Today, I’ll be reviewing a 300mW Green Portable Laser from SKYlasers.net.  The unit costs around $800, and is therefore less expensive than most other major laser manufacturers.  Don’t let the cheaper price fool you, though.  As you will see, this laser is equally good or better than its far more expensive counterparts.  Furthermore, innovations such as a focusable cap make this model unique.

So, without further ado, let’s get started…

I also made a 10 minute video review (skip to 6 minutes to see some lasing). You can find further details on this video’s page.  I have also posted a link to this review on LaserPointerForums.com, specifically: here.

Before I say anything about the laser, I definitely need to mention the quality of customer service.  The staff was extremely knowledgeable, patient, and courteous; it was an absolute pleasure to deal with them.  Before I had even purchased the laser, the clearly superb quality of service already seemed to be an indication of things to come.

With the exception of the pictures of the beam in a bottle, all shots were taken without any smoke whatsoever.

Design and Build Quality

The host is solid aluminum and therefore provides great heatsinking capabilities.  Like most hosts, it has fins around the diode area to maximize thermal flow.  The manufacturer states that it can run continuously without any duty cycle (of course, other than to replace your batteries ).

The laser follows all FDA regulations for class IIIB lasers: it has a keylock, a removable connection plug at the end, an LED to indicate that the laser is lasing, and an aperture that can be opened and closed.  As such, it will get through customs without a hitch.  In fact, it took roughly 24 hours to ship from Shanghai to here via UPS; that’s absolutely fantastic!

This laser has one really nice feature that I haven’t found in any other portable lasers: the focus is adjustable.  To adjust the focus, simply turn the part immediately behind the aperture.  As you rotate the barrel outward, the laser will focus at a closer distance.  After turning that part (it will stop automatically when you reach the end), it will be a little wobbly, so you can use the locking ring right behind it to stabilize the barrel.  The pictures here aren’t very good at showing the focused beam; it’s extremely thin at the focal point!

In terms of build quality,this host is top-notch.  The threads are smooth and mesh well, the focusing barrel and locking ring have some grease on them in order to offer precise and smooth movement.  The battery compartment will fit both unprotected and protected 18650 batteries (some other portables are not able to fit the slightly larger protected cell).  The aperture opens and closes smoothly, but has just enough resistance to prevent accidental movement.

I believe that this host is also used in SKYLasers’s red and infrared pointers.  Wavelengths they sell: 532nm, 635nm, 650nm, 808nm, 980nm, 1064nm.

Accessories

While I’m talking about quality, I should go ahead and quickly discuss what comes with the laser.  Upon opening the shipping box, you’ll find a nice, solid aluminum-and-plastic case.  It’s about 10″x7″x3″ and can be locked with a small key (which was just a little rusty, but that’s more the fault of the company that make the case than of SKYlasers).  It’s no padlock, so if you want something more secure, you may have to come up with a solution.

Opening that case, I found a Styrofoam insert with a bunch of compartments.  There were 2 slots for spare 18650 batteries, a slot for the included charger, and a slot, of course, for the laser.  The charger recharged a dead 2600mAh Tenergy 18650 battery (purchased separately) in roughly 4 hours.  The battery got mildly warm, but I wasn’t particularly concerned.

Also included are two keys for the case, two keys for the laser, and the connection plug.  One set of keys is on my keyring so that if people ever wonder what they’re for, I can look cool and say “those are for my laser”.

All of the accessories are fairly standard products and seem to work just fine.

Lasing

Measurements

Battery Usage

The battery is rated at 2600mAh.  According to the vendor, the actual capacity has been found to be anywhere between 2450 and 2600mAh.  The current draw for this laser is an impressive 1.4A, so that means I have just under 2 hours of continuous run time.  I haven’t done an actual test, but I would guess that I had used the laser for a total of around 1hr 45min or so before I had to recharge the battery.

IR Test

One big concern about green lasers is that there is some degree of IR leakage due to efficiency loss in the system.  This IR is somewhat dangerous because your eye cannot detect it.  Someone claimed to me that SKYlasers lies about putting IR filters in their portable, so I decided to put their statement to the test.  The quickest way to test for IR is to shine the laser through something that doesn’t pass visible light well, but passes longer wavelengths; you can then detect the IR by using a typical digital camera.  Usually, Coca-Cola is used, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any, so I had to improvise.  I found a few packets of soy sauce in my lounge (sushi last night!), so I emptied them into a clear plastic bag.  Then, when I realized that the bag had holes in it, I managed to empty the rest of the contents that hadn’t already spilled onto my floor into another bag.

Anyways, I compared the results of shining a 50mW green laser from DealExtreme (which is known to have no IR filter) with the 300mW SKYlasers pointer.  The results, as you will see, are very nice. 

Divergence

After focusing at infinity, I measured the beam diameter at 16ft and 22ft and came up with a divergence of 0.54mRad, which definitely isn’t bad.  I plan to run this test again when I have access to a much longer hallway.

I also measured the beam diameter at its smallest point when the laser was focused.  Using a black piece of plastic (a CD case, to be exact), I burned a small hole and measured its diameter.  This isn’t an extremely accurate measurement, but it gives an idea of how well focused the beam can be.  The diameter at the focal point was measured to be less than 0.55mm.

Power Output

I don’t think that one review should ever be the sole indicator of a company’s delivery of up-to-spec units.  I know that some frown on contacting a company before reviewing the product because the company could ship out an overpowered unit to artificially boost their quality.  On the other hand, it is certainly possible that someone could get an underpowered laser by accident and a company’s reputation could be forever tarnished for a situation that may not occur that often at all.

Having said that, here are the factory results that SKYlasers.net sent me:

As you can see, the laser is not absurdly overpowered but at the same time keeps to the minimum rating of 300mW.  The laser stabilizes to around 325mW, which is a very reasonable value for a 300mW laser.

I took the laser to a lab with a Scientech 362 power meter and tested it there.  The results were as follows:

[ See this entry for a reason as to why you aren't seeing any results here. ]

Note that discrepancies in testing are common.  Room temperature, battery charge status, and other factors can affect the output reading.

Bottom Line

Despite the fact that this laser is significantly less expensive than other similarly powered lasers on the market, the quality is absolutely top-notch.  Based on my observations here, SKYlasers is a very professional company with high quality products.  Without a doubt, they should be considered a superb choice over the more expensive companies out there.

For all of my high-quality portable laser needs (well, more like “wants”), I’m definitely going with SKYlasers.  I hope that other hobbyists do, too.