Looking for a 1w rgb laser

[djvern]

Hey guys,

I'm new here and new to the whole laser thing. I have a dj rig that includes moving heads etc. I am looking to add a laser as my centrepiece. I have been looking at 1w rgb lasers. I saw some on aliexpress and on ebay that are as low as $600 but I know these are probably junk. I have narrowed my search to Laserworld cs-1000rgb or golden star laser s-rgb1700. My budget is max $1100 shipped if possible. I am located in Canada. I am not looking to have the most pro laser, just something that looks great and projects well. Any advice and help is much appreciated.

Thanks
Vern

[WookieBoy]

Hi Vern and welcome to PL!

Don't know what the local regs are like in Canada for laser use in public, but I'm sure someone local(ish) to you will chime in soon to give you a heads up.
I'd go with the goldenstar over laserworld any day.
LaserWorld have a REALLY bad rep here for their own brand stuff (a quick search on LaserWorld in the forum will get you all the info you need to see what I mean by that!) However, their SwissLas and RTI stuff seems to be better, though much more expensive.
GoldenStar have a pretty good rep and have active forum members in Mimi and Winni who try to deal with any issues with their products.
The CS-1000 will NOT, most likely, be 1w output and the scanners will be quoted at some fanciful scan angle pps which will mean nothing much in real world aplication. Also, the one time a LW rep supposedly made an appearence here they spouted rubbish to try to defend their product then, when pulled up on it by some of the more knowledgable members here, ran away and hid back under whatever rock they crawled out from...
Hence I'd go with GoldenStar....

Just my £0.02...

[djvern]

Thanks man. I've been doing alot of research. I haven't seen any videos of the golden star laser but there are lots of the laserworld videos... Is the golden star s-rgb1700, a 1.7w laser?

[WookieBoy]

Yup. Looks like it but it's got a 650nm red, so will look less bright than a 637nm red and might be a little under powered in green for a nice white... and the beam is a bit of a fatty.
It'll be fine for beamshows, but graphics might be a bit lumpy...

If you can afford it, i'd go for this one to get a more balanced white.
http://www.goldenstarlaser.com/srgb2500-p-271.html
It's in the same range but has more green...
If you're only looking for beamshows, don't worry about scanners faster than 30kpps as they'll be plenty good enough.

My only warning would be this though...
Whatever you buy now, it'll lead to more stuff later. Lasers are an addiction, and there's always something better around the corner to spend your money on!
Have a long hard think before you throw down your ££s about what you REALLY want to do with your laser as it's better to spend your money once on what will, right now look like a really expensive bit of kit, than buy cheaper kit now only to have to spend more to buy the more expensive kit later on...

[djvern]

Thank you so much for your help bro, much appreciated... If I go with the one you mentioned and and get a 20kpps, would that be ok?.. I dot really care much for the graphics.. Just being able to see the sick slower beams etc would be sick.. The 20kpps s-rgb2500 is more in my price range.

Thanks
Vern

[iczerjones]

Another vote here for Goldenstar. Fantastic to work with and they build a very decent projector. To add to what Wookieboy said, if you can, either overspec the 650nm red or move to a less powerful (and more expensive) 637nm. If you go with any type of decent scanner set, the beam on the 650nm will be substantially larger than the mirror set so expect to lose ~50% of the beam before it makes it out of the projector. Sad, but true. (I have a 1W 650nm on DT30 scanners and at least half doesn't even make it on the mirror)

I can't speak to the quality of the AL-20k scanners as I have no experience with them, but I'd agree that 20kpps will be fine for a beam show.

On a side note, I'd set about $100 in the budget to ensure you go with 3D adjustable dichro mounts. These will ensure you can walk the beam back into alignment when it inevitably gets bumped one too many times. Just ask Winni or Mimi when you order and they can get those added to the projector build.

[buffo]

I'll throw my support behind Goldenstar as well. Great people, great prices, and a wide selection of gear to chose from.

Don't forget to budget some extra cash for a controller and some software though.

Adam