Finally getting around to writing this up!
For anyone not up to speed, this was a unit sent to me by Laser Pointer Store (https://laserpointerstore.com) for a review - I only had to cover shipping ($30 to Canada, DHL, arrived quickly).
Now to the review.
Shipping/Packaging
Shipping was quick, taking about a week to arrive from China after the tracking kicked in. Paying for the DHL shipping was certainly worth it, no 3 month wait like I experienced with the Laserlands unit.
Packaging left something to be desired, although the laser did arrive undamaged and fully functional. The box it came in looked like it had been thrown around on the way here, pretty bashed up. The laser itself came wrapped in bubble wrap, which seemed to have provided ample protection.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Instructions
The laser didn't come packaged with any instructions, although I was given them before hand by LPS. The batteries were already inserted so that wasn't an issue, and they did confirm the polarity by PM before I received the laser.
Initial Impressions
Man, this thing is pretty big!
The unit came with 2x 26650 batteries installed, unlabeled, just a plain wrap on them. Appeared to be fully charged at arrival. The large batteries are great, less charging needed, really adds some weigh to the already rather beefy laser too. The weight is nice though, feels good to hold.
The host feels solid, the finish is reasonable, there were a few small spots where the anodizing had been "chipped" off, but nothing major. Threading all feels smooth.
The power button is nice and solid, feels like it's decent quality. It's bolted directly onto the host, so no flex or anything there.
Features
Safety: The tailcap has a sort of "battery disconnected" on it, in the form of a screw in connector that connects/disconnects the battery. I'm not sure if I prefer this or a key lock, but this is certainly better than no safety features at all.
Operation modes: There are three modes with this laser, all easy to activate - really there's no fuss at all. I know some people have had issues changing modes on some other lasers with similar features.
The first mode is a "low" power mode, which is still Class IV in my case (see power tests). This mode appears to be a simple PWM mode, not yet confirmed but I suspect the diode current is the same with only the PWM reducing the average power/perceived brightness. Activating this mode requires only a single push of the power button. I'm waiting for my oscilloscope to show up so that I can grab some more information about this mode. The pulses are visible when moving the beam around rapidly.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Mode two is high power mode, this mode runs the diode in CW (no PWM), bringing up the output to full power. Again, easy to activate. Press the power button once to activate low power mode and then double press the button again to go into full power mode.
The third mode is a strobe mode, I have no use for it but someone might find it useful for signalling or something? I believe LPS referred to it as "SOS" mode, although it doesn't blink out SOS in morse or anything. This mode is activated by turning the laser on to low power mode and then holding the power button for several seconds.
Battery indicator: This unit also has a battery indicator on the underside of the host, opposite the switch, which consists of three blue LEDs. The indicator turns on once the battery disconnect is engaged. So far I haven't managed to get it to go down, I'll need to use it a bunch more, these 26650s are hard to drain!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Emission indicator:
The power button has a built in LED ring that illuminates when the laser is powered on.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Battery disconnect:
Nice simple battery disconnect on the tailcap, a key switch would be more secure, but this is far better than nothing at all. Very simple, it's really just a screw with a little tab that allows you to engage the connection by hand. One benefit of such a simple design is that it'll be difficult for it to break or wear out over time. A quarter turn is enough to engage/disengage this, although it can be completely removed too.
Disconnect inserted.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Removed completely.
Image may be NSFW.
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Screw when removed.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Focus Adjustment:
Didn't notice right away but the cap on the output end also acts as a focus adjustment, perfect if you like to burn things! Adjustment feels smooth. The lens is recessed into the end cap so you can't get the focal point super close/short.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Size/Appearance
Appearance wise this laser is rather generic, looking much like many other high power blue handhelds, I do like this style though. This host is rather beefy, but it feels good in the hand. The large size allows for a longer duty cycle as well as larger batteries. The finish is rather decent, it's not super high end but this would be more of a "budget" laser anyway, so for the price range this is perfectly acceptable.
There are some minor scratches/chips in the finish, nothing major.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Driver/Diode Access
Access to the driver is easy - the top/front end of the laser containing the diode screws off from the rest of the body which contains the driver/batteries etc. Mine came apart with little force, although Paul apparently had a little bit of a harder time detaching his. The diode is connected to the driver with some fairly long wires so twisting shouldn't be an issues.
Should be an easy laser to repair or modify.
Driver quality looks fairly reasonable, going by the large inductor near the output I'm going to guess it's a switcher. This should reduce waste heat/increase efficiency.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Output Power/Duty Cycle
Now for the most important part, output power! My results in high power mode are almost exactly the same as Paul's, with a 2mW variation in peak output (disregarding differences in meter calibration). I did see quite a difference in low power mode, with my unit doing at least 200-300mW more than Paul's.
