I now know what an LED 209 looks like

Well the holy grail of having a 1 watt 209 is still out there somewhere. I wasn't the one to find it. I did learn what turning a nice diode into an LED looks like.
Ran great for about 30 seconds. Then no nice bright light. Came inside and saw a dim violet glow. That last 100 mA was the straw that broke my camels back.
Thanks for everyone's input. I just had to try it. Learned something at least and still have a running one that puts out over 900.
Enjoy a laugh on me. You guys warned me.

We live and learn

well i led'ed a 520nm before and it wasn't fun....

Yes it takes your breath away when these 16x dim, I just lost my third I set this one to 570 thinking it will last a bit longer than my last, 2 months or more, it didn't even last 3 minutes at 5 second bursts, and they look so nice, so I'll keep trying this wavelength is a must have and much brighter than other 405s they might be closer to 410 it's the only wavelength I have problems with.

I have killed and word down many diodes and what they will take before fold back is more than what they will take after 10 hard hours worth of 2-3 minute runs.

So I would back it down to 10% less than fold back to leave room for wear.

Even the projectors turn them up as they age to 1/2 brightness at 20K hours, that's why they run rated at half what we push them in the projectors.

In short walking the edge it is easy to fall, even more so when wearing down a little later.

I'm sure this is the same for the disc writers too.