Blue laser (CNI) from LaserGlow.com

Hi:

I have read hundreds of posts here and at LaserPointerForums over the past few days trying to get a sense of who are the most reputable laser distributors. I have found that there is almost nothing negative said about LaserGlow.com. They are a Canadian distrib, and their blue 473nm DPSS lasers are from CNI. They want:
50mW 10kHz analog modulation: $1786
80mW 10kHz analog modulation: $2860
100mW 10kHz analog modulation: $3226

Might be a few $hundred more to get 30kHz analog modulation; I'm waiting for a call back on that. These prices seem higher than what people pay here, but the lower prices also seem to be from Ebay dealers, and there are lots of struggles with problems.

LaserGlow is listed on the CNI website as their North American distributor, so perhaps paying a bit of a premium might give me a better chance of getting things right the first time. Or problems fixed without pulling teeth in the unfortunate case that something does go wrong.

Has anyone got experience with LaserGlow.com? Is CNI the best maker of cheap Chinese lasers?

Thanks for input!

I know the guy who runs laserglow personally. Their prices are insane!.
It's better do deal with CNI directly! They will even declare a low price for customs if you ask them. In case of laserglow you will save about 1000$+ And yes CNI is the best from China!

I think this topic belongs to Seller Review!

"dave" and "aijii" are reputable seller(s) here who deal in CNI lasers... They sell on eBay and now have a non eBay site up also.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr Laser

I know the guy who runs laserglow personally. Their prices are insane!.
It's better do deal with CNI directly! They will even declare a low price for customs if you ask them. In case of laserglow you will save about 1000$+ And yes CNI is the best from China!

I think this topic belongs to Seller Review!

---

Any way to move it to Seller Reviews?

Another thing which also attracts me to LaserGlow is that they explicitly deal with the issue of customs and CDRH. I bought a laser in the past directly from China which was declared in a funny way, and got through Ok. But that left me worrying whether something wasn't done right that if done again could result in my laser getting held up and my not knowing how to get it cleared.

This time, I'd like to not have that worry. I certainly have about zero understanding of customs. So if anyone can educate, I'd be all ears.

From some posts over at alt.lasers, I have gotten the impression that CDRH and customs have been cracking down on shady declarations and products that are for end users not meeting FDA regs. I know this would be an OEM, but how should that be declared to ensure that customs understands?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by allthatwhichis

"dave" and "aijii" are reputable seller(s) here who deal in CNI lasers... They sell on eBay and now have a non eBay site up also.

---

Cheers Aaron ;)

If you're paranoid about declaration value to Canada then let them CNI declare the real price. You will pay 14% GST PST plus little handling fee. If the laser is 2000$ you will pay 300$ extra. And not 1000$+. Because don't forget that any local company have to pay their employees and make a profit from the sale. One time not long ago I was quoted 2500$+ for 200mw 650nm by laserglow. Got 500mw 635nm from CNI for 2200$. Those guys are totally from different planet! Dealing with customs... man it's the simplest thing on earth. They quite you pay.!
All purpose of global economy and capitalism....you go directly to the manufacturer. Or someone reasonable... like dave and aijii..

I have purchased many small packages from China recently. Smart sellers mark them appropriately. Like "electric motors" for a set of galvos and drivers and "optical parts" for lasers. If you mark them "Dangerous Class IV High Power Laser with Uranium" :D or " high precision laser beam guidance system" the customs folks look into it. Seems to me most of the Ebay sellers know what their doing.
Adam

I recently got a 150mW green from Lasever. It quit working and they replaced it under warranty. Both times the packages were marked "power supply", I forget the value, I think it was $100. The first time it sat in customs for 4 days, I think it took 8 days total. The second didn't even seem to stop at customs and was here in 4 days... :confused: I think it is all "luck" of the draw.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr Laser

One time not long ago I was quoted 2500$+ for 200mw 650nm by laserglow. Got 500mw 635nm from CNI for 2200$.

---

You should have checked our prices on a cni 500mw first ;)

That was about 5 months ago. Price to be exact 700 Euro plus shipping 50EUR.
I just checked the bill. Translate it to CAN $ it was 1400.....plus half 1800....
Somewhere ~1800$ CAN Plus had to pay 100$ to customs. Then had to send it back
because of failure. Another 90$...

Another company to consider is Dragon Lasers... They've got prices that are competitive with regard to CNI units. They are more expensive than the Lasever models, however.

I'm in the process of writing/editing a review of a 70 mw Dragon Lasers 473 nm DPSS blue laser w/ TTL blanking. I think the retail on that laser was $800. I'm not sure exactly how much extra it would cost to get that laser with analog blanking, but I do remember that they said that analog blanking normally adds 10-25% to the cost.

