TINKER brand
YELLOW-GREEN VALKYRIE 555nm (561nm) SFDDPSS LASER


Tinker brand Yellow-Green Valkyrie 555nm (561nm) SFDDPSS Laser, retail $279.99* (tinkerlasers.com/products/valkyrie-555)
Manufactured by Tinker Lasers (tinkerlasers.com)
Last updated 12-25-24


The hard-sided case the laser & accessories come in.


The case, opened.


And the laser itself.

This is a 561nm yellow-green SFDDPSS (self-frequency doubled diode pumped solid state) laser that is designed to output 25mW. It is made primarily from stainless steel, and is texturised both for aesthetics and handling (e.g., to aid in retention).

I am still in awe regarding the beam color!!!

The color could be best described as a yellowish shade of chartreuse green

Although this is sold as the Valkyrie 555nm, it is binned for the slightly longer (yellower) 561nm wavelength.

There are at least eight GITD (Glow In The Dark) vials encircling the body approximately 2" behind the bezel. The glow vials can be "charged" with most any NUV (Near-Ultraviolet) source or visible-light flashlight.

* This price reflects the $100.00 extra for the GITD vials, which are present in this particular unit.


Feed the laser a 18650 Li:ION rechargeable cell first (see directly below), and then you'll be ready to rock.

To use the laser, just aim it at something you wish to point out, and press & release the button on the tailcap. Press & release the button again to neutralise it (turn the laser back off).

The Valkyrie comes with five holographic "star" caps which screw into the hosel in the laser's business-end. These allow you to generate multiple "star" patterns instead of a single dot.


To change the battery in this laser, unscrew the tailcap, and set it aside.

Tip the used 18650 Li:ION rechargeable cell out of the barrel and into your hand, and recharge it. Please do not under any circumstances flush it down a toliet or throw it into a salmon-filled stream or those tree-huggers might hunt you down and then beat the living tweedle out of you. ;-)

Insert a new 18650 Li:ION rechargeable cell into the barrel, flat-end (-) negative first. This is the opposite of how batteries are installed in most flashlights, so please pay attention to polarity here.

Screw the tailcap back on, and be done with it.


This is a laser, not a flashlight meant to be carried around, thrashed, trashed, and abused, so I won't try to drown it in the toliet tank, run over it with a 450lb Quickie Pulse 6 motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, smack it against a loo ring (toliet seat), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. So this section of the web page will be a bit more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

From a laser engineer who emailed me about this laser, comes the following text:

Yellow-green diode lasers are a lot different than those common red lasers you see all the time.

In a 640nm red portable laser, there's a red-emitting diode and a lens to collimate (focus) the beam.

In a 561nm yellow-green laser (pointer or larger size), there's a BIG infrared laser diode that generates laser light at 808nm, this is fired into a crystal containing the rare-earth element "neodymium". This crystal takes the 808nm infrared light and lases at 1122nm (yes, deeper in the infrared!). This 1122nm laser light comes out of the NdYV04 (neodymium yttrium vanadium oxide) crystal and is then shot into a second crystal (containing potassium, titanium, & phosphorus, usually called KTP) that doubles the frequency to 561nm - the bright yellow-green color you see. This light is then collimated (focused) by a lens and emerges out the laser's "business end". Just before the lens, there's a filter that removes any stray IR (infrared) radiation from the pump diode and the neodymium crystal. You don't want that stuff in your yellow-green beam, trust me. :)

This is why yellow SFDDPSS lasers are so much more expensive than red diode lasers. Lots of itty bitty parts, and they all need to be very carefully aligned by hand. If the polarisation is "off", one or both crystals need to be turned. With red diode lasers, you just slap in the diode and slap a lens in front of it.

This laser is not water-resistant, so please be extra careful when using it around sinks, tubs, loos (toliets), fishtanks, pet water bowls, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. And you'll probably want to cover it up or otherwise get rid of it (such as by putting it in a pocket or bag) if you need to use it in rain or snow.

There are no current usage, optical power output measurements or spectrographic analyses because I no longer own or have access to a DMM, LPM, or spectrometer.

I was not able to measure wavelength with a diffraction grating and a meter stick because there is insufficient space here, and an outdoor measurement is not possible because I'm in a wheelchair after falling prey to a crippling stroke on 03-21-22 and my physical ability to measure with this equipment is extremely limited at best.




Beam terminus photograph on a wall at ~8'.


Beam bouncing off of a standard 2nd-surface household mirror at ~5 feet.
Incense was burning nearby.


Beam photograph taken by my DJI Neo drone.


One of the "star" caps, onto a popcorn ceiling at ~5 feet.


One of the "star" caps, onto a popcorn ceiling at ~5 feet.


One of the "star" caps, onto a popcorn ceiling at ~5 feet.


One of the "star" caps, onto a popcorn ceiling at ~5 feet.


One of the "star" caps, onto a popcorn ceiling at ~5 feet.




TEST NOTES Test unit was sent by www.tinkerlasers.com/ after my other Tinker 561nm laser went to pot.
This laser was sent on 12-18-24 and was received at 5:25pm PST on 12-23-24.



UPDATE 00-00-00


PROS:

Color is extremely radiant and unusual for a portable laser
Has a hefty, "not cheap" feel
Nice beam quality -- beam is exceptionally clean with no unwanted "nasties" (artifacts) in it
Uses a rechargeable power source
Appears significantly brighter than expected


NEUTRAL:

Not waterproof or submersible - but most lasers aren't. Will not figure into my rating
More delicate than directly-injected diode laser pointers/pens. Again, will not figure into my rating


CONS:


PRODUCT RATING: