Wicked Lasers - Spyder II 300mW Green Laser

Introduction

I remember being a young kid, taking that $5 red laser pointer with the different end caps to school. I would shine it on the white board and annoy the teacher, or even mess with pets while at home. I thought that it was bright, and that beam seemed to travel forever. I remember watching star wars and laughing at the fact that they could use “light sabers” to cut limbs like butter. There was no way that a laser could do that. I was wrong. Although not the most powerful laser produced by Wicked Lasers, the Spyder II Pro is a force to be reckoned with. The model we will take a look at has an intense 300mw beam that can run constantly for up to 80 min. Is this just an over rated toy, or a truly awesome tactical laser? Join us as we find out.

Wicked Lasers Take

The best just got better. The new military-grade Spyder II GX is encased in a lightweight 6061-T6 aerospace aluminum shell. The laser body is Military Type III black anodized to protect against scratches. All Spyder II lasers are airtight and water resistant, making it the perfect tool for tactical applications. The Spyder II GX is a wicked masterpiece showcasing Wicked Lasers’ revolutionary Tesla cooling technology.

The Spyder II GX laser is designed to operate under the most demanding of conditions, and is the first portable laser equipped with thermoelectric cooling. With a 100% duty cycle, the Spyder II GX has the most burning and beam visibility capabilities Wicked Lasers has to offer. Powered by a single 18650 high capacity lithium battery, the Spyder II GX is visible for hundreds of miles, and is a glimpse into the future of green laser technology.

The Spyder II laser unit comes with a pair of Green 532nm LaserShades, two LI-ION 18650 batteries and a universal LI_ION charger. Batteries and charger are sent separately via EMS. Spyder II laser unit and LaserShades are sent via UPS Worldwide Express.

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Packaging and Contents

The Wicked Lasers Spyder II Pro came packaged appropriately. The laser itself comes in a box that holds it securely in place. There is an electrostatic bag cover for the lens of the laser itself. This helps protect it while shipping, although the packaging itself will not let the laser budge.

The exterior packaging of the Spyder II is like most other laser packaging from Wicked Lasers. It is simple and tells the consumer what is in the box.

When you open up the box, you can see the Spyder II Pro in place, securely held bu a foam lining in the middle of the case. The lid is magnetic and simple to open. No box cutters needed. If you are looking for something to store the laser in as well, this box is extremely durable and can take a beating. Remember, the lid is magnetic, so it may not be the best box for drop protection.

The “business end” of the Spyder II Pro is covered in an electrostatic wrapping. not sure why Wicked lasers does this, but it is a nice thing to see as it adds yet another layer of protection from anything scratching the lens.

The body of the Wicked Lasers Spyder II Pro is Mil-Spec Aluminum. You can drive over this thing, beat it with a hammer, or use it as a billie club, and you can be rest assured that it will still be functional. No wonder this thing could be mounted on a weapon.

The power switch is located on the rear of the laser. It is a simple on/off switch. Unlike lower end lasers, it will remain on until you press the button to turn it off. This is good, as this laser also has a much longer consecutive run time than most lasers.

The lens is the most important part of this laser. Scratch it and you will forever be doomed with a strange line in your laser. I wouldn’t worry about the lens getting scratched, as I was able to carry it around in a laptop bag that gets more punishment than my trigger finger, and it was not damaged it all. If it does get dirty, a simple cloth can wipe it clean. If you do scratch or break the lens, it does look fairly simple to change.

Another, separate box contains all the accessories included with the laser. You should receive every thing in this box, other than the weapon mount. Included in here are:

batteries
charger
instruction manual
safety glasses

The other item that I was able to receive upon request was a momentary on/off switch that would replace the included one. This would be necessary if you intended to mount it on any weapon as I am, as you would not want to divert attention from a target to enable a laser. You would want to be able to squeeze a certain part of the grip and have it activate. Since I will not be touching on this later in the review, I must mention that the switch worked flawlessly, and was extremely easy to replace. Unscrew the battery cover and replace.

Safety glasses are a must when working with this laser. the beam is extremely hard to look at without wanting to look away, and doing so could cause temporary or permanent blindness. TechwareLabs, and Wicked Lasers recommends that you wear safety glasses when working with lasers 100% of the time.

The quality of the included glasses is fairly good for a $50 set of glasses. Laboratory grade goggles can be hundreds of dollars more. The laser can however damage the glasses if it is focused at a fixed point, and you should never point the laser at your eyes, or anyone else’s, whether you have safety glasses on or not.

