I ordered the red one. You made me nervous about the blue one as I do not know anything about lasers and have no eye protection either at this time.
The blue one does scare me… It’s so powerful it pops balloons instantly, and can light a match on fire, but is so far in the UV that it’s less visible… A dangerous combination.
What do you think the real power rating of the blue laser might be, over 1,500mW? Funny how they are rated 5mW in order to be legal to ship.
I had a 2,000mW wicked laser and it took a couple seconds to pop black balloons, if this one pops them instantly then we are talking about a serious high power laser.
405nm bluray lasers can focus to smaller point because they are “single mode” diodes. A smaller more concentrated spot has effectively more energy in that tiny spot so it heats faster, pops ballons, lights matches. High power blue 445nm lasers are “multi-mode” diodes and can’t focus as small. Bluray diodes are single mode because are actually intended for bluray drives and single mode is required for that. Whereas high power blue 445nm is used just as a light source for projectors, single mode isn’t needed there.
Thanks for the explanations Halo.
I came across a picture that makes the point Halo explained in text above:
Note it’s a bell curve. Both the red and the violet-blue end of the curve are low — our visual receptors in our eyes are very insensitive to visible light at both ends of that curve.
But the blue-violet photons we barely see do pack enough energy to knock electrons out of their orbit (that’s what makes fluorescence work) and kill retinal cells photochemically, and the infrared photons we don’t see at all carry enough heat energy to burn.
“With great power goes great responsibility.”
Yeah, but you can buy great power for $10 on the Internet.
Responsibility? hmmmm ….
I got this laser last week from gearbest and am deeply disappointed with the performance. Compared to a 50mW green laser it is extremely weak, and it can’t be compared to my 2,000mW Wickedlaser arctic s2 (this laser burns skin). Even at pitch dark it is difficult to see the beam, and the dot has less reach than a cheap red laser pointer. At 50m the dot simply disappears.
Tried bypassing the tailswitch, tried several batteries with the same result. Direct exposure to a black sheet of paper makes a barely warm spot, it won’t burn anything. Also the color is more purple than blue.
I don’t know if GB changed the stock or if they sent the wrong Laser, but it is nothing like what you guys have described here.
Which one did you get? There's a few different colors/wavelengths linked/discussed above.
I have the Blue 405nm version, & as mentioned it needs some focus tuning to get it to perform well.
I could not get it to perform as well as keltex78 described, but it could differ from the one he was sent.
Maybe the GearBest is such a powerful site. I can see its advertisement everywhere. Is it trustworthy?
Wow, that 'coon scurries real quick like! :)
:D
I did a quick power test on one of these laser I got from Fasttech
I am trying to get info on some eye safe Astronomy Lasers which are not frequency doubled but use InGaN at 5 milliwatts with IR filter but they have a 515nm green and a 532 green and a Blue at about 450 which they say has a visible beam at night.
Could the Beams be more visible due to the direct drive tech…they are overpriced but will be eye safe…and used with care should not go
Too Far into the night sky…so no worry about
Planes 30,000 feet up that I don’t hear.
Is Blue true 5 milliwatt possible to have a visible beam…
473 probably will…but they don’t have that one.
If you do not want frequency doubled then you do not want any 532nm laser.
All 532nm lasers will be DPSS frequency doubled. It starts with a 808nm infrared laser, crystals first covert it to 1,064nm infrared then 532nm green. And in the final beam there is always some 808nm and 1,064nm, sometimes a lot. Like when the laser is manufactured quickly with poorly aligned crystals. So 532nm lasers should have an IR filter.
515nm (or 520nm or any green wavelength that isn’t 532) has zero infrared. So they do not need an IR filter.
515nm or 520 will be a bit brighter than 532 (at the same power) but only because those wavelengths are closer to the peak sensitivity of the human eye at night.
This is also the reason why blue (or red) lasers will be dimmer (at the same power). Their wavelengths are farther from peak sensitivity of the human eye.
So if you want the brightest 5mW beam you can get, go for 515nm green.
Can you give links to the stores that you are looking at?
There are a lot of bad laser sellers. They will say their lasers are “5mW” but in reality they are often 30mW to 80mW. They only say “5mW” because usa and other countries do not allow lasers over 5mW.
I use black balloons from a party shop nearby and they work a treat with my lasers.
I am using a blue laser which instantly pops them.
Have fun, but be careful and buy the right colour laser goggles or glasses!
Yes. I would love to get your input on these.
This company is in Oregon and their Lasers are made in “Taiwan and USA” according to a PDF on one of them.
On the Blue they specify Japan and USA ( possibly Nichia Diode ?)
Their Astrological Pointers are similar to the Galileo made in Canada
BUT Z- Bolt are in the Green 532 nm AND the wide temperature range 515nm [ Osram Diode ]and the Blue 450nm all 4.0 to 5.0 milliwatt range with IR Filters.
These are the ‘ruggedized’ versions using CR123 constant duty epoxy set waterproof ones.
The 515nm is the ‘wide temperature ’ version so Astronomers can go out in 5 degree weather lol.
The Blue has 2 mile visibilty at night and a visible beam .
Both Greens have a visible beam at night and 5 mile visibilty - great for 5 milliwatts - note they are NOT saying 5 mile beam.
One Astronomer said you can see the Blue beam about 1/2 to 1/3 brightness of the Green and harder to see off axis.
For ‘safe’ but fun lasers these are a bit overpriced but probably superior to the Galileo.
On their Red they do NOT specify visible beam.
I will post links in a minute…
This is the 515nm at $158.
http://shop.z-bolt.com/Emerald-Galaxy-XT—Extreme-Temp-Green-Laser-14-122F_p_451.html
THIS one is 532nm and same specs at $98.
Hit the specifications section and you will see up to 6 hours constant on from the CR123a.
http://www.z-bolt.com/green-laser-pointers/astronomy/gx-5.html
I am also going to find in their general specifications about how they do NOT use frequency doubling…these are
InGaN Transistor technology .NOTE: they say this regarding the Blue….but I can not find claims on the 515nm or the 532nm.
They also sell some Osram Diodes….
They seem to make some low powered similar spotter lasers for the Military.
You may have to forget the
“all 532nm lasers are frequency doubled with the crystal” thing.
These may all be direct diodes.
The advantage for me is relatively eye safe and the low power SHOULD I HOPE prevent over zealous Pilots who might even see a Beam on the ground or across the Horizon NOT in their direction or flight path from seeing the beam and “reporting” .
I of course will not ppint at ANY plane nor any vehicle nor person but I don’t want a Pilot 5 miles away and 4 miles UP even seeing the damn beam - off axis a 5 milliwatt is usually very hard to see ( I hope).
It’s REALLY hard to get a reliably under 5 milliwatt with IR Filter laser.
I was getting quotes from Laser Pen Shop on some builds using the JD 821 Host….but they contradicted themselves on the second email .
My first laser will probably be the Zbolt and probably too many legal issues to use a more powerful one…and I won’t need Goggles…just caution.
So is the 515nm worth the extra $ ?
What about the Blue ?
Thanks.
I ordered the blue version of this laser. Not sure if I got a faulty unit, but it’s far from being a fire starter. Touching the laser beam directly to the skin I barely could feel any heat, and at 200M the dot wasn’t visible anymore. With my 150mW green laser it would make an unpleasant sting and the range on that thing is amazing.