Green Laser pointers for 60 pence.

[ollypenrice]

Since I use lasers regularly for aligning scopes and showing people round the night sky I rather depend on them and so I thought I ought to have a spare. Looking on Amazon (the French version) the same (or seemingly the same) 5Mw green lasers came up at 15 to 20 euros from various suppliers but one had then at 70 centimes - about 60P. Erm???

Well, I oredered three. Hang the expense. There may well be a catch but at two quid I'll risk it to satisfy my curiosity.

Is this kind of thing usually a scam? 

Olly

[Psychobilly]

Sometimes overseas vendors will have a very low price for the item and make up the difference on the P&P I guess this helps with getting the items through without customs duty...

Peter...

[ollypenrice]

Sometimes overseas vendors will have a very low price for the item and make up the difference on the P&P I guess this helps with getting the items through without customs duty...

Peter...

Ah yes, OK. This is a French supplier to my French address but the carriage was a bit steep. Even so, if the lasers are any good it will still be mucky cheap. I no longer feel I understand the world!!!

Olly

[Naemeth]

It's quite common to see low prices and high P&P - they often charge more than it actually costs them to post which effectively goes into the item cost. Presumably they do it because some people ignore the P&P cost and just concentrate on the price of the item itself.

[Bart]

I have bought a laser from Hong Kong which was rubbish at about €15 (thought it was coming from the UK!). Then bought one like you say, for the craic, to see what it's like, from Amazon, for about €5 and its a humdinger. HAd it for about 2 years and its still belting away. HEavy on the batteries but excellent. I think if you spend lots they're usually ok, but with cheapies, you're taking pot luck.

Barry

[Laurie61]

I have not found one yet that works reliably  My first from bc@f, not cheap, would only give a good beam for about 2 sec and then dimmed to the point it was invisible. I eventually connected it to a dc power supply and found it was ok a 6v and even better at 9v but failed at 12v I now have another one and its the same as the first, ok for 2 sec and then fades. The original intention was to use as a finder but no chance so far.       

[ollypenrice]

I've been luckier. I've had the one I bought from Galaxy Products for about six years, and that's in commercial use. It's still fine. I bought one at the same time for my neighbour, who likes to point things out in the sky to his grand children etc. His has just expired so I thought I ought to have a new one on stand by. (Yes, it's great that my nearest neighbour likes the night sky as well! One of his best friends is the former director of the institute of astrophysics at Marseille so that comes in handy too. And the nearest visible lights at night come from the village of Lagrand, the family home of Roger Bonnet, former director of the European Space Agency. Name droppnig, me? Never!!!)  Maybe, from the LP point of view, it helps to have friends in high places. I ain't complaining...

Olly

[ian_bird]

Just don't burn your finger when you push the button! Remember? That was well weird!

I just got another one.

Cheers!

Ian

[Pig]

I hear Audi are performing laser headlamps   sounds a bit dangerous

[ollypenrice]

Just don't burn your finger when you push the button! Remember? That was well weird!

I just got another one.

Cheers!

Ian

Yes, I'd forgotton that! Self tasering astronomer frying tonight...

Olly