# bought green lasers from deal extreme ?



## larry2 (Feb 5, 2007)

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1257

have many people here bought a laser from these guys ?


----------



## cary1952 (Feb 5, 2007)

i am thinking also of these. Anyone?


----------



## Hemlock Mike (Feb 5, 2007)

30 mW and NO IR filter ?? How many mW of green ???
Thanks but I'll pass.

Mike


----------



## Led_Blind (Feb 5, 2007)

I got a 10mw version. The first one dulled after 2 batery changes so Dealextreme are sending a replacement. 

Anyways, 10mw is more than enough for my purposes


----------



## liveforphysics (Feb 5, 2007)

I bought a few. They were all called 10mW lasers, but some where brighter than others. They also are fairly dim when the case is very cold. This is a property of a KTP crystal, and is completely normal.

Compairing them with a couple CPF specials from AtlasNova that I know to be around 38mW, they appear to be around roughly half the intensity of a 38mW laser, which would be right on spec for a 10mW pointer(remember that eyes need to see 4 times the light to see double intensity). 

They have been consistant and reliable for me, as well as being easy on batteries. Great pointer for actually pointing to things, but if you wana play lightsaber, I think the CPF special is the hot ticket (assumeing he has any left).


----------



## SenKat (Feb 6, 2007)

That is a really odd deal - I bought several of that "model" from other sources, and they were all IR filtered - there was a huge difference between each model, though - one "50mw" unit was outputting over 125mw consistently. I guess you cannot judge a book by its' cover - I for one would not wanta non-IR filtered laser for "daily" use....straight IR for experiments (if you know what you are doing, and are adequately shielded is different) but the majority of folks buying these will be flashing them all over the place, beaming 50-100mw or more of IR everywhere they point them. Not a good deal in my opinion.


----------



## gadget_lover (Feb 7, 2007)

I bought the 20 MW version. It arrived today. 

It's very presentable (looks nice) and the dot is very visible on trees more than 2 blocks away.

It turned off street lights 1 block away.

The beam is clearly visible even at dusk.

It's all I wanted it to be, but I suspect that it's stronger than I should have bought. I read that less than 5mw is considered eye safe, whereas 20 mw is not safe.

I just took it to a field where I could measure the distance to a target. There's enough moisture in the air that I can see the beam clearly. I could also see the dot on a building 2/3 miles away (per my GPS). I was afraid to look for better targets since I could not clearly see what I was lighting up. And I was 1 mile from an airport.

Wow.


----------



## X_Marine (Feb 7, 2007)

I got one of those a few days back and I don't remember when I first tried it, but now after only limited use I see what looks like small splatters around the beam as if it had speckled spill. Does that indicate I have a faulty one by chance?.

I need to email them anyway for some items that haven't showed yet.
X


----------



## Led_Blind (Feb 7, 2007)

Hmm, mine did that... the beam went all spoty round the outside like it had a case of the pox. No itdea if that was my rough treatment.


----------



## r0b0r (Feb 7, 2007)

Sounds like the lens has gotten a little dirty... clean it (rolled up paper into a thin tube works, with a tiny bit of alcohol)


----------



## r0b0r (Feb 7, 2007)

Cheap greenies do typically have a fair bit of garbage in the beam surrounds, mine included. It isn't too annoying though


----------



## X_Marine (Feb 7, 2007)

Well I have treated mine like a gecko egg, even keeping it in it's case.
Seems as if something is misaligned.

I hope to speak with one that would know tomorrow and if so will report.
X


----------



## liveforphysics (Feb 7, 2007)

Everyone of my green lasers does the speckly beam thing if I ever stick it in my pocket.

What has always fixed it is very carefully wipeing off the lens with alcohol on a rag. I dont see how alcohol can effect dust, but for some reason it never clears up well unless I use alcohol.

Also, if you wipe in a circular pattern, you can never clear the spot up. Gotta wipe straight across the lens with just the right motion. Generally takes me about 10 tries of wipe, check, wipe, check etc. 

