Advise on Buying > 532nm 125+mw laser pen

Hi,

After messing around with only a few low powered lasers and building a few I'd like advise on buying something more powerful in the 532nm area since I only have a 5mw which does nothing but point.  I was thinking of buying a 532nm 125+mw laser pointer sometime next week, but am need advise on some of the 125+mw pen style pointers or something more powerful for $250-$400, but read below first to see if I can get away without having to spend the full $400.  I prefer to have things small enough to pocket and look like a low powered laser if possible and without a safety (looks like your standard pen style laser pointer).

So I was thinking of buying either one of these:
Dragon Lasers - Viper Series Green Laser Pointer, Average Output power >125mW
http://www.dragonlasers.com/catalog/Viper-Series-125mW-p-16163.html
Wicked Lasers - Executive Series - Fusion 125mw
http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/Executive_Series-55-0.html
Nova Lasers - X125 Compact Portable Laser
http://www.novalasers.com/NOVAstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=3&idproduct=87

I need it for a few things specifically, but dont know if I should buy one of these or just pay more for something better, or even go less and buy something more or of equal power for a lot less (200mw DX??).

The things I need it to do are or need to know are:
- burn house spiders/bugs dead with-in 1-2 seconds of having the light on them. (less than 1 second would be better [keep in mind I am being shipped the WL Cap set)
- if the spider is a yellowish color with some black spots on it (joints on legs, eyes, etc) which laser will be most effective in killing this spider fast enough?
- Kills the bugs from a distance of 3-7 feet
- Should I look into something else with an adjustable focusing lens (if so what do you suggest - hopefully something that can fit in my pocket that uses AAA)
- Do I need to look into buying protective eye wear because I'll have to know if the beam is steady on the bug
- with the IR filter on these do I need to worry about any IR exposure
- is the beam really that visable in the night sky or do people just amp up the exposure when they take pictures with it. (use the beam for pointing @ stars)
- Is the beam visable from the distance you point it at. Ex. a friend stands a few blocks down the street and I point it at the building next to him (appx. 30ft away from him), will he see the full beam and where it is coming from?
- Should I just buy the Red DX 200mw because it does a better job??  (which I highly doubt for some reason)


So far from what I've been seeing is that Nova lasers usually over spec their units and test them individually.  This will help me out a lot considering that I dont have any way to test it's full power unless I travel 8hrs away to a friends place.  Also.. Nova is located in the same city as I am in so it makes things a lot cheaper on the shipping and time it will get to my place =D.

Just need help on whether not if I should buy it.  I want it to do everything else like burn practically everything (hense my purchase of the WL caps), but it's simply the price and lack of knowledge of it's full capabilities that hold me back from buying it now..

Aoi

wow what a post yes you may just want the dx200 red and find a pair of safety glasses that protect for red that way your getting a good burning laser and shades for about $100 bones

stay away from wicked dragon is way too expensive
or as dave said get a bluray burner

My vote would be for the Nova, your in the same area you say and it's pen sized like you want.  You'll find even more uses for it since it's much more visible, plus Nova is a great company......I don't think you can go wrong with them.

yea nova is the bomb a great company i have a x100 averages 121 peaks 126 it burns stuff great you dont want to leave it on for over a minute i believe and mine gets warm after a minute and you know when your having fun (burning bugs ) time flies the dx 200 is what 43 bucks so if you did leave it on so what
i also have a Rpl 375 it burns nice also but the dx red is a burner like mad to me it burns just as well on ceretain things as my RPL does just get proper eye protection what ever decision you make the nova will hurt your eyes just from reflective glare

john_lawson said:

yea nova is the bomb a great company i have a x100 averages 121 peaks 126  it burns stuff great you dont want to leave it on for over a minute i believe and mine gets warm after a minute and you know when your having fun (burning bugs ) time flies the dx 200 is what 43 bucks so if you did leave it on so what
i also have a Rpl 375 it burns nice also but the dx red is a burner like mad to me it burns just as well on ceretain things as my RPL does just get proper eye protection what ever decision you make the nova will hurt your eyes just from reflective glare

Click to expand...

My longest runtime was 2min 30seconds before turning my x-75 off.
I had one icepack under


As for my dilda its around 4minutes no icepack. It was getting hot.

Agreed, nova is awesome!

My x-85 had an average of 100mw and peak of about 107mw

I suggest you to go with DX 200mW Red. It will be around 60$ w/ battery &charger. 4/5. I own two of them.

well what I was looking for was a well rounded green laser that I can use for my own fun/purposes and well one use for my gf
- burn/melt random things
- point at my friends from my apartment to direct them
- point at the top of the CN tower
- camping (have the beam visable in the sky + see the beam through the trees so friends know where you are)
- burn bugs (my gf hates squishing bugs.. least she can now burn them instead)

Main thing that I want it for is...
Burning Stuff - Visable Beam (from a distance) - Long Range



But..... from the way things are going from what is being said so far....
- Should I look into the DX-200 for my gf and a ????mw green for myself?  Suggestions on things with a visable beam from a distance + long range??
- or should I just get a 125-175mw Nova???  ((remember I have the WL lens caps))

I still kinda want to only have just one pointer to do it all really, but I mean if I can't really burn bugs with a 125+mw Nova then I don't really wanna spend the $280+ price tag that it is at.  Would any of you recommend going higher for the killing bugs part?

