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SenKat
Guest
Okay, all - Dragon Lasers has committed to sending me one of their Aurora series 5-9mw 473nm BLUE lasers for review purposes ! THIS ROCKS ! Keep your eye on this space for the review... 
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timelord
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Any news on this review yet Greg???
Any news on this review yet Greg???
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SenKat
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
I will be srting in on thos review as soon as I am 100% finsihed with the Nova Lasers accessories review...this litte beastie is simply amazing ! I have always wanted to use a blue, and to see this thing light up a room is incredible....oh, man...I have GOT to buy one of these babies !
I will be srting in on thos review as soon as I am 100% finsihed with the Nova Lasers accessories review...this litte beastie is simply amazing ! I have always wanted to use a blue, and to see this thing light up a room is incredible....oh, man...I have GOT to buy one of these babies !
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SenKat
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Okay - for starters, this looks very well constructed, and presents well. The nice shade of blue compliments the output color very well too ! It is a 473nm pulsed laser - operating as they say, near TEM00. Pulsed lasers are quite different from "normal" lasers, in that there is a simple test to tell if your laser is pulsed or not ! Wave the pointer while on - rapidly....forming either a circle, or a long line. Pulsed lasers output will look like this : --------------- while a CW, or Constant Wave lasers' output will look like this : ____________ That MAY be a huge difference for some folks, but believe me, the output color is enough for me to put up with almost any mode, or type of operation ! The beam is a super bright blue color, described by Dragon to be a saphire color, and I tend to agree with them. It measured in at a healthy 9mw, which is at the top end of the scale of 5-9mw at a $799.99 price tag. Shining this laser thorugh a mangifying glass, and projecting the dot on the wall, I could swear I saw the beam in TEM01 mode - but my wife dissagrees with me, stating that it is one, solid beam. I will take some pics of it this evening, and hopefully get a nice clear shot of the projected dot, and let YOU choose which mode it appears to be in. now, like I previously stated - almost any mode of operation or beam spec is acceptable to me - just seeing the bright blue beam at night is a HUGE PLUS to me ! It is simply an amazing piece of artwork to me - never having seen one in person before !
This laser uses the CR2 batteries - which is an unusual configuration - but it works well for this laser. It helps to keep the body size to a minimum, while providing the long life of a lithium battery. I will post many pictureds this evening - of the beam, dot size, unit itself, and give my over-all and lasting impression of this laser.
Okay - for starters, this looks very well constructed, and presents well. The nice shade of blue compliments the output color very well too ! It is a 473nm pulsed laser - operating as they say, near TEM00. Pulsed lasers are quite different from "normal" lasers, in that there is a simple test to tell if your laser is pulsed or not ! Wave the pointer while on - rapidly....forming either a circle, or a long line. Pulsed lasers output will look like this : --------------- while a CW, or Constant Wave lasers' output will look like this : ____________ That MAY be a huge difference for some folks, but believe me, the output color is enough for me to put up with almost any mode, or type of operation ! The beam is a super bright blue color, described by Dragon to be a saphire color, and I tend to agree with them. It measured in at a healthy 9mw, which is at the top end of the scale of 5-9mw at a $799.99 price tag. Shining this laser thorugh a mangifying glass, and projecting the dot on the wall, I could swear I saw the beam in TEM01 mode - but my wife dissagrees with me, stating that it is one, solid beam. I will take some pics of it this evening, and hopefully get a nice clear shot of the projected dot, and let YOU choose which mode it appears to be in. now, like I previously stated - almost any mode of operation or beam spec is acceptable to me - just seeing the bright blue beam at night is a HUGE PLUS to me ! It is simply an amazing piece of artwork to me - never having seen one in person before !
This laser uses the CR2 batteries - which is an unusual configuration - but it works well for this laser. It helps to keep the body size to a minimum, while providing the long life of a lithium battery. I will post many pictureds this evening - of the beam, dot size, unit itself, and give my over-all and lasting impression of this laser.
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timelord
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Will look forward to those pics mate blues are so cool
Will look forward to those pics mate blues are so cool
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Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
can't wait to see pics, senkat!
can't wait to see pics, senkat!
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Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
I gotta say, I don't like these blues at all. I purchased two last year when CNI first starting making this version - cost me in the thousand range. Those were absolutely horrible - the first and only time I demanded not an RMA, but a full refund. I had hoped they would have fixed them by now, but it doesn't seem like that is the case.
The multimoding really bothered me, and the pulsed mode didn't work too well. Poorly built lasers in general. I guess it doesn't matter if you don't mind multi-moding, but the transition to TEM01 often means a drop in power - and I just always though of a laser pointer as a nice beam with a single dot. Things like this multi-mode CNI and the TEM03 Spyder really bother me.
IMO, the RPL Blue is a far superior laser. Only problem is the size. Things have changed a bit since I made this post - the price on CNI blues has dropped so its not such a bad deal anymore, but you can read more of my opinions here:
http://lasercommunity.com/new-rpl-blue-review-dial-up-warning-lots-of-pics-t9738.html
PS: Minor detail, but lasers like this CNI are often referred to as quasi-CW instead of pulsed because of the high pulse rate (740hz on these lasers).
I gotta say, I don't like these blues at all. I purchased two last year when CNI first starting making this version - cost me in the thousand range. Those were absolutely horrible - the first and only time I demanded not an RMA, but a full refund. I had hoped they would have fixed them by now, but it doesn't seem like that is the case.
The multimoding really bothered me, and the pulsed mode didn't work too well. Poorly built lasers in general. I guess it doesn't matter if you don't mind multi-moding, but the transition to TEM01 often means a drop in power - and I just always though of a laser pointer as a nice beam with a single dot. Things like this multi-mode CNI and the TEM03 Spyder really bother me.
IMO, the RPL Blue is a far superior laser. Only problem is the size. Things have changed a bit since I made this post - the price on CNI blues has dropped so its not such a bad deal anymore, but you can read more of my opinions here:
http://lasercommunity.com/new-rpl-blue-review-dial-up-warning-lots-of-pics-t9738.html
PS: Minor detail, but lasers like this CNI are often referred to as quasi-CW instead of pulsed because of the high pulse rate (740hz on these lasers).
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SenKat
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Okay folks - LOTS of pics coming up tomorrow....I am uploading a ton of them to my FTP right now...I FINALLY figured out how to do long exposures with this camera ! WEEEEE !
Okay folks - LOTS of pics coming up tomorrow....I am uploading a ton of them to my FTP right now...I FINALLY figured out how to do long exposures with this camera ! WEEEEE !
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Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Sorry for hijacking the post a little, but to hold ya'll over till SenKat gets his pictures up, here's an old picture I found back when I had two of these in 2-5mW versions:
(Since yours is more powerful, consider this a [poor] benchmark I'm holding you to Greg
... Okay, fine, maybe I just wanted to show off a little )
SenKat said:
Sorry for hijacking the post a little, but to hold ya'll over till SenKat gets his pictures up, here's an old picture I found back when I had two of these in 2-5mW versions:
(Since yours is more powerful, consider this a [poor] benchmark I'm holding you to Greg
... Okay, fine, maybe I just wanted to show off a little )
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SenKat
Guest
Re: Dragon Lasers Aurora Series 5-9mw BLUE review
Since this thread is so fragmented, and gone, I will do a new review thread. closed...
Since this thread is so fragmented, and gone, I will do a new review thread. closed...