POWER: 200mW Green VS. 200mW Red

Hello! Please help me, I'm a laser noob.

I'm not looking for for brightness, but the best laser that will burn things like matches, pop balloons, etc.

I have a choice of getting a red laser 200mW or a green laser 200mW. They both cost the same price, and I know green is brighter, but which burns better? I have found comparisons where they show the difference from something like a 100mW green and a 200mW red or something like that, which isn't a fair comparison, right? :yabbmad:

So long story short, at the same mW, are green or red lasers better for burning?


Two I'm comparing:

DealExtreme: $28.80 200mW 532nm Green Laser Pen (2*AAA)

DealExtreme: $27.09 High-Power 200mW Red Laser Pen (Burns Match + Visible Beam Daytime)

While i'm still a laser noob myself, I think that the green would burn better. Also, lasers from sites like dealextreme will not be up to spec of 200mW. For 30$ you can't really expect it to be. A better website to check out would be O-like. And if you are new to lasers (like I am) make sure you get proper eye protection with your new laser.

That's exactly what I thought, but I wanted to confirm it. I am now purchasing a red 200mW laser from O-Like, because green lasers from O-Like are a lot more than DX green lasers (probably build better at O-Like).

Thank you!

It really depends on the material and color. Different materials and colors absorb more energy than others.

Red is imho better. It's cheaper at the same power, it's direct diode laser, so it's very likely you will get power you are paying for (unlike greens), there is no problem with IR. Also since it's direct diode laser, it will need much less power and will overheat less.

Greens from DX are cheaper, because they are so so build quality and mostly lower power then declared. Sometimes a lot lower. Sometimes it's not so bad.
O-like is generally correct power, much better build quality.

They will not ship to America. I tried ordering the green one a month ago and it was canceled due to the new regulations.