The Laser Egg is Back in Stock, and Better Than Ever

Kyle Mullin | Jan 26, 2016 4:00 pm | 6 comments | 9926 reads

After Beijing gobbled up the entire stock of the Origins Laser Egg air quality monitor in December, the device is now back in stock – with upgrades as well as a pledge for previous purchasers.

Origins – the local Bexinqiao based startup behind the slick air quality reader – recently announced a host of new features for the Egg’s 2016 incarnation.

Chief among them is an airflow regulation function that will boost its long term accuracy. A statement on the company’s website explains how layers of dust can gradually gather on the tiny fan that draws air into the device’s sensor, which can lead to the fan slowing down and thus a drift to occur in the PM 2.5 readings.

In the latest Egg, data on fan speed is used to adjust readings and self-calibrate on the fly.

Origins founder Liam Bates said the overall difference in those dust-hampered readings is likely negligible for average users, but the company can't help but want to improve it. “We always want to make it more and more super, ridiculously accurate, without increasing cost by a huge magnitude,” he said.

The company concedes that earlier versions of the Egg had issues with its temperature and humidity readings, so they removed those this time around.

Bates wasn’t necessarily surprised by such minor early glitches. “We had a pretty fast development time with our fist version, because we were really excited to get it out there and have it people’s hands," he said. "But, over time, we began to say to ourselves: ‘Oh we could do this better, or upgrade that’ to make it a better and better product.”

Other tweaks include boosted Wi-Fi strength, a longer-lasting battery and a sturdier scratch-proof screen.

Possessors of the earlier version of the Egg need not feel envy though, as several of these upgrades (with the exception of the scratch-proof screen) can be added to the 2015 models, which Origins is offering to do free of charge starting February 18 (along with a complimentary cleaning to address fan speed problems).

For more information on the latest incarnation, click here.

This article originally appeared on our sister site beijingkids.

Photo: qdaily.com

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Helandui's picture Helandui Submitted by Guest on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 21:27

@admin

After your comment I tested the AQI of the 'steam of steam' from the humidifier using water from the kitchen filter system (we use to normally fill the humidifier or boil spagetti, the little tap next to the normal tap) or from bottled water (watsons). It made a huge difference.

While holding the Egg near the 'steam' of kitchen filtered water the reading was 400-500 and above index.
When using it filled with bottled watsons water the reading was around the air AQI, 100 at that time. No increase.

I will send the filter tap water to a lab to see whats in it...

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 15:16

That's really weird. Perhaps you need to clean your humidifiers or use distilled water in them (this is what i do).

I can put my monitors right into the stream of steam that comes out of my humidifier and they don't change dramatically


 

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TX_Chick's picture TX_Chick Submitted by Guest on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 14:47

I also found that my humidifier really affected the Laser egg. I did some reading on it and realized that most humidifiers will send particle counters through the roof, because they are putting small particles into the air from the water (more than just water molecules).

Having humidifiers in the room also clogged up my filters, so we've decided to go without humidifiers for now until we can find the right kind that humidifies the air without putting all the bad particles in with it, even when we use filtered water.

admin's picture admin Submitted by Guest on Wed, 01/27/2016 - 05:59

Helandui wrote:
Got very high readings (200) on a clear day, even when purifiers where on full speed. Found out that an air humidifier at the other end of the room was causing the higer (inaccurate) values. Still some work to do?

Hmm, that's surprising. I use the egg and one other monitor in a relatively small bedroom with a humidifier and it doesn't seem to change the readings much, and I've certainly never had a reading of over 200 on a clear day.

However, one thing that might surprise people is very ordinary cooking will send "airpocalyptic" levels of particulate matter into a closed apartment.

Any sort of frying in the kitchen or toasting things in the toaster makes my monitors go nuts.

 

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Helandui's picture Helandui Submitted by Guest on Tue, 01/26/2016 - 17:42

I bought one two weeks ago. Very interesting to check the AQI indoors, the effect of air purifiers and see where dirty air is still entering the house. Luckily most of the time AQI is around 15-40

Got very high readings (200) on a clear day, even when purifiers where on full speed. Found out that an air humidifier at the other end of the room was causing the higer (inaccurate) values. Still some work to do?

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