Carolina Biological Supply laser series, thoughts & review!

I recently purchased a 405nm laser pointer from the company listed below, located in N.C, USA:

Link: https://www.carolina.com/physical-sc...r?question=405

Below are simply my thoughts and what I think of the device!

At first, when looking for a quality 405 pointer I had a couple options: Get myself a cheap 405 laser that is mass-produced, buy a 405 from Sky-Lasers, get a GLP from CNI or try to find a source hidden on Google that sold some 405 pointers nobody has ever hear about. All the previously listed company would work well, but they either wouldn't be what they are rated at "<5mW", or the shipping is so expensive you might as well fly there to get it ;) So I did more searching and found CBSC. Well, this company, A.K.A Carolina Biological Supply Company was what I was looking for! I debated it for a couple days, then pulled the trigger. I waited a couple days and got this:

I ordered this via FedEx Ground, and they delivered 1 day early, yay! :thanks: The box is a standard brown box. Kinda looks like CNI ones to give you an idea, with labeling all around it. Getting it open was another story. They REALLY, I mean REALLY want this thing to get to you. They had a layer of tape, over it 2 lasers of labels, and finally 2 staple like presses to keep the tape down, lol :crackup:

Upon opening the box you are greeted with plenty of paper as a cushion, some paperwork regarding your order, and finally a mysterious green bag which contains your laser. Inside the bag is another box with labeling "VLP405" :shhh:

Upon removing the box with "VLP405" you are greeted with a black box. The texture is not matte, but sort of a glossy, snakelike texture. You know, a rough not perfectly smooth surface. The laser itself is very nice and classy, that's to be expected for a laser in this category. Surprisingly, the little paperwork with the blue marking seems to be the EXACT paperwork you get with certain LaserGlow & Z-Bolt lasers. Meaning a huge company must make all these quality pens, then distribute them to several companies. They seem to come in 635, 532 and 405. This is the only company I've seen sell these 405 pens, cool! 2xAAA's power this laser and go - side facing toward the aperture. Laser label says "LightVision Technologies" so one can guess this is where these pens are coming from?

Finally, I tested this little guy on my LPM to have a peak of ~3mW's. You won't be doing any burning with this, but's it's a true Class IIIR violet 405 pointer to shine around and not worry about blinding yourself or a pet. Being 405 it can fluorescence anything with a white color.

All in all, for $73 I honestly was expecting something of a *higher-quality* then those 405 pens and I was right. The pen is very classy, feels excellent in the hands, and outputs exactly what's it's rated as. Nothing much but top perfection here. You can't beat this. This company also seems to sell some 532 & 635 pointers. Personally, the 532's are a little pricey. Like $148 pricey. For only a Class IIa pointer. You can find better at other websites, like DragonLasers or SkyLasers. 405 wise, this is probably the best you'll find! :)

Thank you, :beer: :yh:
Alex