Deal Extreme and Focal Price... :(

LONG STORY, IF YOU DON'T WISH TO WASTE YOUR TIME READING, SKIP TO BOLD LETTERS!
I bought a 200mw red laser from DX, knowing that this particular seller is anything BUT well respected, and because I am in the US, I had to have Simon's help (he really is a great guy :thanks He tested the laser before sending it, and I believe it was pretty consistantly at around 180mw. When I recieved it i had a blast with it. It reinstilled my faith in cheap laser sites. Then, when my friend dropped my laser in some water, I had to prematurely jump to a new laser...
Without much planning or thought, I purchased a "200mw green" from FocalPrice. I waited 3 weeks, recieved my laser, and saw that it was about half as powerful as my 5 mw green. Reluctantly, i paid for it to be shipped back to be replaced with another (maybe this time they will send me a really nice one and I will live happily ever after...) Anyway, about 6 weeks go by and I recieve the laser. It was amazingly bright! its focus was terrible, at about 20 feet the dot was larger than a quarter, but I didnt care because it BURNED dark things!
So i showed my friends, had a great time, then the next day it stopped being so bright... and went back to being as cruddy as the old one.

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I suspect that, because my advertised 200mw green worked for a bit, then stopped, the laser I recieved was a regular little laser with its POT modded, and the diode was super pumped until it gave out. Is this possible?
ALSO! would I be better off building a Green laser for a bit more money? I would also sacrafice the convenient pen style (something that I value, because I like to use lasers in spontaneous circumstances). Opinions, facts, staticstics, I want to hear from you

Well, if you really want a good quality pen, perhaps you should consider getting some kind of CNI based pen? More money, but if you keep your eyes open, you can find them used for pretty cheap. I have a 55mW CNI pen that throws a pretty awesome green beam. If burning is no longer your primary concern, you shouldn't need anything too high in power.

Most of the people on here have given warnings about Focalprice sending out low quality and underspec lasers. :/

I will certainly look into CNI. :yh:
And as far as burning goes , it isn't really necessary, just kind of fun. A powerful-looking beam is far more important. So a 55mw is impressive you say? I've heard, from this site, that if you quadruple the MW power, you double the light intensity. With my 200mw red, this was not really the case, but that could be because red is harder to see. Have you tested your 55 to see if it is perhaps over spec?
EDIT:
and I do recall being warned by EVERY intellectual laser enthusiast to beware of focalprice and other cheaper sites, i just ignored them... and learned my lesson x)

I think you would be fine with a 100mW Rayfoss laser. Mine measures 125mW, burns well, and has an awesome beam. They are well worth saving up for (less than $75). That is a slightly inaccurate rule of thumb, and there's really no way to tell the beam differences unless it's in person. But a 125mW will be noticeably brighter than 55mW.

And another thing, the beam might not be as bright as you think. My 125mW isn't really noticeable from ~10 feet away unless it just rained or there's fog in the air.

Randomlugia, thanks for the advice! so I have a friend who owns a high end 100mw greenie, my friends say he can pop dark balloons within a few seconds, burn black plastic, and at night, light up clouds??
I was wondering, if my intention was to "pwn" his laser with one of my own, if I would be better off with a 200mw, or would a 100 that actually measures 125 be pretty much the same?

Shoot4theMoon said:

Randomlugia, thanks for the advice! so I have a friend who owns a high end 100mw greenie, my friends say he can pop dark balloons within a few seconds, burn black plastic, and at night, light up clouds??
I was wondering, if my intention was to "pwn" his laser with one of my own, if I would be better off with a 200mw, or would a 100 that actually measures 125 be pretty much the same?

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There won't be much of a difference between 100mW and 125mW. But Rayfoss doesn't have an upgrade option, so definitely buy the most powerful laser you can afford the first time. And a 200mW would pwn his. How much are you looking to spend? They have some lower quality 200mW's and a few much higher quality ones.

I find burning the upmost importance, and I never buy anything under 100mW-150mW always try for over 150mW+

randomlugia said:

There won't be much of a difference between 100mW and 125mW. But Rayfoss doesn't have an upgrade option, so definitely buy the most powerful laser you can afford the first time. And a 200mW would pwn his. How much are you looking to spend? They have some lower quality 200mW's and a few much higher quality ones.

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Ok then I will definitely go for te higher powered one x)
well I was looking at the adjustable focus ones on RAYFOSS and they were about $150, there were also fixed focus ones for a little less. So I was prolly looking at $150 maybe $200 AT THE MOST if i work extra hours

souljasai said:

I find burning the upmost importance, and I never buy anything under 100mW-150mW always try for over 150mW+

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haha i agree someone told me that the only reason high powered lasers burn things is the IR, so if you put an IR filter on it, it will not burn. Is that true? And can one conceivably get a REMOVABLE ir filter??

Shoot4theMoon said:

Ok then I will definitely go for te higher powered one x)
well I was looking at the adjustable focus ones on RAYFOSS and they were about $150, there were also fixed focus ones for a little less. So I was prolly looking at $150 maybe $200 AT THE MOST if i work extra hours

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I would definitely get a focusable. Even if it's a little cheaper, it's really annoying (and really not even worth it) to use a lens for burning.

randomlugia said:

I would definitely get a focusable. Even if it's a little cheaper, it's really annoying (and really not even worth it) to use a lens for burning.

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lol i'm confused... you should that you would get a focusable? and then you say it's not worth it?

souljasai said:

lol i'm confused... you should that you would get a focusable? and then you say it's not worth it?

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even if it is a little bit cheaper to get 'fixed focus' it is not worth it. so get an 'adjustable' :yh:

randomlugia, i will go with adjustable then, since i've had experiences where fixed focus lasers have been completely unfocused lol

Sorry, I meant it was not worth the price of a fixed focus to have to use a magnifying glass for burning.

Can you do that?

Yes you can, but it might not be a perfect beam.