Low Power Mode:
We see a peak of 748mW. The power was actually still slowly climbing when I ended the test at 175 seconds. Host was slightly warm after this run.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
High Power Mode:
Here we see a peak of 1646mW at around 50 seconds. It may be peaked earlier, but the slow rise time of my meter wouldn't be able to catch it. Power started slowly falling at the 75 second mark, reaching around 1620mW at the end of the 2 minute test. The host was warmer than on the low power test, but not so hot as to be concerning. I'd feel comfortable running it for 2 minutes on high power mode.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Beam Diameter/Divergence/Lens
Beam diameter and divergence aren't anything to write home about, rather typical for a 445nm at this power.
I ran some more tests today, and noticed that the far field beam diameter actually increases fairly significantly as the laser heats up, the modes really spread out. It goes from a nice thin stripe to more of a fat rectangle. I'll do some more testing to verify these numbers (I don't think these measurements are as accurate as I'd like) but the initial numbers are as follows:
Beam diameter at aperture: 2.1mmx5.8mm
Beam diameter at 13ft #1 (cold): 13.5mmx2.3mm = 2.85mRad by 0.875mRad.
Beam diameter at 13ft #2 (hot): 18.7mmx10mm = 4.15mRad by 1.05mRad.
Fat rectangle:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
I'll try and grab a picture of the thin stripe later too.
How does yours compare here Paul? Does your unit show the same change in far field beam diameter as it gets hot?
Output could possibly be increased by replacing the stock output lens with a shorter FL/wider aperture lens - at the expensive of divergence. It looks to me like the stock lens is clipping the beam a little. It looks as though the lens barrel has been melted a little bit by the diode's output. (Paul, can you verify if yours has the same mark?)
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Beamshots
Couple quick beamshots to finish up! No smoke used here, room fairly well lit.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.![]()
Final thoughts
This seems so far to be a decent handheld, at this point I'd recommend it to someone looking for a ~1.5W 445nm on a budget, assuming the price is similar to the Thor H series currently listed on the LaserPointerStore website.
Pros:
Hope everyone enjoyed the review. Let me know if you have any questions! :)
Hopefully didn't missing anything...
For anyone not up to speed, this was a unit sent to me by Laser Pointer Store (https://laserpointerstore.com) for a review - I only had to cover shipping ($30 to Canada, DHL, arrived quickly).
Now to the review.
Shipping/Packaging
Shipping was quick, taking about a week to arrive from China after the tracking kicked in. Paying for the DHL shipping was certainly worth it, no 3 month wait like I experienced with the Laserlands unit.
Packaging left something to be desired, although the laser did arrive undamaged and fully functional. The box it came in looked like it had been thrown around on the way here, pretty bashed up. The laser itself came wrapped in bubble wrap, which seemed to have provided ample protection.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Instructions
The laser didn't come packaged with any instructions, although I was given them before hand by LPS. The batteries were already inserted so that wasn't an issue, and they did confirm the polarity by PM before I received the laser.
Initial Impressions
Man, this thing is pretty big!
The unit came with 2x 26650 batteries installed, unlabeled, just a plain wrap on them. Appeared to be fully charged at arrival. The large batteries are great, less charging needed, really adds some weigh to the already rather beefy laser too. The weight is nice though, feels good to hold.
The host feels solid, the finish is reasonable, there were a few small spots where the anodizing had been "chipped" off, but nothing major. Threading all feels smooth.
The power button is nice and solid, feels like it's decent quality. It's bolted directly onto the host, so no flex or anything there.
Features
Safety: The tailcap has a sort of "battery disconnected" on it, in the form of a screw in connector that connects/disconnects the battery. I'm not sure if I prefer this or a key lock, but this is certainly better than no safety features at all.
Operation modes: There are three modes with this laser, all easy to activate - really there's no fuss at all. I know some people have had issues changing modes on some other lasers with similar features.
The first mode is a "low" power mode, which is still Class IV in my case (see power tests). This mode appears to be a simple PWM mode, not yet confirmed but I suspect the diode current is the same with only the PWM reducing the average power/perceived brightness. Activating this mode requires only a single push of the power button. I'm waiting for my oscilloscope to show up so that I can grab some more information about this mode. The pulses are visible when moving the beam around rapidly.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Mode two is high power mode, this mode runs the diode in CW (no PWM), bringing up the output to full power. Again, easy to activate. Press the power button once to activate low power mode and then double press the button again to go into full power mode.
The third mode is a strobe mode, I have no use for it but someone might find it useful for signalling or something? I believe LPS referred to it as "SOS" mode, although it doesn't blink out SOS in morse or anything. This mode is activated by turning the laser on to low power mode and then holding the power button for several seconds.
