> > I just pulled the trigger on a $199 usb spectrometer with light   
   >    
   > > fiber. It's on science-surplus.com. It uses a ccd array inside and   
   >    
   > > kinda slow (I remember 350 ms.), but the price is right. I'm hoping   
   >    
   > > it will be sensitive enough. Can you give any opinion, from your   
   >    
   > > Rolls Royce window? :)   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > Cool, thanks for the steer.  I just  bought one too.  I'll probably hack    
   >    
   > it up for another project, using a fibre bundle for the input slit.   
   >    
   >    
   I just talked with on fone - I bought the $199 special, and they are going to   
   change out the grating to give the wide range 600 lines version. I can give   
   you their fone # if you want. He said, with their rough calibration, you get   
   10 nm resolution, but    
   can go to 2 with calibration. He went into some gotchas with me me. They were:   
   -don't touch the grating surface   
   -One focusing mirror has 5 screws holding it down - have to loosen opposite   
   screw as you tighten a screw - tension can crack mirror if you don't...   
   -There was a third that I can't remember, but I imagine you don't want to   
   align while drinking! :)    
   Did you get the unaligned El Cheapo?    
   OH, he said 50 ms. per spectrum time.   
   JB   
      
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