 2xAAA green lasers available from budgetgagets.com are comprable in quality to this one? This looks like a great choice (the tight beam is one of my biggest priorities in a laser) but I would prefer to use AAA's over a CR2 for the shape and the availability of AAA's.


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## Mo13 (Jul 29, 2011)

While I have not ordered the pen-styles from Budgetgadgets, my overall experience with them is that they usually cannot live up to the quality of most CR2 powered lasers. I realize how general that statement is, but I'll stand by it.

Budgetgadgets offers rechargeable CR2 batteries with this laser, and they also sell a charger to go with them. I only own 2, but I've never needed more than that.


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## SATCOM (Aug 1, 2011)

Good review, thanks for taking the time to post.


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## LEDAdd1ct (Aug 1, 2011)

Very clean, simple review, with great beam shots. I enjoyed reading it, and look forward to more. 

LEDAdd1ct


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## Mo13 (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks, you guys. Funding is a bit of an issue, but I promise I'll make more as soon as I get new lasers.


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## Mo13 (Aug 17, 2011)

bshanahan14rulz said:


> Re: cleaning: qtip will make it worse if it's dry. Seriously, try the qtip dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol. If you don't have rubbing alcohol, get some. It's good for disinfecting shallow cuts too, so it's worth having anyways. I made a custom 140mW DPSS 532nm, but its beam degraded noticeably and looked very much like that, except more widely distributed. Its power was also quite reduced, to around 100mW. After cleaning, it was right back up there at ~140mW, and the dot was clean as a whistle. It won't fix your divergence, but more of that scattered light will stay in the beam.


 
I know it took FOREVER, but I FINALLY got around to trying this. I swabbed the lens exactly how you described three times in a row and then tried it out. Unfortunately, it had a very small effect on the spill. It helped a little, but it still only cut out maybe 15% of the spill from the laser. It still looks very unimpressive at longer distances.

I appreciate the help, though! I did the same to the rest of my lasers and found it worked very well at cleaning up the dots. It even made the beams on my 532nm lasers appear to shine a little bit brighter, although this might just be my imagination . Still, I will definitely recommend this method to anyone experiencing the same problem as me in the future. :thumbsup:


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## black_ice_pc (Aug 17, 2011)

I'm glad you're enjoying your bg laser. I bought from them once and never will again. I too bought a 50mW, although a different model. It ended up about the same brightness as the random 5mWs you see on dx etc, so I was approved for a return, at my expense. Oh well, better to pay shipping than to have a weak $35 laser. So I sent it back, waited about 2 weeks and emailed them, asking if they'd received. No response. I emailed about 5 times and never got a response. So I ended up about $40 down the hole with nothing. Just my experience with them, I know they have plenty of other happy customers. I'll never buy there again though most likely.


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## Mo13 (Aug 19, 2011)

That's unfortunate to hear. My communication with them was excellent, usually getting a response in 24 hrs. I'm glad you shared, though. It only takes one bad transaction to ruin a reputation.


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## Pie (Aug 20, 2011)

Thanks for the great review. Most of my lasers are under 1mW cause of Australia rules and i'm quite jealous of such a strong laser.


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## Mo13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Pie said:


> Thanks for the great review. Most of my lasers are under 1mW cause of Australia rules and i'm quite jealous of such a strong laser.


 
I'm not sure how strict your customs are, but I live in the U.S. with the same laws, and these lasers are easy to ship into the country. BudgetGadgets marks the envelope as a $10 Flashlight, and that's enough to pass it through.


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## Pie (Aug 20, 2011)

Mo13 said:


> I'm not sure how strict your customs are, but I live in the U.S. with the same laws, and these lasers are easy to ship into the country. BudgetGadgets marks the envelope as a $10 Flashlight, and that's enough to pass it through.


 Aus Customs are quite strict. Once, i ordered a '1mw' marked legal green laser off ebay from Hong Kong. Customs tested it to be around 20mw and confiscated it with a warning letter. The laser was even marked as 1mw.


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## moderator007 (Aug 20, 2011)

Can you buy a more powerful laser module and install it yourself.
Will the module get threw customs or do they restrict that too?


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## Pie (Aug 21, 2011)

moderator007 said:


> Can you buy a more powerful laser module and install it yourself.
> Will the module get threw customs or do they restrict that too?


 Yes you can do that. Custom only confiscates complete laser pointers powered by batteries. So lab lasers are fine and so are diodes.


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## moderator007 (Aug 21, 2011)

Here's one thats a pen style if you can get your hands on a pen style host. Most have been measured at over 100mw to 140mw. I have seen one review of one at 80mw. But still a good deal.
I have one ordered so I will let you now how it does if you would like.
When it ever gets here.


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## Mo13 (Aug 21, 2011)

moderator007 said:


> Here's one thats a pen style if you can get your hands on a pen style host. Most have been measured at over 100mw to 140mw. I have seen one review of one at 80mw. But still a good deal.
> I have one ordered so I will let you now how it does if you would like.
> When it ever gets here.


 
Thanks for that link! I've been looking for a beginner build and that looks very doable to me. I even have a spare pen host. Once I get money, that diode is definitely on my list!


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