Laserworld DS-2000RGB MK3

Great alternative to kvant/unit lasers

I was looking around for lasers and was about to buy lasers from Kvant but then I found these. What I was looking for was DMX control of lasers, the higher-end lasers like the Kvant Unity Raw only have ILDA to control and having a dongle for each laser would get expensive. Here you have DMX control which doesn't give you unrestricted creativity, but since you can create your own animations and upload them directly into the SD card inside the machine, you can then use DMX and trigger these animations, ILDA is also available as well! Comparing it to the competitors in this price range, Laserworld just gives you so many more features like being able to use an ethernet cable to connect it or having power con in and out.

Build quality is full metal. The only bad thing I can say is that it is advertised as having a 360-degree bracket. In reality, if you wanted to keep rotating the bracket you would have to take off the screws and then attach it back on to keep rotating to your desired position, not the biggest problem but if you have to change the angle of the bracket a lot it can be a problem.

Also, the software that is included (shownet, showeditor) isn't the easiest to use. There are tutorials online but sometimes I still get confused and I am sometimes limited to what we can draw for animations.

a decent laser

Great light output, but not the best scanning speed. The beam seems also quite narrow, but the only comparison I have is a higher-end Kvant laser, which costs many times more. The light outputs are comparable though. So it's good for the price.

A nice and capable laser

This is my first display laser, so I don't have any direct comparisons to make for this unit. As my first laser though, I am mostly very happy with it.

The unit is very nicely built. The aluminium housing makes the unit feel very solid. Powercon and Ethercon connectors on the back are good quality and nice to have. The power output is more than enough for indoor use, I have not tested it outside. The colours are nice and vibrant, and when displaying rainbow effects it's hard to look away! The scanners seem good, and about the standard for this bracket of laser. I wouldn't want to go for anything slower as they can struggle for more complex shapes.

I have two main criticisms for this unit however:

1. The fans are quite loud, and they are always on. It would have been nice to see fans that ramp up as cooling is needed. And it would have been nice if quieter fans were used. If there is music playing you won't notice the noise, but if you're testing the laser without any music then you quickly get worn down by the fan noise.

2. The included ShowNET software is capable but horrible to use. It feels like Showeditor is a place for the developers to test ideas and throw together functionality without much thought for usefulness. I suppose it is this way because they want you to buy their Showcontroller software. No other software seems to exist for ShowNET, so to use any other package you would need to buy a separate ILDA DAC. I have tried getting access to the ShowNET API but so far I haven't been given access. I have had a few emails back and forth with LaserWorld to sort this but so far no dice.

Ultimately I am happy with this laser. It could definitely be better, but for the price this must be about the best you can get!