Very strange comment about this process. I have found that looking at the lens and wipeing until the lens appears optically clean to my eye generaly always results in a big ugly spotty beam. Often a quick wipe that appears to have leave alchol streaks in some place on the lens will be the wipe that yeilds a perfect beam. Might just be me, but it seems to be pretty consistant for me.


----------



## firefly (Feb 7, 2007)

Hi 
I bought a 50mW same brand and the brand it's newwishlaser you can find it in web, and i recently post pictures to this pointer to this url http://www.greenlasers.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1165615040/10 if somebody modifier it please post your result.
sorry for my bad grammatical


----------



## stevetexas (Feb 7, 2007)

To clean lenses, "AJ_Dual" posted earlier about using a coffee filter with no alcohol -- I haven't done it myself but he said it worked like a charm. The link below is the thread, check out what others said. Sounds like a cheap effective way to clean those dirty lenses. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/148854 

Also, keeping it dust free may be even better, here's a cheap way that works for leadlights. 


stevetexas said:


> I can't take credit for this idea, but I saw in a post that some bright guy used a flip top toothpaste lid to serve as a dust cap for his leadlight. I took this idea a step further and placed the IR filter (http://www.optics-online.com/IRC.asp?PN=IRC21-12R) into the lid and now I have a dust cap, IR filter, and lid for my leadlights.


----------



## X_Marine (Feb 7, 2007)

I must confess I had it in my pocket a few times as without a lanyard for the wrist I fear dropping it when walking. I was thinking I need some sort of sheath like maybe a clean cigar tube to clip on belt and then slip pointer in head first to keep clean.

I don't no much about these yet but from your discussion I would bet a nickle to a dollar these things produce some serious static electricity and one slip in a lint full pocket gives us Green fried eggs pattern.. lol

Hell I'll have to clean it now and I'm betting that works, and then tease it with some lint.. lol
Hey I bet a static free tack rag like used in painting would suck the dust right off.. have lots of them, I'll let you know.

Thanks for the tips, I think you fixed me up.. :rock:
X


----------



## 2xTrinity (Feb 7, 2007)

Hemlock Mike said:


> 30 mW and NO IR filter ?? How many mW of green ???
> Thanks but I'll pass.
> 
> Mike


Based on how bright my 10mW is, I would say they are advertizing the mW of visible. The beam is very bright, significantly moreso than much more expensive 5mW green lasers that I have seen. 

I actually only use it for starpointing right now outside, the dot is too bright IMO for any practical purposes indoors -- where a simple red laser works fine. This also means I won't hit a nearby window or reflective surface and catch an eyeful of IR. 

At some point I will probably mod the thing if I can find a suitable IR filter to put in, I'd feel more comfortable using it if it had one for things other than starpointing. Does anyone know where it's possible to get one?


----------



## Led_Blind (Feb 7, 2007)

I thought that due to the diferent wavelengths of light the IR out the end was not columinated and comes out as a flood.

That means little IR in the actual beam....

Is this right?


----------



## stevetexas (Feb 8, 2007)

I just opened up my father-in law's pointer (looks exactly the same as the one in the picture). Man, was it tough to open - I sort of screwed up the finish. 

Anyway, I did see a blue-green piece of glass at an angle (IR filter?) and what appears to be the photodiode for the APC. 

It was sold as <50 mW and the label confirms it. The output looks more like 3 mW on my meter (yep, less than 50 mW...) 

I tried to pot mod it but no luck. Anyone know the name of this pointer so I can do a search to mod it?


----------



## 2xTrinity (Feb 8, 2007)

Led_Blind said:


> I thought that due to the diferent wavelengths of light the IR out the end was not columinated and comes out as a flood.
> 
> That means little IR in the actual beam....
> 
> Is this right?


I belive this is true -- the IR that is coherent gets converted to green, it is the IR that "leaks" that escapes out the front if you don't have a filter (I've also seen photos taken with an IR sensitive camera and this is what you see, a sharp "dot" followed by a corona of IR similar to what you'd see if you had a narrow-angle IR led.


----------



## Led_Blind (Feb 8, 2007)

Right, so the unfiltered IR is not realy a problem unless you habitualy try to look in a high powered laser. 

I hope someone with more knowlege of greenies can chime in here. If you have no IR fiter how much IR is in the beam v's spill.


----------



## SenKat (Feb 8, 2007)

I cannot speak as far as total overall amount of IR spillage - BUT the IR power decreases incrementally with distance. It does get colliminated to some degree by the rest of the optics, but the majority comes out "in a flood" and the resulting spillage will NOT be to dangerous. I have a 1.2WATT 808nm diode that is fiber coupled - so not very well colliminated at all - and it is about worthless over a few inches. I will actually take measurements, and maybe we can come up with a generalized formula, like : output power of IR = power(mw) / distance or something similiar. I may be WAY off base, but that has been my experience thus far. I hope I didn't make matters even more muddy than they were before ?


----------



## gadget_lover (Feb 8, 2007)

liveforphysics said:


> Very strange comment about this process. I have found that looking at the lens and wipeing until the lens appears optically clean to my eye generaly always results in a big ugly spotty beam. Often a quick wipe that appears to have leave alchol streaks in some place on the lens will be the wipe that yeilds a perfect beam. Might just be me, but it seems to be pretty consistant for me.



It sounds almoust like you are making a partial mirror with this process. Is it possible that the main beam would punch through it (the haze) but the stray reflections would be reflected back or attenuated?


Daniel


----------



## Led_Blind (Feb 8, 2007)

SenKat said:


> I cannot speak as far as total overall amount of IR spillage - BUT the IR power decreases incrementally with distance. It does get colliminated to some degree by the rest of the optics, but the majority comes out "in a flood" and the resulting spillage will NOT be to dangerous. I have a 1.2WATT 808nm diode that is fiber coupled - so not very well colliminated at all - and it is about worthless over a few inches. I will actually take measurements, and maybe we can come up with a generalized formula, like : output power of IR = power(mw) / distance or something similiar. I may be WAY off base, but that has been my experience thus far. I hope I didn't make matters even more muddy than they were before ?




Its good to have this confirmation. I may now get their most powerful one


----------



## cuervo (Feb 9, 2007)

I just received their 5mW Expedit model for $26. It appears solidly made. The only cheap looking part was a poorly cut piece of foam that goes around the spring between the batteries and the circuit board. It was poorly cut and crooked.

I put each laser to an improvised IR test using an Xnite XDP filter between the laser and a MiniDV camera. This filter blocks visible light but passes IR. Both lasers appeared to emit about the same "brightness" of IR that reached the camera. Basically, what reached the camera was a bright white dot that appeared about as bright from each.

Taking it outside, I compared it to my Astro Aimer. The AA's beam is noticeably more visible but their spots seemed about equally visible. Below are a couple of photos inside from about 5-6ft and 3ft. The Astro Aimer is wider and is on the left and the Expedit is on the right.

5-6ft






3ft


----------



## SenKat (Feb 10, 2007)

Not completely on topic - just an observation - it appears that the one on the left has quite a bit of beam spillage - have you tried to clean the output lense ? It may help to "sharpen" the beam a tad bit - and cut down on the "artifacts" surrounding the dot a bit - I saw posted somewhere that coffee filters were good for this (unused, of course ! LOL !)


----------



## X_Marine (Feb 11, 2007)

stevetexas said:


> To clean lenses, "AJ_Dual" posted earlier about using a coffee filter with no alcohol -- I haven't done it myself but he said it worked like a charm. The link below is the thread, check out what others said. Sounds like a cheap effective way to clean those dirty lenses. https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/148854
> This addy didn't come across in quote so I'm inserting, check above for org. (http://www.optics-online.com/IRC.asp?PN=IRC21-12R).
> 
> Also, keeping it dust free may be even better, here's a cheap way that works for leadlights.