I will say that the head design is very similar to the CNI's I've seen. (It may be a re-branded CNI, but I'm not certain.) The driver board is quite small, and comes with a large heat sink that is very effective. The laser itself performed flawlessly over the 110 + hours that I tested it.

One final thing to consider: They have customer support staff that speak *excellent* english. Your e-mails will be answered promptly, and there is no language barrier. That's a huge plus in my book.

I should have my full review finished by early next week. Of course I'll post it here. But since the subject came up I figured I'd chime in here.

Adam

PS: Disclaimer - I am not employed by Dragon Lasers, nor am I being compensated for the review I performed. I do not own one of their lasers, but I was offered the opportunity to experiment with one for a couple weeks at no cost to me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr Laser

If you're paranoid about declaration value to Canada then let them CNI declare the real price. You will pay 14% GST PST plus little handling fee. If the laser is 2000$ you will pay 300$ extra. And not 1000$+. Because don't forget that any local company have to pay their employees and make a profit from the sale. One time not long ago I was quoted 2500$+ for 200mw 650nm by laserglow. Got 500mw 635nm from CNI for 2200$. Those guys are totally from different planet! Dealing with customs... man it's the simplest thing on earth. They quite you pay.!
All purpose of global economy and capitalism....you go directly to the manufacturer. Or someone reasonable... like dave and aijii..

---

Oops, I should have mentioned that I'm in the US. Do you know how US customs works?

Does the shipper pay the customs fee or the receiver? Does customs call you and say "please pay $XYZ" or do they send you a bill in the mail?

Ohh the United States the land of free...and many regulations! Still lasers from laserglow come from China to Canada and then go to US. Same way as Axiz operates. Laseglow have to import it under business name...so it means more import taxes plus Canadian taxes plus a price cut laserglow have to take for themselves. Plus taxes and import you have to pay on US border. So at the end you will pay twice the price. In Canada exporter declares the value and type of good. It gets to Canada customs and based on that info they calculate the tax and duty. Sometimes they can open the package. But they don't have time to check every single item's real world value. If you ship UPS or FedEx...or Purelator. you will have to pay those taxes right on delivery to the guy who delivers. If its shipped by Regular Mail you will have to pay @ post office. If it's shipped by TNT then Revenue Canada will send you a sheet of paper with money you need to pay and then you go to their web page and pay it. Thats all. Thats how stuff works in Canada.
Can anybody explain how import works in US!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dr Laser

Can anybody explain how import works in US!!

---

Yeah, I get my package, open it up and have fun! No tax or duty fees ever... At least for me.
Adam

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Buffo

Another company to consider is Dragon Lasers... They've got prices that are competitive with regard to CNI units. They are more expensive than the Lasever models, however.

---

CNI lasers on pictures.:)

i bought my CNI from Aixiz laser in texas 250mw, 473nm blue, 10k analogue modulation, 2600 and some change with shipping. they are a importer for CNI.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by allthatwhichis

"dave" and "aijii" are reputable seller(s) here who deal in CNI lasers... They sell on eBay and now have a non eBay site up also.

---

Is "aijii" by any chance the same as "Aizis" which Rob recommended?

here is a link to their store.
http://www.lasershowparts.com/store/index.php

better yet, here is the link to the cni 50mw blue laser.
http://www.lasershowparts.com/store/...d&productId=45

i'm expecting a 532 100mw cni laser from them in a week or so.

dave was very helpful with questions i pm'd him before i bought .
i like that they show their prices too.
prices are in australian dollars.

right now the conversion rate is one aus. dollar = .85 us so their price of 950 aus is 807.50 us
that's almost $1000 less than the quote you showed at the start of this thread.

you are on the west coast like me and i think i am paying 80 or 90 us for shipping.
i was impressed with their price for the laser i bought.even with shipping the price is really good and your are getting a reliable laser and the knowledge that you can communicate easily with your vendor.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OPO226

Is "aijii" by any chance the same as "Aizis" which Rob recommended?

---

Nope, two different sides of the world. Aixiz is in Texas, aijii and dave are in Austrailia and drop ship from China I think... :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wes

that's almost $1000 less than the quote you showed at the start of this thread.

---

Told you ...no less then 1000$:D

You may get even cheaper with direct CNI...
But they don't accept paypal or any other ways...Only direct bank transfer..and it will cost you the same amount you just saved..

I found that Western Union is cheaper then direct Bank transfer. Isn't it amusingly amazing. >:)