LP142B Focalprice.com Green Laser Pointer Review

Anyone who has been into lasers for any length of time knows how expensive they can be. That also means that they know how valuable it can be to find a great deal on a laser for a decent price.

Well, enter in the China market. Cheaply priced lasers, but unfortunately cheap quality as well. Sometimes you strike it good; you’ll get a great deal on something and it’ll last a long time. Sometimes you’ll strike out and you end up with a paperweight, unless of course you paid for a paperweight in which case there’s a possibility it won’t hold down paper very well either.

Well, this is my review of the LP142B <200 mw Green laser pointer from http://www.focalprice.com/ for 54.01$ with free shipping.

My package came in on the 22nd of December. I ordered it on the 9th of December, and it was likely shipped on the 10th, so really 12 days isn’t TOO bad for air shipping from China. I’ve ordered other things that have taken over a month to get here, so that’s certainly not unreasonable, especially with the holidays being right on our tails.

Talking about the packaging just really quickly;

The laser came in a box that has a magnetic lip on it, which is perfect for keeping the laser box closed, sticking the empty box to the fridge, or just having a magnet nearby. The insides were lined with a grey foam, and the charger was independently wrapped, Nothing seemed to get hurt, and the packaging overall wasn’t too badly broken or beat up, so it made it here in several pieces, the way it was designed to.

The charger itself is a 1.2 350mA/3.7 300mA charger designed for 18650 series of LiIon batteries. It’s very simple, has clear indicators of what terminals are positive and which ones are negative, and has a LED to indicate whether the battery is charging or not. I don’t know which is which, but Red would suggest to me that the battery is charging, while the Green suggests that it’s finished charging. I don’t know though honestly… But that’s my assumption for the time being.

The laser packaging came with 4 components on the inside:

• 18650 Battery (UltraFire)
• Key lock for the tailcap
• Tailcap (Attached in this picture)
• Laser host/assembly

First impressions:

The build quality seems pretty decent – the tailcap squeaks a little bit when you’re putting it on, but really that’s nothing that a little jig-a-loo won’t fix right up. The focal adjustment is pretty solid, but once it’s focused, it’s a little loose and won’t stay in place. Ideally there should be a little resistance but it’s not bad enough to actually complain about it at all. The key has a very solid click to it, which is nice because it’s not hard to tell if it’s on or off, and the key can be removed once put into a position (On/Off)

**Sorry about that second pic there – turns out my thumb is a little bigger than I thought**

You can see that the laser is 532nm, and the output is <200mw. I don’t have an LPM (though I do plan on getting one shortly after Christmas) but I can totally guarantee that this is not even CLOSE to 200mw. In fact, right now it’s 0mw but I’ll explain below.

Talking about the battery that was included:

This is an UltraFire LC 18650 2400mAh battery. I really don’t know a whole lot about LiIon when it comes to these styles of batteries, but I *think* it’s a protected battery. UltraFire seems to be reasonable in the world of batteries, though I would prefer to get maybe a 3000mAh battery in the future for a little longer running time. There’s not too much to add right now, other than when I plug it into the charger, the light is green which would normally lead me to believe that either the battery is charged fully or broken. Because I’m don’t have my digital multimeter with me, I’m going to have to see where the voltage is sitting when I get home. I’ll update the blog accordingly though when I get more data.

The tailcap seems pretty sturdy and has a good snug fit with the host body. It’s not loose, doesn’t rattle and feels pretty solid as well. There’s not loss of connection with the power at all, and generally seems to be a decent host. The barrel shot shows that there’s a foam of sorts around the driver, and the only part you can see is the spring itself.

The unit is case positive, so the negative end slides in “bum first” and the unit has no issue closing properly, despite being, what I think, is a protected battery.

Keep in mind, this is taken with my BlackBerry smartphone, so for not being an actual camera, it’s pretty good. This shot is the focal unit removed (the larger part of the head of the host itself.) From a build perspective, again it seems pretty solid. There are little dings/metal scrapes along the outer edge of the threading, but it’s not exactly a big deal. Again, considering the source, it’s not bad at all really.

This is a look at the focus/YAG assembly. No, there is no IR filter, but the diode seems to be pretty securely fit against the host which = good heat dissipation. The alignment seems to be acceptable, in that there are no “comets” on the beam – the beam does come out pretty much in the middle of the output of the host itself.

