# Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated 2)



## Chief117 (Apr 27, 2006)

I recently recieved a Hercules-450mW unit from www.LaserGlow.com. I am now reviewing it. 

First impressions: 
The box is big, and when I first opened it the first thing I noticed was - - - foam. Tons of it. Shock resistant foam. Inside all of that is a static resistant bag with the Hercules inside of it. It comes with instructions and guidelines. Its a large unit, but it beats my benched modules by far. Here are some pics: 

The unit: 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616171944.jpg&s=x402 

Next to a pop can: 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/10422063514.jpg&s=x402 

It runs on 3x "D" Batteries: 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616125776.jpg&s=x402 

Next to an Inova X5: 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616161596.jpg&s=x402 

The next thing that I noticed was the keys. One of them has a key ring with two keys on it. The other is like a DC jack with a bit of wire on the back. The first one fits rather loosely, but is secure. The second one is VERY secure. 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616150036.jpg&s=x402 

The moment of truth: I turned it on. The blue indicator LED is REALLY bright. The delay is actually more like five seconds than two. But the wait is worth it - - - WOW. 

I was so proud of this pic that I actually sent it to LaserGlow.com! 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616103516.jpg&s=x402 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616365528.jpg&s=x402 

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=4/11616375957.jpg&s=x402 

_____________________________________________________________________ 

Matches, less than a second. 
Tape, 0.5 seconds. 
Trash bags, wrote my name in the same time i could with a pencil. 
Popcorn, 4 seconds 
Baloons, how fast can you say pop? 

I am going to take shots tonight of it outside. When I take it to my lab on friday I will measure power. VERY stable, right out of the box. No visible fluctuations at all. Beam diameter is very tight, you can see that from the pics. 

Over the coming weeks I will continue to update this review, with more pictures and opinions. 

One more thing - - - To all laser owners - - - when your laser came it was really bright, right? Did it seem to degrade slightly in power? I think that its just my imagination, and I am just getting used to the beam's brightness. Has anyone else experienced this? Will measure power tomorrow. 

Hey Spyder, get out of the way.

May 1st, 2006: I have noticed an interesting characteristic of this unit. When left alone for a few minutes, the internal fan slows down upon the next powerup. But when turned off and than on a few times, the fan is so good that the laser actually vibrates. The speed of the fan makes only about 30mW of difference, but I just wanted to point this out. Also, I laserchecked it on friday. Its seems that laserglow.com was spot on with their average readings, I am getting an average of about 456mW. Also, laserglow.com informed me that putting a small fan next to the heatsink helped power and stability. Boy were they right. The output power jumps about 23mW and the stability increases significantly. Even blowing on the heatsink with your own breath raises the output slightly. Wanted to point that out as well. Its raining right now, its expected to stop around 8:00 tonight. Guess what? FOG! Will take pics. On a final note, the hercules is working very well for the application that I am using it for, and I will take it back next friday for another series of usage.

May 9th, 2006: I noticed something interesting that might affect all green lasers. I took it out on my porch and I shined it up in the sky, and I noticed that it actually looked alot brighter against the lighter areas of the sky than the darker ones. I live on the outskirts of the city of Chicago, and the clouds reflect street lights. They look brown. Definately lighter than the pitch black sky. And yet the beam is alot brighter against them than the clear sky. Also, another interesting feature. The divergence on this laser is fabulous. But it seems that right at the very end of the beam it seems to widen more than along the length of the beam. Sort of like this:
..................................,,,,,,, I just thought that I would post this, has anyone else noticed this?

May 9th, 2006
Just tested it randomly, peak output with a fan is 477mW.


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## Snee (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

:rock:Truly awesome man.​


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## Chief117 (Apr 27, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

The rest of you are going to leave me hanging?


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## Yobresal (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

Nice laser Chief, I am going to go with voltage. The power is dropping with battery power.


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## Athoul (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

There could be a few things that might cause this. I tried to address this on Wickeds forum where you posted it also, but it could be due to a burn in process or the heat generated is causing the diode to shift every so slightly in frequency such that the output drops a tad. Same goes for the crystals, as they get hot they change their dynamics, though of course this can also be just the initial spike of the laser you are seeing and should not really be considered part of it's output. So it's hard to say exactly, though I know what you are describing. I'm going to go with it being either an initial spike, or a diode freq shift due to heat(this will be tiny, say like from 808nm to 809nm).