Never got to see pics of your cap & filter.
I'm thinking that sounds like a good investment for one of these untill we know a lot more about them.
Have you tested yours to see how effective the filter is?, and does it get warm after extended use?.

ThanX


----------



## kennieyk (Feb 11, 2007)

i placed a order for the 20 mw green the other day ! i dont think it has a ir fiilter ! how safe will it be if i use it like that ?


----------



## stevetexas (Feb 11, 2007)

I'm not sure how to post images here... I have the pictures of the filter/cap but I need to figure out how to get the pictures online here... I'll post them here for now, follow the link.

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1171231216/0

Steve


----------



## stevetexas (Feb 11, 2007)

X_Marine said:


> Never got to see pics of your cap & filter.
> I'm thinking that sounds like a good investment for one of these untill we know a lot more about them.
> Have you tested yours to see how effective the filter is?, and does it get warm after extended use?.
> 
> ThanX


 
I did a quick test with these filters - by no means definitive, but true to the graph posted by the company. Follow this link: http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=85790

Doesn't seem to get too warm, but I was only using a leadlight for a short while, 1 min or so max... 

Steve


----------



## senecaripple (Feb 22, 2007)

i just received the 20mw. it's quite bright indoors. i will test it out more in the next couple of days.
if this hold out, i may consider getting their 100mw for $100. not sure if that is a sales price.


----------



## X_Marine (Feb 23, 2007)

Looks good to me.
Just figure how to get that pastic chrome on it and it would sell.. ')

Thanks for the pics.
X


----------



## Ashton (Feb 23, 2007)

SenKat said:


> Not completely on topic - just an observation - it appears that the one on the left has quite a bit of beam spillage - have you tried to clean the output lense ? It may help to "sharpen" the beam a tad bit - and cut down on the "artifacts" surrounding the dot a bit - I saw posted somewhere that coffee filters were good for this (unused, of course ! LOL !)


 
IMO, a little alchol on a cottonbud does wonders! much better than tissue, which leaves little flecks behind sometimes. (have not tried coffee filters yet)


----------



## XP750 (Feb 25, 2007)

THANKS FOR THE LINK BRO!!
i've been looking for fifthunit ever since they closed down,
i bought a 30mw greenie from them,
after a week it slipped out of my hand and just died,
no green after that but i can see a dim red light if i look into the laser,
is that the IR diod?
did i just partially blinded myself?


----------



## liveforphysics (Feb 26, 2007)

XP750- Definately do NOT ever want to be looking down the barrel of any laser with batteries in it at anytime for any reason.

Sounds like the impact of dropping it knocked something out of alignment. It's likely repairable if you are clever.


----------



## XP750 (Feb 26, 2007)

haha thanks for the info dude,
i will never look into it anymore even if its dead,
well, about the laser, i sent it back to fifthunit for a replacement and guess what?
it got lost in the post...damn..
so now i'll be getting a 50mw from deal extreme.


----------



## Ashton (Feb 26, 2007)

Tell me, would you look down the barrel of a loaded .22 magnum and pull the trigger? 

Anyway, could be alignment, as said above, or the diode might have gotten damaged (my red got damaged and bare puts out any light at all --- but I fried it with too high an amperage) good luck with the new 50mw


----------



## johnny13oi (Mar 1, 2007)

how high would the mw have to be from deal extreme to clearly see the beam of the laser?


----------



## 2xTrinity (Mar 1, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> how high would the mw have to be from deal extreme to clearly see the beam of the laser?


It depends on the surroundings. In the context of starpointing outside at night time, the 10mW beam is highly visible, though a lot of this will depend on how many particles there are in the air to scatter the light. Out in the desert where there's less moisture/particulates in the air to scatter light you may need more power to see the beam. On rainy days my 10mW looks like something out of Star Wars though, and my pocketable LED flashlights pointed straight up look like the lamp used at the Luxor  

The 10 is also the max I would use indoors, as even the diffused spot on anything higher intensity than that IMO would be uncomfortably bright. If you actually want a laser to use _as a pointer_, 5mW is perfect -- safer, and the spot is going to be plenty bright as the eye is about 4 times more sensitive to green light than red.

