My 100 mw green has a hair thin beam, but very low divergence, bright at night for a very long range. Can't burn anything, not even warm on my skin.
My 1300 mw blue has a wider rectangular beam, brilliant at night with a wide beam, but higher divergence. It doesn't seem to go any further than the green at long range, and the batteries die fairly quickly. Side by side with the much lower power green, they seem to have roughly the same "range" outdoors at night, although the blue beam is fatter. Compare the diameter of a fat pencil (blue) with a pencil lead (green) Burns quite well at medium range, even unfocused. You are insane if you use this indoor without goggles. Treat this one with utmost respect, or it WILL put your eye(s) out.
500 mW violet has a circular spot, medium divergence but hard to focus because my eyes don't focus well on the colour. It is only faintly visible at night. Would make a decent astronomy pointer because it isn't too bright until/unless you point it at the ground. Perceptually it is dimmer than the green. I wouldn't use this indoor without goggles either, although it is a class 3r, slightly less dangerous than the blue. The fact that your eyes are less sensitive to the red or violet end of the spectrum can mislead you as to the potential for eye injury.