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## TENMMIKE (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

WOW


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## Chief117 (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

Heh, it was the voltage. New batteries in, good as new.


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## AJ_Dual (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

A lightsaber alone, does not a Jedi make...

Wise in the ways of the force, he must be.


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## pb_paulie_b (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

Thats ungodly power. With that much power EVERYTHING is reflective


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## mobile1 (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

better wear those goggles.


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## fluorescent (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

the Hercules on the website only goes up to 350 how did you manage to get a 450? what did it set you back?


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## pixar (Apr 28, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

Hi,

Wow - what a laser - not sure what I am more surprised at, the power or the size of the beast  Larger than I had gathered from pictures I had seen on their site.

So far I have a red laser / led torch and a 100mw greenie on route to me - I hope customs do not stop it or charge the earth.

If it arrives I will be too worried to turn it on until I get the glasses sorted out. I have no way to check power at present and have worries about IR radiation in case the filter is faulty or gets dislodged.

Be nice to get more details of the Hercules as and when you get time to play.


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## Pixel (Apr 29, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)*

I don't get it. For half that money you can get 1000mW green or red laser module or 200mW Blue laser module. True - the laser modules with power supply are not quite portable. But neither is Hercules.


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## blindside (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

Hey YEA F*CK right!

The herc is like carrying around a frickin laptop and trying to like shine with it. The thing takes 3, yes 3 D batteries, and the piece comes ina box like a frickin dell pc. The beam is supposedly solid, but at that cost, for 10 stinking pounds and 1 foot long to lug around, I think not. Plus, a bit of water and the thing is ruined, the heatsink gets fried, and wait a second, IT NEED ITS OWN HEATINK!!!! anyone else think that is stupid? Ads weight and size, and who really is leaving thei laser on for like 4 hours, come on you'll end up spending like $2,000 a yeaer on D batteries. The herc 300-400 is bs, bottom line. And this "review" with video is a load of hogwash spam BOO BOO  
where are the real lasers? the ones that work and don't weight 100 lbs, and cost 20$ to light up with 5 lbs of batteries, laser stinks. Sorry to anyone who got their *** handed to them on the price. Idk, for the cost the spyder beat it, and I can take the thing 200 feet underwater? COME ON, thats ridiculous. Thinklasers and wickedlasers have em, idk who else. But these def outdue any herc, half the size, feels great, idk cost less. No lugging around 15 lbs of gear. Anyone actually use a spyder though? are they as bad *** as they look, and do they really go for 80,000 hours? idk, but sounds ridic.


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## bootleg2go (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

I would take this "review" with a grain of salt.
Chief117 was recently banned over at the WL forums after it was found and the recordings posted in the WL forums show that the voice on Chief's hercules 450 video and voice as the owner of laserglow were very similar.

Jack


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## Kiessling (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



blindside said:


> Hey YEA F*CK right!
> 
> The herc is like carrying around a frickin laptop and trying to like shine with it. The thing takes 3, yes 3 D batteries, and the piece comes ina box like a frickin dell pc. The beam is supposedly solid, but at that cost, for 10 stinking pounds and 1 foot long to lug around, I think not. Plus, a bit of water and the thing is ruined, the heatsink gets fried, and wait a second, IT NEED ITS OWN HEATINK!!!! anyone else think that is stupid? Ads weight and size, and who really is leaving thei laser on for like 4 hours, come on you'll end up spending like $2,000 a yeaer on D batteries. The herc 300-400 is bs, bottom line. And this "review" with video is a load of hogwash spam BOO BOO
> where are the real lasers? the ones that work and don't weight 100 lbs, and cost 20$ to light up with 5 lbs of batteries, laser stinks. Sorry to anyone who got their *** handed to them on the price. Idk, for the cost the spyder beat it, and I can take the thing 200 feet underwater? COME ON, thats ridiculous. Thinklasers and wickedlasers have em, idk who else. But these def outdue any herc, half the size, feels great, idk cost less. No lugging around 15 lbs of gear. Anyone actually use a spyder though? are they as bad *** as they look, and do they really go for 80,000 hours? idk, but sounds ridic.



blindside ... your posting style, your language and your ad hominem attacks and general attitude do not fit well within our atmosphere at CPF. Please take 7 days off to reconsider your behaviour and style. 
You are :banned: for 7 days, and if you choose to come back, please make sure you comply with our standards. Thank you.