Yes, I do practice laser safety – this is the closest I’ll get to looking down the laser tube, but you’ll notice the battery is sitting in the background… I am scared to death of these things (Let’s say I have a healthy respect for the fact that a LOT of permanent damage can be done to my retina, and I’m extremely weary of that)

The output or “business end” of the unit has a sliding cover which is well oiled and slides very easily. It stays in place as well when it comes to putting it in the open or closed positions which is very nice because the last thing you want is an accidental blast of light in your eye.

This is showing the LED/Button – You’ll notice that there’s a little bit of blue near the button – it’s really hardly noticeable, and I figure it’s from the manufacturing process. The LED isn’t overwhelmingly bright either which is perfect, because the last thing you want in a dim room is a blinding light making it so you can’t see the laser itself.

Finally: Beam/Dot shots:

This shot was taken from 2 feet away, and you can see the output is pretty bright. Again, I don’t have an LPM so I couldn’t give an accurate output level, but I can promise that it’s not 200mw. Not even close. Just eyeballing it, best guess, maybe 40-50mw but the battery hasn’t been charged fully either.

I didn’t have a chance to get actual beamshots though, and this is the reason:

The laser stopped working.

Yes – it stopped working. I’ve had it maybe an hour, and 30 min of that were in the car going from the post office to where I work.

Here’s what happens: I press the button. The LED comes on, but there’s no output at all. Not even IR output, just nothing. The more I investigate though, I found out that when I press the button, the laser flashes once very quickly a small blast of IR, and then nothing at all. I suspect a dead battery – the LED comes on because the power draw for that is so minimal and probably runs off of a different circuit. The diode itself is likely a 1W 808nm pump diode (At best, if I’m lucky) and because the draw is so much more power, it’s simply not got enough juice to even run the diode itself yet the LED still lights up.

So I have to go home, haul out the digital multimeter, and HOPE that the charge didn’t drop below a certain amount. If it did, the battery will be useless. If it’s a full battery, then I have to investigate other possible issues… I’m REALLY hoping I just need to charge the battery though. I don’t want to have to ship this back to focalprice and have them ship me another. It would cost less I imagine just to buy another one instead.

For the time being, before I add any updates, I would rate this laser a solid:

3.5/5 Stars

But we’ll see how I update my score after I find out the battery status. Ideally I’d like to post more beam shots and divergence values, as well as burning tests.

More to come…

UPDATE!!! (Dec.24th, 2010)

After having tested the battery and the diode, the driver and the crystals, here's what I've found out:

The driver itself that controls the diode is DEAD. It's not putting out power the way it's designed to. It's almost as if when they made it, they turned the pot up too high to try and get as much output out of it as possible, and it stopped working. The battery is fine, the crystals are fine.

This is super disappointing.

I really was hoping for something that would have something that I could use on my vacation, but it seems that I shouldn't have expected anything more than cheap junk really.

This really is an example of "you get what you pay for".

Needless to say I have filed a request with Paypal, and hope to get my money back, OR a replacement. Either way, I would enjoy having something that I could review with confidence and have it continue to work but for the meantime, I would recommend that you STAY AWAY from www.focalprice.com.

Go somewhere like www.PriceAngels.com instead, where they actually measure the REAL output of their lasers, and someone there cares enough to make sure you have a working product.

I'll keep updating as things go, hopefully I'll have a working laser soon, but if not I would like my money back to spend on other laser goodies.

Plano Walmart Adjustable Case

The first review I'm doing is of the Plano series case. This case has been designed to be used for multiple/various things, but obviously my intention is to hold my lasers, and keep them away from prying eyes/hands/roommates-who-shouldn't-touch-my-stuff.



I purchased this at Walmart, and I actually stumbled across it by accident. They had it on sale for 14.97 (Everyday low price right?) and so I tossed it into my cart with the idea that it's one less thing for me to get later on.

The first thing that I notice is that it's pretty cheaply made. If someone ACTUALLY wanted to get into this thing, they could easily break into it. I think it's more of the illusion of preventing people from going into it, and with two basic locks, it'll keep the honest people honest.

And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm going to just toss in a few pics here first.
















So besides it's obviousness cheapness, it actually looks kind of reasonable for a cheap case.




The locks themselves are hardly groundbreaking, but again - keeping honest people honest here. They do 'work' in that they're going to prevent the case from opening, but again, nothing that someone who's intent on breaking in won't be able to maneuver past without much hassle.




