gso collimators

[wurzel (Paul)]

hi guys,first time on so be gentle with me.my problem is regards collimators,i have had 3 in past2-3 years,each one has suffered from loss of power,when switched on,. the beam would lose power immediately and would be just visable. i do not observe every night ,maybe twice a month ,collimate each time,one was returned and replaced,some time later,perhaps one year,this did the same!!!the batteries were brand new.could it be cheap rubbish diods in it.perhaps you get what you pay for but what about dearer ones $100 plus,any better,i wonder if they are made in same factory as cheap ones are. can any one out there throw any light on this matter wurzel.

[erick (Eric)]

Hi Paul! I presume you mean the GSO laser collimator. No sorry, cannot explain this. I had one for about 18 mths and never had a problem with beam loss. Except that time I fiddled with the internal collimation and the beam vanished inside while I pushed and pulled the grub screws. Got it right after some agony. The laser spot was always a fairly big sausage.

I have since replaced it with a Hotech SCA (self-centring) laser collimator. Very happy with that so far.

Astrosystems, Howie Glatter are at the more expensive end and have good reputations.

Have a search back through "laser collimator" threads on this site.

[wurzel (Paul)]

eric,thanks for the info,my laser beam has a sausage shape too,i think iwill try howie glatter.a friend sugested wrapping it in a heated bean bag for 15 mins ,it did hold the beam brightness for a longer time before it dropped down in brightness,strange,very strange wurzel.