This temporary ban does not have anything to do with a possible truth in your statements, it is merely a consequence of a totally unacceptable first post.

In general, the world of lasers and the intrigues and fights within that realm are very disappointing. This here is no exception.

bernhard


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## Chief117 (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

First of all, the hercules weighs three pounds and its no heavier than carrying around a schoolbook. 

Second of all, I was banned from the wicked lasers forums, but not because of the voice comparisons. I recieved two spyder lasers, both 300mW, one was a replacement, and in ym experience they were both terrible. I posted that they were not very good on the wicked lasers forums. I switched to laserglow.com and they delivered an excellent unit. I posted that the hercules was fantastic on the wicked lasers forum. I was banned from their forums because wicked lasers didnt want me to tell everyone how great the hercules is after telling everyone about how bad the spyder was. The voice thing is just an excuse.



bootleg2go said:


> I would take this "review" with a grain of salt.
> Chief117 was recently banned over at the WL forums after it was found and the recordings posted in the WL forums show that the voice on Chief's hercules 450 video and voice as the owner of laserglow were very similar.
> 
> Jack


 
EDIT: I would also like to add that getting the two CR-123A batteries for the Spyders costs $14 and you can get 3 "D" batteries for half that.


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## Kiessling (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

Apart from all the intrigue and scheming I have to at least set some simple facts straight:



Chief117 said:


> EDIT: I would also like to add that getting the two CR-123A batteries for the Spyders costs $14 and you can get 3 "D" batteries for half that.



CR123 cells can be had for $1 per piece or a few cents more for quality cells. They aren't exactly expensive any more and offer great performance vs. weight and size. If someone is interested you can read more in the Electronics/Battery forum and have a look at the "CPF Specials" thread in the Dealer forum for the battery prices.

bernhard


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## Chief117 (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



Kiessling said:


> Apart from all the intrigue and scheming I have to at least set some simple facts straight:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
:huh2: Nope. Maybe if you buy them wholesale and than pay for shipping. At walgreens they are $7 each.


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## Athoul (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



Chief117 said:


> Second of all, I was banned from the wicked lasers forums, but not because of the voice comparisons. I recieved two spyder lasers, both 300mW, one was a replacement, and in ym experience they were both terrible. I posted that they were not very good on the wicked lasers forums. I switched to laserglow.com and they delivered an excellent unit. I posted that the hercules was fantastic on the wicked lasers forum. I was banned from their forums because wicked lasers didnt want me to tell everyone how great the hercules is after telling everyone about how bad the spyder was. The voice thing is just an excuse.



This is not why you were banned, there was nothing wrong with the posting of the Hercules unit. In fact there are postings of comparisons etc of Aries models and others over there. Wicked banned you because they think you are somehow affiliated with LaserGlow, it had nothing to do with posting of the Herc. I understand you may be upset and perhaps they may even be incorrect. I have been trying to help you out in this matter, however it's not right to shift the actual reason in order to make it appear different in another forum. Had the thread been a problem it would have just been locked. As far as I know it's still under investigation.

Anyway we shouldn't be bringing outside problems into CPF, I just wanted to make sure the wrong idea wasn't getting around. Back to the review.

cheers,


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## gregw (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



Chief117 said:


> :huh2: Nope. Maybe if you buy them wholesale and than pay for shipping. At walgreens they are $7 each.



Definitely "YES" on the $1 CR123.. Click here to go to Battery Station's CPF Special page, and about 2/3 way down the page, there are Battery Station branded CR123s available for $1 each.. Just make sure to list your CPF name in the comment field when ordering.

For a list of all dealer CPF specials, click here.


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## Chief117 (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

And they are coming to that conclusion from a voice comparison of two wildly different voices? Oh come on. Listen to that MP3 again. We really dont sound at all the same. You decide. 
Anyways, I discovered something else that I like about the hercules. When its warmed up, the fan inside makes the unit vibrate a bit. Nice!

