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The laser is actually broken.

I'll take it in a heartbeat if the output actually measures 1 watt, got any photos and model information for the laser?

I'll have photos tonight (probably).  I'm picking it up from USPS today.   
Also, for the sake of being honest, I DID get it from a china wholesale site.  Here's the deal though: if it doesn't measure 1 watt, I will issue a full refund (and get a refund from the seller). 

PM me if you're still interested.

A model number would be very helpful, or a link to the Chinese wholesale site.  1 watt is massive output for a laser.

http://www.dhgate.com/1000mw-green-laser-pointers-with-kaleidoscope/p-ff8080813a071b7e013a4bad45d939fa.html

I can't imagine a 1W laser going for $26... something is not right.  I would almost buy one just to see what kind of mystery device I get.

I notice they classify it as a TOY ... Holy shit!  An AK47 is a safer toy!

http://imgur.com/vTUPM
Also, it says the output power is 1000 MW on the laser.  It seems legit, but I don't want to test it (I know I'll blind myself).

Thanks for the link.  I ordered one from the website. Sorry, but I prefer new since Chinese stuff may not last long, anyway.

Ok, this is new BTW.  Just picked it up.  Also, I might be willing to give a small discount to encourage to buy from me.

Ah...Sorry for jumping the gun on the website.  It's not letting me cancel the order, though.

It's fine.  Anyone else want it?

Yeah, that laser won't be 1 watt. I'll gladly test it for you if you want, although my offer to buy it will largely depend on the test results. The pump diode in my best green laser died a while ago so it would be nice to have a higher powered green again.

Laser would be measured with a Coherent FieldMaxII laser power meter.

I'd love to know what it measures out to... for 26 bucks it will be pretty low power or it will burn out in a few minutes :)

you can fill up a balloon and see how long it takes to pop, a true 1w laser would cut it in less than a second. If it doesn't pop you know it's less than 50mw. With a 1w laser and dry wood you can start a fire too ;)

There is also "2000 mW" (http://www.dhgate.com/2013-2000mw-laser-pointers-lasers-pen-green/p-ff8080813a738ba8013a78cd4da844e0.html) model, advertized as "burning matches". The "1000 mW" (http://www.dhgate.com/1000mw-green-laser-pointers-with-kaleidoscope/p-ff8080813a071b7e013a4bad45d939fa.html) hasn't got such such description, so I think their actual power is not more than 200 mW and 100 mW accordingly.

Sure.  Can you PM me a shipping address?

I bought a 2000mw blue laser pointer (came with case/googles/recharg batteries) for about $60 in a market in Hong Kong.
It works pretty well. It will light cigarettes, or burn a hole through thick black plastics pretty easily in a few seconds.

I doubt they *as* powerful as the $3-400 lasers but its pretty dam powerful :P

*edit* its part of my home security system :-) i.e you break in and i start lasering your skin from a distance.

Blue lasers are different in that they use direct blue diodes which can be had for much cheaper now, so it's likely your laser is actually somewhere around 1 watt or so. Green is a much more complicated process involving an infrared laser diode and nonlinear crystals to increase the wavelength from 808nm to 1064nm and then cut it in half to 532nm, which comes out the front. That's why blue is much more expensive per mW versus green.

The U.S. restricts the ownership green lasers over 5mW (http://www.theinfomine.com/2010/05/01/maximum-legal-power-for-green-laser-pointers-in-usa/), so I'm pretty doubtful this is what it claims, or if it is, then you may have some troubles with receiving it.

1 watt laser? A reflection on any metal thing or on a mirror and it will blind you instantly  :-\ Or will blind someone else

^^ yip thats why they give you the glasses.
Very dangerous though as you said. If you point it at the wall or something and arent wearing the glasses even just looking at the light makes your eyes go wierd for abit.. you keep seeing the flashes of the beam/light once its gone.  

That's called minor ablation of your retina (or other parts of your eye) and it's permanent damage.

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but just in case anybody was interested, I got my laser today (same merchant as OP).  It seems about as bright as one I got about a year ago for $12.  That means it's among the brightest lasers I've ever seen, but I've never seen an expensive one.  Here's a pic of the warning label.

http://i45.tinypic.com/10xvz7r.jpg

Can it burn stuff?

As a side note, I guess he really did make a genuine mistake in sending me a broken laser.

The factories that make all these cheap electronics have really bad quality control procedures, roughly 5% of the stuff they sell to wholesalers is DOA and quality varies greatly, buying these cheap electronics from China all depends on how lucky you are, if your really lucky you'll get some amazing way above-spec product, or you could be unlucky (as you were in this case) and get something that is DOA.

Ok, I'm not gonna bother the guy.  He seems innocent enough.

Once the chinese figure out what people mainly look at specifications wise on a certain item, they'll usually jack up the numbers as much as they can. In this case probably an order of magnitude more than what the laser can actually do. They know someone will see the inflated numbers and buy one because it's cheap. Most people buying green lasers online haven't done much research on the subject, let alone purchase a laser power meter (mine cost over $1500) but I do a lot of work with lasers on a regular basis so I could justify spending some cash to get a meter that is certified and calibrated by NIST standards.