Accessories that come with the laser are two rechargeable batteries, a charger, and protective goggles. They come in separate boxes, as the box that contains the laser is designed to only accommodate the laser itself.

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Testing

Testing of the Spyder II Pro laser will occur in two sections. The first set of testing will be conducted on the laser alone. This will test the actual mW produced by the laser. To actually measure this we used a state of the art Laser Power Meter (LPM) at the university of Central Florida. In this lab, they hold one of the most powerful lasers in the world, and conduct measurements of laser power on a regular basis. To accurately conduct this test, we had to hold the laser perfectly still, as any movement could alter the results of the amount of light absorbed by the lasers. After calibration of these machines, we conducted tests on two lasers. The first was on a Wicked Lasers Executive Series that had been rated at 95mW. Actual output was just over the rated output at 95.7mW. This also must take into account that with the lights in the room on, the meter recorded a steady 0.5mW. This makes the Executive series almost right on the money with a metered output of 95.2mW.


Wicked Lasers Executive Series	Actual output was just over the rated output at 95.7mW

Next up, we tested the Spyder II Pro from Wicked Lasers. unlike the executive series, this laser seemed to have a “warm up time” of around 10 seconds. The laser’s initial read upon power up was recorded at 41.5mW then within about a second jumped to the 100mW-120mW range. It remained in this area for around5 seconds before rapidly crawling up to the 250mW – 300mW range. After the warm up completed, the Spyder II Pro remained fairly constant at 375mW, occasionally dropping to 345mw randomly initially but after a few seconds never broke away from 380mW-390mW. This laser is rated at 300mW, meaning that it is pretty much over powered. Not something that we mind, but something to take note of.


Wicked Lasers Spyder II Pro	Spyder II Pro remained fairly constant at 380mW-390mW

The next test is life of the laser. The battery is rated to last about 60 minutes, and the run time of the laser is around 80min. This is good for the end user because it is unlikely that you will be able to burn out the laser with a single battery charge. Well, we had to make sure. We charged up the batteries and let it rip. We tested using approximate times, turning the laser on and off, as you would with normal use. Doing this we went well over the 60 minute expectation of battery life. Again, we can under stand this as the laser takes a minute to warm up and would in turn be using less battery. Of course this life span could be increased if you purchase higher quality, non rechargeable batteries, but you’d be broke trying to replace them every day (yes, you will use it that much). I would recommend keeping the original batteries, as we found nothing wrong with their charge cycle. Do not be confused if the batteries take a day to charge. The included charger, although actually a good one, takes longer than any other charger on the market.

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Awesome Hardware Award

Beam Visibility

The visibility of this beam of light is greater than I could have imagined. Day or night, you can see the beam travel all the way to its target. This first test is conducted on a partly cloudy day, around 3pm. As you can see, the beam is highly visible, even during the daytime if you look directly down the beams path, but is hardly noticeable when looking from the side.


Beam at a distance of 100 yards	Beam at a distance of 300 yards

Next, to give you an idea of the differences, we conducted the same test at around 7pm, when the sun was set and there was little ambient light. As you can see, the beam is highly visible when looking from the direction that the beam is traveling, and the beam aso becomes highly visible when looking from the side at almost any reasonable distance.


Beam at a distance of 100 yards	Beam at a distance of 300 yards

As with any item, you need to have a control shot and a test shot. I have included the settings on the camera so that the test can be replicated if anyone would like. I have also done this because it is hard to take a picture of light. The settings used were used because it provided the most accurate portrayal of what I had actually seen.

Control shot

Settings

Product shot

Conclusion

There’s no doubt about it, the Spyder II Pro by Wicked Lasers is an amazing product. With the ability to start fires, signal an aircraft for help in an emergency situation, blind enemies at up to 1km, and look really cool, you almost can’t help but want one of these. You may not even have any practical need for one, but you still want it. Locally, the Sheriff’s Office has put out a safety bulletin related to use of this laser. You may want to seriously consider what you decide to aim it at, because the beam can be seen for miles. The only setback for this unit is the price. With nearly a $1700 price tag, it’s going to be out of the price range of most people, although, for the enthusiast, it’s not a bad deal. If not for the high price tag, this would have received the TechwareLabs Editors Choice Award, however this is not something that we can just look past, as it is something that consumers weigh heavily. For that purpose, we will award it the TechwareLabs Awesome Hardware Award.