Blue laser (CNI) from LaserGlow.com

[OPO226]

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!

[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!

[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.

[OPO226]

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?

[dave]

"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

[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..

[300EVIL]

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" 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

[allthatwhichis]

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... I think it is all "luck" of the draw.

[dave]

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

[Dr Laser]

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$...