Ok, fine, maybe you can find them online for $1, but that doesnt change the issue. If you look online you can find "D" batteries for a third of that each.


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## jkaiser3000 (May 7, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



> When its warmed up, the fan inside makes the unit vibrate a bit. Nice!



Why exactly do you find that "feature" nice?. Forgive me, I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just curious. Maybe you think you're getting a hand massage when holding it?, or maybe it tickles you? :lolsign:


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## Chief117 (May 8, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



jkaiser3000 said:


> Why exactly do you find that "feature" nice?. Forgive me, I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just curious. Maybe you think you're getting a hand massage when holding it?, or maybe it tickles you? :lolsign:


 
Its the same general concept as how a laser feels better if its heavier. It just seems more powerful.


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## tobjectpascal (May 8, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

But anyway, It's not something i would like to have to explain to customs while going on holiday, last thing i need is the feds getting up off their chairs to shoot me thinking, well god knows what they would be thinking if they saw that thing in my suitcase / hand luggage.


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## Kiessling (May 8, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

Please stop discussing the problems and issues of other forums here. CPF is not the platform for this kind of discussion.

Chief117 ... I do not care wether CR123 batteries are cheaper and/or better than D-Cells in your opinion, but I do care about misinformation posted and re-enforced even after a corrective post (mine).
The next time, please try to actually think about what others post and why they do it, and if your opinion differs, *ask* about it instead of flatly denying possibilities that lie outside your realm of experiences.

Batteries are a basic flashlight issue, and had you cared to use the resources this place has to offer you would have easily found out the truth. Flashlight geeks do use batteries, and generally know where to purchase them at what price.

bernhard


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## Athoul (May 8, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

Sorry to go off topic, but I saw that you were talking about batteries there for a sec. Does anyone happen to know off hand what the mah rating is on those Battery Station brand cr123's? If so feel free to send me a PM so as to not contiune to go off topic.

cheers,


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## gregw (May 9, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



Athoul said:


> Sorry to go off topic, but I saw that you were talking about batteries there for a sec. Does anyone happen to know off hand what the mah rating is on those Battery Station brand cr123's? If so feel free to send me a PM so as to not contiune to go off topic.
> 
> cheers,



Sorry for the off topic post, but you laser folks really need to take a closer look at the rest of CPF instead of only reading the laser section..  
Read this thread for a shootout of almost all available CR123s on the market...


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## Chief117 (May 9, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



gregw said:


> Sorry for the off topic post, but you laser folks really need to take a closer look at the rest of CPF instead of only reading the laser section..
> Read this thread for a shootout of almost all available CR123s on the market...



Yes, maybe online you can get anything for less. But if you look online for D batteries you can find them for less as well. Just because you can find batteries for less online doesnt mean that CR-123A's are less that D batteries. The fact remains, D batteries are less than CR-123A batteries. I went to walgreens today and wrote down the prices for batteries. 1 CR-123A battery: $7.99. A pack of 2 D batteries: $4.99.


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## Kiessling (May 9, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

:sigh:
I never said CR123 were less than D ... I merely corrected your false assumption that CR123 are $7 or such ... which would be a deciding factor for a possible buying decision on some units ...
CR123 are the best primary cells out there, and they are cheap now. Which is great.
And it is about time you realize this in the Laser Forum ... or you are missing all the fun  ...
bernhard


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## badinstincts (May 10, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

damn chief, chill out. I would still rather have a wicked 300mw because it does last nearly 80,000 hours or at least 25x longer than a hercules will, which would make it more valuable... they know they had issues, and hopefully they sorted them all out, why would you want a huge laser when you can have a small one that practically lasts forever... 100% constant use... dee dee deee


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## Black Sheep (May 10, 2006)

If I hear one more post about the cost of batteries I'm gonna kill something. This topic is about a review of a laser, come on people. 

