How "blurry" is your PM9 Crimson Trace dot...?

[WilliamG]

In bright daylight, my laser dot is very small and defined and looks great. In a dark room, it's a hazy blob with the red dot in the center. Trying to gauge if this is to be expected or not with the PM9 Crimson Trace LG-437. And yes, the laser is very clean...

Thanks, guys!

[Tilos]

WG:
I believe your brain has adjusted your eyes for darkness and what you're seeing is a result of this, not the sight.
just sayin'
Tilos

[WilliamG]

WG:
I believe your brain has adjusted your eyes for darkness and what you're seeing is a result of this, not the sight.
just sayin'
Tilos

No, not in this case. It just looks like a dirty lens when it's not dirty. Trying to find out if others have the same finding...

e.g. here's a crappy cell-phone pic in the dark. I can see all the "speckles" around the center dot, and when I rotate the gun, the speckles all rotate perfectly, which is how I know it's not my eyes. In the bottom left of the image, you can see the slightly off-vertical lines, too, which are just in that corner when the gun is held normally, and actually move to other places when the gun is rotated, furthering the proof it's the laser specifically and not my eyes.

Again, should be easily proven if it's normal for the Crimson Trace or not by someone else just pointing at a while wall in the dark - like go to your closet. :D

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a127/wgrose/16f163b6.jpg

[BuckeyeBlast]

It's the lens on the laser, not your eyes. You laser should've came w/ two Q-tip looking things. Put a DAB of glass cleaner on one and wipe off the lens with it, then take the second one and dry it. Repeat as necessary. I'm not sure if it's power residue or gun cleaner/oil that gets on there, but that same thing has happened to me before and a cleaning was all it needed.

[Tilos]

OK then, the additional info about the speckle pattern image rotating with the sight, would seem to me, to be some dirty interior lens/mirror within the sight.
What you first described sounded like the common Halo affect of eyes/eye glasses/contacts.
It will be interesting to hear what other owners have to say,
Tilos

[WilliamG]

I've cleaned it several times with no improvement. In fact, when it's wet it's worse, and then drying it with the "sticks" in the box brings the laser back to how it is above. Again, in daylight it's just a dot because the speckles aren't bright enough to be seen. In a darker/dark room the halo is quite visible.

Hopefully someone here with a Crimson Trace can try this...

[ripley16]

The light diffusion can depend on the surface the laser is hitting. What is it in your picture?

[BuckeyeBlast]

I have a CT LaserGuard on my P380, and CT LaserGrips on my wife's GP100. Both exhibit this in completely dark rooms. It's not your eyes, it's the laser, but I don't think anything's wrong. It's hard to tell how bad it is without seeing it in person, but it looks pretty normal to me. Mine got bad enough that it was doing it in daylight, and cleaning fixed it. But again, in a completely dark room there is still a little bit of the splatter.

[TheTman]

I just went and checked and had a large halo like that. Took a q tip and cleaned the lense and reduced the halo to about half the size, but it's still there.

[WilliamG]

I just went and checked and had a large halo like that. Took a q tip and cleaned the lense and reduced the halo to about half the size, but it's still there.

Thanks for checking.

Can you check one more thing?: Do you have any "weirdness" to the halo? Like where it's obvious there's imperfections in the lens etc? I have what looks like a "scratch" in the halo, a small line that I can't clean off.. Basically, my halo isn't a particularly perfect one. :)

I know I'm anal, but man these Crimson Trace grips are expensive, you know? If it's normal for there to be imperfections in the plastic housing, I'm "OK" with it (not thrilled, but "OK".)

And I'm pointing at flat drywall, sheets, you name it. Same thing everywhere.

[BuckeyeBlast]

From CT:

http://www.crimsontrace.com/Home/Support/QuestionsFAQ/tabid/163/Default.aspx

SOME HELPFUL ANSWERS TO OUR MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

My dot is no longer round – its speckled and spread out, what do I do?
It sounds as though you may have a dirty lens. If your dot looks like the image on the left all you need to do is clean your lens. Residue from gun oil or ammunition can get into the diode housing when your firearm is discharged. The particles aerosolize and adhere to the lens causing a “speckled” or “spreading of the beam” appearance.


Dirty Diode
http://www.crimsontrace.com/images/articles/support/dot-dirty-diode.jpg

Clean Diode
http://www.crimsontrace.com/images/articles/support/dot-clean-diode.jpg


To clean your lens please follow these steps:
1. Put a drop or two of Windex or Isopropyl Alcohol on one of the cleaning swabs that were included in your accessory packet
2. Insert the damp swab into the diode housing and twist several times
3. Remove the damp swab and insert the dry swab and twist it several times
4. Continue alternating between the damp and dry swab until the lens is clean and the dot is back to its original shape

Don’t get discouraged, it may take several times of alternating between the damp and dry swabs before you clean the lens completely.

