I'd suppose it was intentional.
WL have bungled up a whole load of stuff in the past, I'm not surprised. I take it that none of you have heard of the projector fiasco, when the 445s first appeared on the block?
The only reason why the Arctic is compliant is because they no longer have to meet the CDRH/FDA's 5 point safety system. They now have the mandatory secondary interlock pin (which is useless, because it takes a f$cking screwdriver to remove), and the output delay (which works, surprisingly).
The reason why these review samples went out was because WL was acquired by a larger company (presumably CNI, from the sources I've heard from, but VERY unlikely), and now they want to try and turn their image around.
I don't know whether to believe them or not, and neither do most of the people on the other forum. They're as hated over there as they are here.
I didn't have to pay a cent for the laser. The whole review cost me $7. $4.50 for the heatsink you see being used as the beamstop in the Thermals video, and $2.50 for a train ticket to go to a friends' place to have it metered.
Now here's the thing- If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing properly. I didn't just try and put together a half-assed review for a free laser unlike one of our (very respected, supposedly) members last time a company gave out review samples.
Speaking of safety, I've had the video TL;DW'd by quite a few people. It seems 20 seconds of safety warnings is a big turn-off. I felt it was necessary, so I included it.
Here's an identical video, from a 'respected' forum member.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rl3w...eature=related
The only warning is: "This laser is extremely dangerous!"
Now, at the very least WL mentions on their website that eye protection is a MUST.
EDIT: Speaking of airliner pilot forums, I got a linkback for a thread of mine about lithium and lithium-ion batteries. Irony, isn't it?
EDIT No 2: Well, that isn't the end of it, I guess. It's only going downhill from here.
Taken from their Facebook page:
We are gearing up for the next rendition of the Spyder III model, the deadly bright <1W 532nm.