In addition to the locks themselves, there's also some nice reinforcement happening on the actual hinge itself, assuming it's a "just in case" the hinges break... Your stuff won't go smashing all over the place.

The added benefit here too is that it will keep the case open at a 90 degree angle, so when you're taking out your plutonium.... errr... Laser out, you don't have to worry about the stuff flying everywhere.

On the flip side, you always have to worry about it closing on you too. Up to the user if it's a benefit or not at this point.

Looking at the bottom, there are four hard rubber feet that are obviously meant to depict the bottom of the case, but also gives you a nice protective barrier between your bottom surface such as a kitchen table and the case itself.

But enough about the outside - what about the inside?

What you're looking at isn't the default configuration, but there are basically a limited number of ways you could have this configured. I guess for the most part, if you plan on carrying like a gaming console, it'll work well enough to separate controllers from the system, but for what I want to do with is, it's not quite going to work.

What I plan on doing eventually is actually getting some eggshell foam and putting it along the top, and then getting a slightly harder foam and putting it along the entire inside so I can custom-cut out spots for each laser as I get them, as well as battery charger/batteries.

An interesting addition they had was a sort of pouch that is attached to the top - I can't see that being very useful for what I'm doing with it, but different users are going to have different intentions behind the use of the product. I suppose you could put some smaller handhelds in there, maybe some little pointers, accessories or batteries.

The separators themselves were bendy, and flexible, but I didn't get the impression that they were meant to take any actual amount of weight. With that being said, they would work completely fine as separators, but not for actually holding anything in place when push came to proverbial shove.




Pros:
- Lightweight
- Looks decent
- Reinforced Hinge
- Dual locks
- Rubber feet
- Extra pouches affixed to the top

Cons:
- Locks are easily broken/picked
- Separators are flimsy
- Wouldn't protect against a fire, or someone who really wanted to get in


Overall, having paid less than 15$ for it, I can definitely see it being a worthwhile case that will provide some basic protection and security for my lasers. I wouldn't travel with it anywhere involving a plane, and I certainly wouldn't rely on it to keep out things like fire or thieves. It'll do exactly what it's meant to do, and that's to hold stuff.

And for 15$, you can't really expect much more than that.

Just getting started

This is my workspace, and I hope you enjoy!

The idea of this site basically is to host reviews for different laser products. Eventually I might start branching out but for the time being, I think lasers is a fantastic nerdy hobby that I want to get into, and I think there's a lot of stuff that is always coming out that needs to be addressed.

I think I want my focus to be the Chinese knock-off market. The reason I say that though is because I think there are a lot of deals to be had out there, and some knockoffs are actually better than others.

Of course, I'll have some really nice, professional products as well. It'll just be more of a space/gap inbetween professional products because of the expenses associated with anything that is worthwhile.

I've already ordered two lasers. One is on it's way soon I hope, and the other is currently pending payment. *Meaning, I have to finish paying for it before it's shipped off, though I'm hoping to do that before the end of next week. I would like to have a nice laser to play with through the holidays*

So let me talk about the lasers I've just ordered.



O-like "Cute" 250mW 650nm Red Laser Review (OL-CR-250)
This is the first one, and it looks like this:

It put me back around 82$ (Being Canadian eh?)
So the laser itself retails for 59.99USD, but I also had to order safety glasses with it. (14.99, but it covers almost the whole spectrum of red, from 590nm up to 780nm)

Once the glasses come in, I'll review those as well.

So that's my first order. I'm just waiting for it to be shipped, though I don't expect to actually see it until next year sometime.

The second order I did is actually a custom used order.

There's a forum I'm a newer member of, called www.laserpointerforums.com, and there's a user there called Phoenix77 who actually messaged me asking if I would be interested in purchasing one of his lasers. I had mentioned in a few threads how I was wanting to get a powerful laser, and he messaged me asking if I wanted to buy a 1.4W 445nm blue laser.

WOW. 1.4 WATTS. That's like... WAY way way more power than I'm used to. I think the most powerful laser I've ever had was maybe 50-60mw, and that was with horrible IR so it just seemed more powerful than it actually was.

Well, I digress. There's not too much I can say about it right now, other than to say that I'll pay for it, probably this Friday coming up and hopefully Rob can have it shipped out soon!

At any rate, this is just the beginning and I plan on having lots of pics, videos, and eventually a solid review of each laser and what they can do.