Battery indicator: This unit also has a battery indicator on the underside of the host, opposite the switch, which consists of three blue LEDs. The indicator turns on once the battery disconnect is engaged. So far I haven't managed to get it to go down, I'll need to use it a bunch more, these 26650s are hard to drain!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Emission indicator:
The power button has a built in LED ring that illuminates when the laser is powered on.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Battery disconnect:
Nice simple battery disconnect on the tailcap, a key switch would be more secure, but this is far better than nothing at all. Very simple, it's really just a screw with a little tab that allows you to engage the connection by hand. One benefit of such a simple design is that it'll be difficult for it to break or wear out over time. A quarter turn is enough to engage/disengage this, although it can be completely removed too.
Disconnect inserted.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Removed completely.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Screw when removed.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Focus Adjustment:
Didn't notice right away but the cap on the output end also acts as a focus adjustment, perfect if you like to burn things! Adjustment feels smooth. The lens is recessed into the end cap so you can't get the focal point super close/short.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Size/Appearance
Appearance wise this laser is rather generic, looking much like many other high power blue handhelds, I do like this style though. This host is rather beefy, but it feels good in the hand. The large size allows for a longer duty cycle as well as larger batteries. The finish is rather decent, it's not super high end but this would be more of a "budget" laser anyway, so for the price range this is perfectly acceptable.
There are some minor scratches/chips in the finish, nothing major.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Driver/Diode Access
Access to the driver is easy - the top/front end of the laser containing the diode screws off from the rest of the body which contains the driver/batteries etc. Mine came apart with little force, although Paul apparently had a little bit of a harder time detaching his. The diode is connected to the driver with some fairly long wires so twisting shouldn't be an issues.
Should be an easy laser to repair or modify.
Driver quality looks fairly reasonable, going by the large inductor near the output I'm going to guess it's a switcher. This should reduce waste heat/increase efficiency.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Output Power/Duty Cycle
Now for the most important part, output power! My results in high power mode are almost exactly the same as Paul's, with a 2mW variation in peak output (disregarding differences in meter calibration). I did see quite a difference in low power mode, with my unit doing at least 200-300mW more than Paul's.
Low Power Mode:
We see a peak of 748mW. The power was actually still slowly climbing when I ended the test at 175 seconds. Host was slightly warm after this run.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
High Power Mode:
Here we see a peak of 1646mW at around 50 seconds. It may be peaked earlier, but the slow rise time of my meter wouldn't be able to catch it. Power started slowly falling at the 75 second mark, reaching around 1620mW at the end of the 2 minute test. The host was warmer than on the low power test, but not so hot as to be concerning. I'd feel comfortable running it for 2 minutes on high power mode.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Beam Diameter/Divergence/Lens
Beam diameter and divergence aren't anything to write home about, rather typical for a 445nm at this power.
I ran some more tests today, and noticed that the far field beam diameter actually increases fairly significantly as the laser heats up, the modes really spread out. It goes from a nice thin stripe to more of a fat rectangle. I'll do some more testing to verify these numbers (I don't think these measurements are as accurate as I'd like) but the initial numbers are as follows:
Beam diameter at aperture: 2.1mmx5.8mm
Beam diameter at 13ft #1 (cold): 13.5mmx2.3mm = 2.85mRad by 0.875mRad.
Beam diameter at 13ft #2 (hot): 18.7mmx10mm = 4.15mRad by 1.05mRad.
Fat rectangle:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I'll try and grab a picture of the thin stripe later too.
How does yours compare here Paul? Does your unit show the same change in far field beam diameter as it gets hot?
Output could possibly be increased by replacing the stock output lens with a shorter FL/wider aperture lens - at the expensive of divergence. It looks to me like the stock lens is clipping the beam a little. It looks as though the lens barrel has been melted a little bit by the diode's output. (Paul, can you verify if yours has the same mark?)
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Beamshots
Couple quick beamshots to finish up! No smoke used here, room fairly well lit.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Final thoughts
This seems so far to be a decent handheld, at this point I'd recommend it to someone looking for a ~1.5W 445nm on a budget, assuming the price is similar to the Thor H series currently listed on the LaserPointerStore website.
Pros:
- Output power is as specified at 1.6W - at least going by what's listed on the website.
- Built quality is good.
- Features are good.
- Battery life is good.
- Duty cycle is good.
- Will need to do more testing, but the output lens could possibly do with some improvement. If the lens barrel is in fact being melted it should be switched over to a metal barrel. I will communicate with LaserPointerStore to get some more details here.
Hope everyone enjoyed the review. Let me know if you have any questions! :)
Hopefully didn't missing anything...