DIY bluray vs Sonar....

I know everyone seems to hate WL, and the feeling is mutual. I'm just curious about this....

How come it seems that everything I've read puts the max output of a DIY bluray pointer at about 10 mw, but they can get 20mw out of thiers? Is this false advertising, or do they acheive it by having it pulsed? I'm looking into getting one, and I want it as close to 20mw as possible for maximum visibility because I'm not interested in burning things, I just want to have a good, visible pointer.

I know on the LED museum, he has his homemade Dorcy bluray pointer that puts out about a 7mw max, and it seems at least to compare well to that terribly overpriced Sonar.

Also, as a simple pointer fan, what can I expect visibility wise out of a bluray pointer at various power levels, say 5,10, and 15-20 (which is my desired power range) compared to our common reds and greens? I'd like something at least on the order of a 635 5mw. How much power will I need out of it to accomplish that?

Thanks, sorry for the noobishness!

If you cool a BluRay it can do 20mW. (heatsink)
The Sonar IS pulsed, look at LED museum's pics of its line, it appears as a broken line versus a solid one frmo a DIY.

Yes it is pulsed, yes it is crap, no they don't drop the price despite being able to get 405 diodes for <$25 now.

Visibility wise (copy paste from my post in another thread )

Actually, if you shine it on cool, clean teflon, you will see it's only about as bright as a 650nm <5mw red. Thing is, pretty much every substance fluoresces at the short wavelength of 405nm, to a degree. Skin, paper, wood, even dust in the air. It LOOKS much brighter because you see the fluorescence it causes.

From what I've heard, the 20 mW figure is the peak output, and the average output is only a bit over 2 mW. :

My $0.02 worth, I have a bluray made by Daedal, I really love it and human perception does vary some, but the eye is not very sensitive to red and violet, maybe a tenth to twentieth as much as to green! I wish it were not so, anyway my fine blue ray has a beam which seems very dim even in very dark conditions, yet on a fluorescent item, it competes with the dot of a 5 mw pointer. It must be > than 10 mw and Daedal says it peak outputs 15 mw, (I believe it too!), but it can seem low to our eyes. It can be an eye hazard too!

the sonar is pulsed not cw

Don't worry, Blueray burners are only gonna get "hotter" and cheaper.

Already you can get Blueray burner for $400-$450.
LG also selling 4x Blueray burner for $750.

I wander how powerful those diodes are. Maybe 50-100mW

i wouldn't bother getting a sonar, especially because of the price. the beam on my 10mw bluray is slightly visible, but on florescent surfaces is very bright

if you pulsed your 405nm diode it would also go up to 20mw without any problrms.

If you get a good heatsink and maybe even a TEC, how high do you think you could get a DIY blu-ray to output?

and still have it last a long time, of course.

Abray said:

If you get a good heatsink and maybe even a TEC, how high do you think you could get a DIY blu-ray to output?

and still have it last a long time, of course.

Click to expand...

Probably not very high....and it would probably kill it quickly anyway.
Anyway, why the hell would you spend $2000 on a sonar? Buy a brand new bluray writer and harvest the diode, heck, buy 2 if you're afraid of breaking one, it'll still be cheaper.

Now Sonar 2 is supposedly outputing up to 60mW pulsed. I bet they are using 1x blueray burner that has recently dropped in price down to below $400.

I just build DIY 405nm CW from Daedal's last group buy. Its outputting 14mW max, 12mW avg., and its NIIICE!!!!!

Its so much more satisfying to build it yourself than to dump $1700 for technology that is only starting to grow. And it will grow FAST !!

I'm planning to upgrade my DIY 12mW Blueray laser with higher powered diode as soon as it is available for less than $100.

cheers