[WilliamG]

BuckeyeBlast, while I appreciate the info (I read it already, so nya!), like I said before in this thread - it's not a dirty diode! :) :)

[BuckeyeBlast]

BuckeyeBlast, while I appreciate the info (I read it already, so nya!), like I said before in this thread - it's not a dirty diode! :) :)

Then let me know what fixes it. ;)

[WilliamG]

Then let me know what fixes it. ;)

Probably an exchange. There's a physical defect in the plastic laser housing (to my eyes), and also perhaps a slight leakage around the seal. I'll keep you posted how it works out, if any of you still care, hah! :D

[Ol'coot]

How close are you to the laser dot when in the dark? What you show in the photo is the normal laser splatter from the the focusing lens in the laser. t is present during the day time as well you just cannot see it. Less noticeable at shooting distances as well.

[WilliamG]

At 10 feet it's a fairly large splatter, and and at 30 feet it's a huge splatter.

[earle8888]

I get thee HALO effect, cleaning fixes it, for me. Their was some discussion about 'gun cleaning and laser cleaning sometime back, I raised the question. My gun cleaning routine was recently changed by Bill Wilson, I now use a MORE dry method, like his DVD shows, this means less laser cleaning. In fact I now rarely clean the polymer frame, only wipe it with clean rage.

[BuckeyeBlast]

I get thee HALO effect, cleaning fixes it, for me. Their was some discussion about 'gun cleaning and laser cleaning sometime back, I raised the question. My gun cleaning routine was recently changed by Bill Wilson, I now use a MORE dry method, like his DVD shows, this means less laser cleaning. In fact I now rarely clean the polymer frame, only wipe it with clean rage.

I do the same thing now. Having this problem is when I started disassembling the gun prior to cleaning, instead of cleaning the bore 1st and then disassembling.

[WilliamG]

Well it sounds like some haloing in a dark room is normal, but I'n not a fan of some of imperfections on the plastic laser housing causing some weird streaking outside of the halo, so I'll exchange it tomorrow (Tuesday), and report back. For $180, this thing had better work perfectly if you ask me. After all, it's just a glorified laser pointer with windage/elevation adjustment, right?

[S281]

I've cleaned it several times with no improvement. In fact, when it's wet it's worse, and then drying it with the "sticks" in the box brings the laser back to how it is above. Again, in daylight it's just a dot because the speckles aren't bright enough to be seen. In a darker/dark room the halo is quite visible.

Hopefully someone here with a Crimson Trace can try this...


same issue here as well. I actually posted pics of mine in the tech section under the "alert" thread, asking the same thing. Let me know if an exchange fixes yours, i might have to do the same if it does

[WilliamG]

same issue here as well. I actually posted pics of mine in the tech section under the "alert" thread, asking the same thing. Let me know if an exchange fixes yours, i might have to do the same if it does

Yep I'll let you know tomorrow. I think if Crimson Trace didn't have that picture on their website showing "If your dot looks like this....," I might think it's normal.

Heck, if the replacement does the same thing, it's a bit of false advertising, isn't it?

[Tilos]

Understand that CF is only a warehouse and all mfg'ing is done elswhere, most likely china.
So if you can get your retailer to do an exchange, it would be better than sending it off to CT, as I don't believe they repair anything, just replace, and that would take weeks.
Tilos

[DriveMyKahr]

Wait time may not be as long as you think. My first CT LaserGuard for my PM9 lasted less than one week. I called CT and they said that it sounded like the laser diode failed. They sent me a new LaserGuard (G-437) via UPS. CT is a West Coast company and I live on the East Coast. I received the replacement in only 6 days. There was a padded postage paid US mail envelope and return instructions in the box for the original. To me, that is exceptional customer service.

[jocko]

I have aske dthis question and so far no one has answered. The CT for the pm9 AND cm9 ALSO FITS any other polymer kahr, and what I have asked is does the ct laser fit perfect on the cw versions. from some of the photos from owhners of just the laser off the gun, it shows a very bad two peace fit that I can't see how it can mate up perefectly on any polymer kahr butagain I have not heard back from anyone either.

[WilliamG]

Well I'll have a new Crimson Trace tomorrow (Tuesday), and while I don't expect it to fit any better on my PM9, I at least home the laser module won't be messed up in any way. We'll see..

[WilliamG]

Got my replacement LG-437 today, and it's the same deal as my first one. Looks great in daylight, but a little halo-y and streak-y in a darker/dark room (even after cleaning). Figure it must be normal, though certainly not awesome and perfect like Crimson Trace makes it out to be in their pictures.

[S281]

Figures, im not even going to bother sending mine in for exchange for fit or blurry dot

[WilliamG]

Figures, im not even going to bother sending mine in for exchange for fit or blurry dot

Yeah no point. I do think that Crimson Trace should up their QC for fit/laser, considering how expensive these things are. :(

[Freedom4Firearms]

This is normal. I have CT sights on two guns and both display the same behavior that you've described.

[Tilos]

From what I know:

CT's justifies it's price because of their investment in the injection mold to form the shell that fits a specific gun.
If no other company is willing to do this, they can charge whatever they want.
The unit itself costs pennies, is quickly replaced no charge, and never repaired.

When the molded shell cools the shrinkage will deform the final shape and create a misfitting shell.
The molding process parameters can be changed to alter the outcome somewhat but if the problem is the actual mold design, don't expect CT to pay for a new mold to fix a fit problem, just send you another sight.

I'm sure OL'coot could expand on my basic understanding here,
Tilos
YMMV