...And offtopic, can somebody explain this emoticon to me  

A smiley with a piece of wood beating a horse? LOL


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## badinstincts (May 10, 2006)

"horse banger" umm, j/k

well, chief could you tell us 'when' you purchased the 300w wicked spyders? maybe that would clue us in on why you had bad luck with them. in the beginning they were still tweaking and tuning it, but I've read that they polished up and their lasers are doing well. Its great that the hercules is so great, but its advantage is that its soooo big so the manufacterer was able to cheat in a way... it would be great if we had a picture of a hercules 300mw and a wicked 300mw side by side.


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## jellyfish414 (May 10, 2006)

> well, chief could you tell us 'when' you purchased the 300w wicked spyders? maybe that would clue us in on why you had bad luck with them. in the beginning they were still tweaking and tuning it, but I've read that they polished up and their lasers are doing well.



Have you read the Wicked Forums? The latest and greatest were just received, and they're still broke. Apparently some folks have been waiting since December 2005 to get these. After paying $2000 they've gotten nothing but broken lasers, extra charges for shipping back to China and the grief that goes along with flushing 2k down the toilet.

The Laserglow unit may be ginormous, but at least it works, which is more than anyone can say for the Spyder.


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## badinstincts (May 11, 2006)

well i'm sure it was only a small batch, and obviously the people with the bad batch will go around complaining everywhere...


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## NairB (May 11, 2006)

Looks like Wicked have been hit by a pump diode manufacturing defect outwith their control!!

Everyone affected can keep the faulty unit and will be shipped a brand new Spyder at no additional cost.

Howz that for customer service!!!:goodjob: 

Wonder what folks will do now with their free spare units. 

Its just a matter of time before Wicked perfect the Spyder, im sure of that.

*BACK To The Herc Review......*

As for the Herc.....i love this laser also and must say the sharp crisp beam is whats really impressive about this laser.

By the way, hi Chief :wave:


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## Chief117 (May 11, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



badinstincts said:


> damn chief, chill out. I would still rather have a wicked 300mw because it does last nearly 80,000 hours or at least 25x longer than a hercules will, which would make it more valuable... they know they had issues, and hopefully they sorted them all out, why would you want a huge laser when you can have a small one that practically lasts forever... 100% constant use... dee dee deee


 
I dont mean to be rude, but maybe you might do a little more background research before making claims like that. The 80,000 hour lifetime comes from the n-light diode technology. It sais on te laserglow page that the diodes are either osram or n-light, meaning that some of the hercules series have the same 80,000 hour lifetime. The hercules also has the 100% continuous use, and I know that because I have to have it on for about 4 hours straight every friday. By the end of the 4 hour period, the laser is still putting out well over 350mW. Now compare that to 2 hour of lifetime.

I cant read any posts on the wicked forums anymore due to reasons that have already been discussed, but can anyone update me on how this most recent batch of spyders did? Was the divergence improved? What about the stability?

Also, a flaw in wickeds shipping contributes to the problems with the spyders. I have no doubt that before they are shipped they are all fantastic, but due to the "$8 waterproof flashlight" thing that wicked lasers has going, packages cant be insured. Seriously, what would you do if you worked for customs and a waterproof flashlight came in insured for the same value as a laptop?


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## NairB (May 11, 2006)

LoL Chief....you posted at the same time as me.

As you can read above, the new Spyders diode's or circuits relating to the diode was popping when new 3V batteries were put in. Apparently, the supplier of these diodes had found this defect but didn't inform Wicked of this.

Steve(Nexus) was not pleased and has sent out replacement units to all of those affected with those keeping the broken units at no extra cost 

Wish i bought a defective one now  

Anyways, the divergence has been improved and an addition IR filter put in place in front of the focus lens(protecting the lens as it acts as a little window)
I think they also changed the focus lens too!!
The switch has been changed to a silent mode stronger rubber switch that has two functions......1) You can press it to power the laser momenterily 2)press it harder to keep the laser on continuous.

Im wondering now if Wicked can change the driver to take rechargables.

Anyway, hope this helps you and others as to whats happening with the spyders.........and im nothing to do with Wicked LoL:lolsign: 

-NairB


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## tobjectpascal (May 11, 2006)

talking of taking rechargables, the driver board should not really care, i did a small test with 2 x 1.2 cells at 2.4 volts i got exactly the same power output as from two energizer 2 x 1.5 cells at 3 volts, the driver simply requires between a min and max voltage, or at least it does with my cheap leadlight which is now outputting around 20mW.



*completely unacceptable part of this post removed by Kiessling. See my post below.
bernhard
*


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## Timson (May 11, 2006)

Black Sheep said:


> ...And offtopic, can somebody explain this emoticon to me
> 
> A smiley with a piece of wood beating a horse? LOL





*FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE*

ie - A lost cause, a waste of time.



Tim.


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## Kiessling (May 11, 2006)

tobjectpascal ... I have several issues with your above post, which is why it is gone now.

1) we do not discuss the problems of other boards on CPF

2) posting hints and offering help to circumvent rules of other boards is even less encouraged, meaning it is completely unacceptable. CPF will not be used to manipulate other boards. What you did is far beyond any decent behaviour.

Please do not repeat such in the future, because there is a zero-tolerance policy on things like this, and it might result in a restriction of posting privileges.

bernhard


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## bootleg2go (May 11, 2006)

tobjectpascal said:


> talking of taking rechargables, the driver board should not really care, i did a small test with 2 x 1.2 cells at 2.4 volts i got exactly the same power output as from two energizer 2 x 1.5 cells at 3 volts, the driver simply requires between a min and max voltage, or at least it does with my cheap leadlight which is now outputting around 20mW.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Hi tobjectpascal,
Perhaps your driver board did not care, but it is not the only type or design of driver this is. Many do care, it depends on the design. The higher power units which use much more current can care quite a bit, even with type of battery. The voltage of the battery is only one part of the equation and is good to use if the device has an impedance of 100 ohms or more when operating. If the laser or device uses large amounts of current (low impedance) like a laser that uses 1200mA at 3V. That gives a resistance/impedance of the device & battery (total) of only 2.5 ohms. At this point, not only the voltage of the battery matters, but even more, the internal resistance/impedance of the battery.
A normal alkaline cell has an internal resistance of ~.35 to .4 ohms, x2 for two cells and your looking at .7 to .8 ohms when the device and battery total is only 2.5 ohms. This means that almost 1/3 of the total voltage of the cells (no load, 1.5 for alkaline) is dropped internally to the battery itself, so the voltage the laser or device sees is only 2/3 of the 3V or 2volts. But it get worse, as alkaline batteries heat up while being in use it affects the chemical in the battery which causes the internal resistance to increase even more. The reason NIMH cells do great in high current devices is that they only have about .1 to .14 ohms of internal resistance and it does'nt increase with battery use like the alkalines do.


Jack


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## blindsided (May 13, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



Chief117 said:


> how this most recent batch of spyders did? Was the divergence improved?


 
The third gen spyders have been released, much awaited I might ad, and the impvoements are breakthrough. The button has totally been redone, it is now silent, and has two modes. On/off temporary and on/off constant. When you press down firmly and "lock" the button down the beam stays on, press again to turn it off. But if you press the button litely, its just on at your fingertips. 

I really like the changes, the collimation is perfect, no more beam divergence. Also, i hear that the laser is being used by exxon mobile through sea test services to conduct underwater tests and repairs on pipelines and ships. Overall the Spyder series 3rd gen is definately worth a look. It feels to me like all the quircks are worked out.


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## comozo (May 13, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*



blindsided said:


> The third gen spyders have been released, much awaited I might ad, and the impvoements are breakthrough. The button has totally been redone, it is now silent, and has two modes. On/off temporary and on/off constant. When you press down firmly and "lock" the button down the beam stays on, press again to turn it off. But if you press the button litely, its just on at your fingertips.
> 
> I really like the changes, the collimation is perfect, no more beam divergence. Also, i hear that the laser is being used by exxon mobile through sea test services to conduct underwater tests and repairs on pipelines and ships. Overall the Spyder series 3rd gen is definately worth a look. It feels to me like all the quircks are worked out.



A switch that can do all that WOW! and 0 mrd beam divergence that is a breakthrough, it also deserves a double WOW!!


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## blindsided (May 13, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

well not a "perfect" beam, you can't take that literally, nothing is perfect.


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## greenlight (May 13, 2006)

*Re: Hercules is here. Fantastic. REVIEW INSIDE! (pics)(updated)*

This post could use some real pics.


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