- Joined
- Jul 7, 2010
- Messages
- 18
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Hi everyone, I've been lurking here for a while in order to inform myself to make my first "real laser" purchase a good one, and I decided on a green laser because of the good visibility-to-power ratio. I would have gone with a high-powered red laser, but they aren't as visible at a given power level and, of course, are much less exotic.
Basically what I want in a green laser is: 1) The ability to light a match. Burning white paper would also be cool but not necessary.
2) A beam that is clearly visible at night, and somewhat visible in my house during the day.
3) Runs off supplied Li-ions, and if not that, regular old alkaline AAs.
4) I like Wicked Laser's hosts (particularly the Spyder, of course, but that's pushing it). But they seem to be a shady company. Something that looks like those hosts in a more reputable company would be cool, but to me, the host is the least important part of the whole package; it just needs to provide enough cooling to give me an adequate duty cycle.
5) Less than $100. That's not a strict wall; if there's something great out there for $110 I'll make an exception.
So to me, it sounds like I want a 100-200mW green laser.
I've eliminated the high-end companies like Laserglow, Optotronics, and NovaLasers, as I would be more comfortable breaking a $100 laser in my ignorance than a $1000 laser. After following the Arctic scandal, I don't feel comfortable ordering from Wicked Lasers. O-Like, DealExtreme, and Rayfoss seem to be my best bets.
One laser that caught my attention in particular is this laser from Rayfoss. I don't understand why it's so cheap and includes LED lights, when the other more expensive lasers seem to do the same thing and don't have LED lights. The only difference I can really see is that the others are waterproof. Of course they fail to list specs like beam diameter and divergence, so I'm a bit skeptical.
The other two lasers I was really looking at were the DealExtreme 200mW module, and this O-Like 150mW portable laser.
There has to be something deal-breaking about the Rayfoss laser that makes it so much cheaper than everything else in its category, right?
Thanks a lot to anyone that can help point a newb in the right direction, whether by confirming that my choices are good or recommending better choices; and sorry, I bet you guys see a few of these threads pop up every day and just groan.
Basically what I want in a green laser is: 1) The ability to light a match. Burning white paper would also be cool but not necessary.
2) A beam that is clearly visible at night, and somewhat visible in my house during the day.
3) Runs off supplied Li-ions, and if not that, regular old alkaline AAs.
4) I like Wicked Laser's hosts (particularly the Spyder, of course, but that's pushing it). But they seem to be a shady company. Something that looks like those hosts in a more reputable company would be cool, but to me, the host is the least important part of the whole package; it just needs to provide enough cooling to give me an adequate duty cycle.
5) Less than $100. That's not a strict wall; if there's something great out there for $110 I'll make an exception.
So to me, it sounds like I want a 100-200mW green laser.
I've eliminated the high-end companies like Laserglow, Optotronics, and NovaLasers, as I would be more comfortable breaking a $100 laser in my ignorance than a $1000 laser. After following the Arctic scandal, I don't feel comfortable ordering from Wicked Lasers. O-Like, DealExtreme, and Rayfoss seem to be my best bets.
One laser that caught my attention in particular is this laser from Rayfoss. I don't understand why it's so cheap and includes LED lights, when the other more expensive lasers seem to do the same thing and don't have LED lights. The only difference I can really see is that the others are waterproof. Of course they fail to list specs like beam diameter and divergence, so I'm a bit skeptical.
The other two lasers I was really looking at were the DealExtreme 200mW module, and this O-Like 150mW portable laser.
There has to be something deal-breaking about the Rayfoss laser that makes it so much cheaper than everything else in its category, right?
Thanks a lot to anyone that can help point a newb in the right direction, whether by confirming that my choices are good or recommending better choices; and sorry, I bet you guys see a few of these threads pop up every day and just groan.
