So I did some research...

[deejay]

Following on from my "laser for my man cave" thread I have been doing a lot of research online, trying to find meaningful reviews of low quality home-based laser projectors is near on impossible.

Quite telling is the lack of actual customer reviews of Laserworld, Cameo and other manufacturers and the fact a lot of their entry-level products are now seemingly discontinued. A close friend of mine runs his own company that manufactures electronics (amps, FX etc) told me that if a product is not reviewed online (or hard to find) and is subsequently discontinued, it is crap Chinese imported goods with a re-branded logo.

Whilst doing research I came across this video: KVANT LD 25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCE-uMQVWm4

Now I am no expert on safety, But I would assume that set-up is seriously hazardous, could it be why no one has commented on the video? They are all blind If anyone has a cheap projector for sale in the UK, please feel free to PM me, I am totally lost researching lasers

[neobenedict]

Define "cheap" - need numbers

The message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen your message to at least 15 characters.

[deejay]

Originally I was looking at the Laserworld 60G, 100G, 200RGB etc & also Cameo Wookie 200RGY, 200R, 400RGB and other lasers around the £150-£300 range. (remember this is merely an ambient light for my man-cave). Doing research is how I stumbled upon PhotonLexicon, and I am now fully aware PL is frequented by professional and hobbyist laser users who would not soil their homes with such piss-poor projectors. That's cool, I understand, I am a laser 'noob' and my budget is frankly laughable, But I was hoping to get some advice on a good, reliable 'cheap' unit, if that's possible. Not everyone can justify the cost of a KVANT, especially as a home projection system, but believe me, if I could persuade the wife I would so purchase a clubmabx 1000

[Bradfo69]

Look into Laserking. Specifically something like the LK-PD3. If you're going cheap, that's not a bad solution. If you can find one, the REKE RBG500 was a popular unit several years ago. One thing to keep in mind is that we hate to see people waste money and, it's really hard to steer you in the direction we know is going to ultimately be unsatisfactory. It has nothing to do with being uppity and not wanting to soil our homes. We'd ALL like cheap and good if it actually existed. It's just that there isn't much to point you towards and the hard lesson that lasers simply aren't a cheap endeavor. My analogy at the moment is SCUBA. You want to get into it and are asking for a cheap regulator. It's hard to be in a position to suggest one that might or might not fail when you are at 65 feet. Although if it fails, we might not have to worry about you complaining we steered you wrong.

[neobenedict]

For a budget of £300, laserworld cs-1000 is probably the best you will get. Or a laserdock. Look towards a budget of £1500 for a "good" laser. Control software costs money too, what are you doing about that? Or just leaving it running in autopilot?

[dkumpula]

. . One thing to keep in mind is that we hate to see people waste money and, it's really hard to steer you in the direction we know is going to ultimately be unsatisfactory. It has nothing to do with being uppity and not wanting to soil our homes. We'd ALL like cheap and good if it actually existed. It's just that there isn't much to point you towards and the hard lesson that lasers simply aren't a cheap endeavor. .

Well put, Brad.

Deejay: It would be helpful if you described what you want to accomplish (beam shows, graphics, lumia), how you intend to control it (auto modes, live control, preprogrammed shows), and how big the space is. As you mentioned it is a home installation, we'd assume that your space is limited, but ceiling heights and such would be helpful. I suspect you'll want a low power laser (e.g. 0.5W-1.2W) with better beam specs rather than a higher power laser with lower quality beams. If you want to do graphics, you'll want better galvos too. Control desires define your DAC and software needs. I think most of us would agree that auto and music modes are . . awful. Software options that are covered in hundreds of threads in this forum but I think the votes would tally something like this:

Best Live Control on a Budget: Pangolin's Quickshow
Best Full Featured Software: Pangolin's Beyond
Best Budget/Feature Ratio: LasershowExpress (LSX)

There are several specialty software packages that are great as well (Maxwell, Laserjuice, Spaghetti, etc.) depending on your particular needs.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't include a video from my home install:

Note that although my projectors aren't all that powerful (1.1W-2.1W), they have excellent beam quality and good or great galvos. That said, the cost is significantly more than £300 just for the parts.

Best of luck to you with your home install! Oh and please consider safety as your primary objective!

-David