For higher power green lasers accidentally hitting someone in the eye with partial reflections (glass windows, polished surfaces) can be more intense than a direct beam from a typical laser pointer, so be very careful. 

If you plan to use the laser almost entirely for outdoor use, long range pointing, and starpointing I'd go for the 20mW, it seems to be the best value. 50-100mW is cheaper in terms of $/mW but that much power is excessive IMO, especially considering the laser is run off 2AAAs, the battery life will be terrible as well. If you want enough power to burn things, you're better off going with a much more efficient high-power red laser (just uses a laser diode, not two inefficient conversion process to turn IR into longer-wavelength IR, then into green) since what matters there is the amount of heat you make, not how bright the beam looks.


----------



## johnny13oi (Mar 1, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> It depends on the surroundings. In the context of starpointing outside at night time, the 10mW beam is highly visible, though a lot of this will depend on how many particles there are in the air to scatter the light. Out in the desert where there's less moisture/particulates in the air to scatter light you may need more power to see the beam. On rainy days my 10mW looks like something out of Star Wars though, and my pocketable LED flashlights pointed straight up look like the lamp used at the Luxor
> 
> The 10 is also the max I would use indoors, as even the diffused spot on anything higher intensity than that IMO would be uncomfortably bright. If you actually want a laser to use _as a pointer_, 5mW is perfect -- safer, and the spot is going to be plenty bright as the eye is about 4 times more sensitive to green light than red.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the reply. I plan on using this for outdoor use only and mainly as a gun mount. I was looking for a laser with a highly visible beam but am not looking for a really expensive one. I basically want the effect of what was seen in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith during the gun battles. Thanks


----------



## Led_Blind (Mar 1, 2007)

2xTrinity said:


> It depends on the surroundings. In the context of starpointing outside at night time, the 10mW beam is highly visible, though a lot of this will depend on how many particles there are in the air to scatter the light. Out in the desert where there's less moisture/particulates in the air to scatter light you may need more power to see the beam. On rainy days my 10mW looks like something out of Star Wars though, and my pocketable LED flashlights pointed straight up look like the lamp used at the Luxor
> 
> The 10 is also the max I would use indoors, as even the diffused spot on anything higher intensity than that IMO would be uncomfortably bright. If you actually want a laser to use _as a pointer_, 5mW is perfect -- safer, and the spot is going to be plenty bright as the eye is about 4 times more sensitive to green light than red.
> 
> ...





Thats good advise there. I have their 10mw version for inside pointing and find that to be a bit bright at times. BUT using Ni-Mh cells brings that down a bit and gives guilt free lasing....

As for the 100mw version... it scares me


----------



## Snipermang (Mar 5, 2007)

i bought the 5mw version, but it has a metal button, i cant figure out how to remove it, or even if its modable, anyone have any info for me?

greatly appreciate it.





http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.91


----------



## comozo (Mar 5, 2007)

Has anyone taken apart these lasers if yes what problems did you run into when doing it ?


----------



## dr_lava (Mar 5, 2007)

Liveforphysics, have you bought and tested the 100mW version yet?


----------



## r0b0r (Mar 6, 2007)

Search for newwish \ new wish in the forum.
those are the brand DX are selling

people have managed to mod 'em, they're just a ***** to pull apart


----------



## Led_Blind (Mar 6, 2007)

what are the results of mods?


