A satisfied customer’s review of the LPM II Laserbee 3.2W
The story begins around the beginning of April, where I have been publishing on the various threads that I might be interested in getting a LPM, showing interest in some of the most diverse.
Previously I had looked very hard at how I Laserbee seemed just right, and inexpensive, and seemed to have a cult following on the forum. Other than that, I knew very little about it (or LPM in general). I contacted Jerry about the possibility of organizing a group purchase, but nothing had come out from my end. At the point where I was looking almost ready to spend some money, I had a PM from Jerry, which contained some very attractive picture of the next Laserbee II, and an indication that they could be ready for shipping near the end of April.
After some stress, I also got to reveal a price!
and then, just around the end of April (26th to be exact), I had a PM to say that it was sent (just as he had said initially)
On May 4th I received a letter from the post office to say he had the package and I had to pay duty, which I duly did, and on May 6 came to my work! (W00t)
The first thing I did was unwrap it and loaded the CD into my laptop and read the manual. Jerry was very insistent that I read the manual before I did anything. I’m a big fan of RTFM anyway, so off I’ve read ….
6 pages later and I was fully aware of how to use the LPM, how to handle your head, how to use the software and how to install the software and drivers. Oh yes, apart from the CD, there was also a power meter in the box! Not only that, but also a head thermopile, cable to connect the head to feet, a USB cable and USB to serial converter / adapter.
Some people had expressed an interest in seeing the courage of the thing, so here it opened, although I am willing to go with him, very little, but nice and clean. I think it indicates that the SN is the number one line, I must be honest and say that I expected it to be the counter test to be dveloped, not so. Especially since my impatience meant that I was hassling Jerry for fast delivery! Pleasantly surprised is all I can say ….
The screen is nice and easy to see, with good backlight can be turned off. Aesthetically, I think the case is very nice and well put together, but the switch seems a bit ‘out of place, dare I say a little’ clumsy. Perhaps a switch that is more flush with the case would be a touch more beautiful, or even a rocker on the side. If not, no problem, the printing of the logo is well turned out.
So far I’ve only been able to measure a couple of my laser, of which only one was a known quantity. I have a Laserwave 1.1W 650nm (measured by Marc Laser CT), and when measured with the Laserbee, gave a stable 1.03Watts. Since I could not fit all of the beam on the thermopile, I accept it’s going to read a bit ‘low on that.
Next I’m going to measure my new Laserwave 640 and 532, which were measured with Rob Stanwax before delivery with photographic evidence. It will be interesting to see how close I can see Rob figures.
Unfortunately thats about as scientific as I can, as I have access to any other meter calibrated to validate these readings.
I may be taking some measures over time, using the recording software and graphing in the budget which I’ll add that I have to do it.
As for the software, I had a problem with the USB serial driver on Vista 32bit. He has failed to install correctly, but Vista went and found the latest version of the driver. Once I had removed the original driver, the new one worked fine. I contacted Jerry who confirmed that it had not been able to test on Vista 32, but would include the latest drivers with additional sales.