I feel the need to post my experience with Aixiz, as it is relevant, and there seem to be a LOT of people buying from him stateside, and he is getting pretty big in US markets. I called him around november of 2006 for a 473nm 200mW unit. He told me that he could sell me one of his brand of units (which I have heard plenty of people complaining about beam quality on here) or he also offered me a "great deal" on a unit that he ordered from GUOKE (www.gklaser.com) which is a previous distributor of his prior to what he sells now, only catch was it was a 220v unit, not a big deal for me, I have stepup transformers that can easily handle that, and it had analog 10k modulation, LED current display, etc. So I bought this unit, got it around december, I tested it on the bench, the unit was behaving very erratically, the TE cooler gave strange readings, and the head got warm but would not lase, turned off power supply, and turned it back on, and unit started lasing. Power output was within spec after minor adjustment (the diode was actually being overdriven to the point where output would peak with 4.1vdc of modulation input and would fall off after that), so I backed the drive down and it made peak (rated) power with 5v modulation input. Now this thing has been behaving erratically since day one, and also I should note the power supply runs hot enough you cant touch it (like 90degC or so). Also when it worked the beam quality was poor. I called numerous times and spoke to the owner of company. He was very receptive, and he was willing to work with us. He pretty much told me that the power supplies with these units were "quirky" and he doesnt sell them anymore, and he gave us a great deal on it, and if we didnt like it we could return it. Price was right, so we figured we'd make the best of it. Meanwhile we ordered a 1W CNI from him, no BS, we asked for a CNI, and aside from a long wait (4 wks), which during the long wait he kept offering to ship us "their own manufacturers" brand unit which they had in stock and would overnight to me, we choose to keep waiting for the CNI, when we got our CNI unit it worked great. Meanwhile, the GUOKE unit finally dropped dead, and would not power back up, appeared to be some type of TE controller fault, the power supply for that thing was a nightmare, 3 PCB's inside, switchmode powersupply and laserdriver were integrated, TE board, modulation board, everything wired point to point, it was a real mess, so we called AIXIZ, and he told us to send the unit to him. We sent him the unit back with a laundry list of complaints, and he confirmed the unit had "an electronic problem" and had to go back to china. So he returned it to the manufacturer, and they basically didn't want to do anything with it, becuase Aixiz really doesn't buy from them anymore. So I kept calling for weeks and all I got was a bunch of BS excuses (ie Waiting for parts, testing, etc). I spoke to owner again and he told me that they would fix it in "their" factory who makes the units they are selling now, basically what they were trying to do is interface one of "their" power supplies to this GK head. After months of waiting (after all this whole thing started in november, the whole thing wasnt their fault, chinese new year held it up), I finally demanded resolution, and told him that I wanted a new unit. All he offered was "their brand of units". I requested a CNI unit, and we agreed on an "upgrade charge" (he credited everything I paid for this unit toward a FAIR price for a CNI with analog modulation). After several weeks I got the CNI unit, and the damn thing was DOA (when modulation was applied it lased for like 50mS and shut off). I called him, and he was shocked (as was I too) as this was the first CNI he has seen trouble with. I sent him the unit back again, and he worked it out with CNI and got it exchanged (weeks). I just recently got the replacement (in April 2007), and it works really nice, great beam quality, modulation performance, etc.
Anyways, long story, but if anyone wants details they are here. But the end result with Aixiz is this.
Rule #1: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR (wanna buy a cheap laser they will certainly be happy to sell you one)
Rule #2: IF YOU ASK FOR QUALITY PRODUCTS THEY WILL GET THEM FOR YOU (ie CNI)
Rule #3: THEY HAVE *EVENTUALLY* RESOLVED *EVERY* PROBLEM I HAVE HAD WITH THEIR PRODUCTS (it just requires lots of patience and diligence in keeping on top of them)
They have NEVER turned their back on us, or refused to help with their products. A lot of stuff they sell is not made terribly well (not their fault they are primarily a distributor for offshore companies), and if you demand quality products and are willing to pay the premium, they do sell them as well. The owner is very helpful, and will bend over backwards to help you. I was really waiting to see the end of this story before posting anything about this company. I see a lot of people bashing AixiZ on here, but they really are a good company, they just sell a lot of low quality products.
-illuzion