----------



## liveforphysics (Mar 6, 2007)

Dr Lava, No formal tests on the newest stuff yet. Its only a matter of me getting a day off, and somehow sneaking away from the girlfriend long enough to get to the college laser lab 

I will keep you posted with detailed testing and a formal product review as soon as I get the time. Worked 6x 12-16hr shifts in a row again, and when I get home I tend to watch my coral tanks for a couple minutes and head to bed. Microsoft = Slavedriver


----------



## bridaw (Mar 6, 2007)

Snipermang said:


> i bought the 5mw version, but it has a metal button, i cant figure out how to remove it, or even if its modable, anyone have any info for me?
> 
> greatly appreciate it.
> 
> ...



This pointer looks exactly like the one I bought from optotronics when I got my RPL and optics. I wish I saw the pointer at deal extreme first.


----------



## SenKat (Mar 6, 2007)

johnny13oi said:


> Thanks for the reply. I plan on using this for outdoor use only and mainly as a gun mount. I was looking for a laser with a highly visible beam but am not looking for a really expensive one. I basically want the effect of what was seen in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith during the gun battles. Thanks


 
Be cautious - the green DPSS - or ANY DPSS laser for that matter are fragile - the MCA can be knocked out of allignment pretty easily.... I have seen gun-mounted green lasers for fairly inexpensive - some folks have bought them from the dreaded ebay sellers, and been very happy - check LPF (Laser Pointer Forums) for full reviews, etc of those ones....I would htink you may be able to get off one , maybe two shots before the crystal assembly is cracked, or knocked out of whack before you would need a new laser....I do not know what caliber, or anything you are using - but try to get a laser made for that purpose, as it may last a little longer !


----------



## pseudonomen137 (Mar 6, 2007)

I had some problems with odd spillage to the side of the dot on my NewWish too (developed after a few hours), and I've seen the occassional poster with similar problems to mine. It is not something that can be fixed by cleaning the lens. One thing is for sure, whether or not these are true 100mWs, their quality does not match the ones you pay more for.


----------



## bozo (Mar 6, 2007)

how long did it take you to get your laser in the mail after you ordered it?, i just ordered a 100mw one yesterday and im trying to figure out how long it will be before mine gets here


----------



## Snipermang (Mar 6, 2007)

i usually get my stuff from deal extreme within a week sometimes two, i ordered my laser with some other items, this time i got the other items within a week and it had a note saying itll be a while longer for my laser, took about 3-4 after that to receive it. its not too bad, pretty quick from hong kong, i think


----------



## senecaripple (Mar 8, 2007)

did anybody get the 100mw pointer yet?


----------



## rmzalbar (Mar 10, 2007)

My roomate received his 100mw DX laser. Haven't tested the output power.

It runs well on alkaline AAAs. fully charged Nimh AAAs give *much* weaker output and are pretty much unusable.

The beam is thin and *very* well collimated. It's a clean, small dot even at long ranges.

His wickedlaser 65mw model (he measured it at ~75mw) can cut tape and pop balloons better, but the collimation issues that laser has means we get a needle-thin dot at close range, which must concentrate the effect.


----------



## r0b0r (Mar 12, 2007)

I pulled apart my 10mW NewWish laser last night. NOT bought from DX, but identical in appearance.

Had it in a vice and pulled the head off with pliers. Wriggled it around at first and then it started to give - just pulled hard. Be careful of the metal button though - you might want to dismember these pointers with button facing down, as it may possible get caught against the switch when you're removing it (which may snap the pcb).

No threading, just tight press fit. Wasn't overly difficult to remove.

Inside I discovered there is no pot. Oh well.

The reason I pulled it apart is because the switch was operating erratically.

Going to modify it to be tailswitch activated and perhaps stick 'er in an old maglite 2xAA

Woot.


----------



## 2xTrinity (Mar 12, 2007)

> It runs well on alkaline AAAs. fully charged Nimh AAAs give *much* weaker output and are pretty much unusable.


Hmmm. If you have a multimeter, could you check to see how much current that laser is drawing at the tail? The fact that the 100mW runs on AAA strikes me as a potential weakness as green lasers are notoriously inefficient. I'm guessing this will be drawing very high current, so 1.5V Lithium primaries may be a good idea for the 100mW.


----------