Usually if it warms up fun time is over, but not a huge loss  
As far as the blu-ray burner I am in the works of a DIY blu-ray pointer (I just can't work on it atm cuz I broke my wrist) [[hopefully when I get out of this cast i can start working on models for people to buy]]

Hello again, you keep going back to this statement "remember I have the WL lens caps" BUT then you say you want long distance burning and a visible beam, I'm confused here, the caps are for close-up and with Red you won't see any beam in the sky even at night.
You can point the Red in the sky and if you hit a tree branch it will light it up, using a green you will see the whole beam go all the way up into the sky.

So if all you want to do is to burn close-up with those caps......well the DX200 wouldn't help you much either, as it won't fit it, BUT then again you won't need them because you can focus the DX200 and do it w/o any add-on lens-caps, then you can refocus it to burn further away.

So I guess it comes down to 1)$$$ doesn't it always? 2) do you really want to see the beam? with the Red you'll only see the dot on the object, unless it's real foggy outside or something. Side-by-side I can barely see the beam outside @ midnight on the DX200, whereas a Green Laser, the beam looks like it would cut through you if you walked through it.

Does this help?

Get the Nova x-150. You will not regret it. Get some nice NiMH AAA and charger too.

However, you won't get too far with burning bugs, they'll just flee! (you need much more power, unless the bugs are paralyzed!) ;D

I have directed friends to my apartment (when I lived in one) that's a great tactic, just be really careful not to grab unwanted attention.

Be careful, because if the wrong people see the beam, you could have the cops knocking at your door!

The DX 200 won't last (if you're pretty active like me when you carry it around)

nova do have one x-125 in stock, but it just says they are out of stock it averages 139mw afaik


i wanted to upgrade my greenie for exactly the same reasons as you , ended up getting a 165mw OEM laser, not a pen style size however,

it arrives in 1week so i cant wait

ReaperZ said:

nova do have one x-125 in stock, but it just says they are out of stock it averages 139mw afaik


i wanted to upgrade my greenie for exactly the same reasons as you , ended up getting a 165mw OEM laser, not a pen style size however,

it arrives in 1week so i cant wait  

Click to expand...

You just can't have enough power!

eletron - well as far as those caps go I havent had the benefit of using them yet as they are still being shipped to me, so I guess I'll be using those for laser etching. On another note your info helped me lots.

Ace82 - well at least someone used it for one of the purposes that I will be using it for... I want to know if the beam is full visable from your friends point of view (pointed at their feet from your apartment, and if they can see the beam if you just held your laser beam out the window [will they know which window it's coming from?]) and lets just say that there is no fog to help increase beam visability. Also.. since the 125 green cant be my gf's bug zapper what green pointer would?(just curious on what kind of power you'd need)


To everyone -
So it seems that everyone who has posted so far is going for the DX200 as a bug burner over the Nova X-Series
So.... what I want to know is... what kind of Nova green pointer should I get that will produce a nice clean beam for my purposes??? I'd like the beam as visable as possible even from a distance (whether it's pointed directly up to the sky so friends can find where you are, or a few feet away from where they are standing) or is that impossible?? anything from the Nova X-Series 5mw to 175mw.. what would you guys suggest since I can't use it as a bug burner, but strictly as a pointer??

My friends usually do stupid shit when we go camping'/cottage and end up spending hours trying to get back to where we are... and it sucks being stuck on a boat and not remembering which dock goes to your cottage.. (heheh alchol)

AoiShikaku said:

eletron - well as far as those caps go I havent had the benefit of using them yet as they are still being shipped to me, so I guess I'll be using those for laser etching.  On another note your info helped me lots.

Ace82 - well at least someone used it for one of the purposes that I will be using it for... I want to know if the beam is full visable from your friends point of view (pointed at their feet from your apartment, and if they can see the beam if you just held your laser beam out the window [will they know which window it's coming from?])  and lets just say that there is no fog to help increase beam visability.  Also.. since the 125 green cant be my gf's bug zapper what green pointer would?(just curious on what kind of power you'd need)


To everyone -
So it seems that everyone who has posted so far is going for the DX200 as a bug burner over the Nova X-Series
So....  what I want to know is... what kind of Nova green pointer should I get that will produce a nice clean beam for my purposes??? I'd like the beam as visable as possible even from a distance (whether it's pointed directly up to the sky so friends can find where you are, or a few feet away from where they are standing)  or is that impossible??  anything from the Nova X-Series 5mw to 175mw.. what would you guys suggest since I can't use it as a bug burner, but strictly as a pointer??

My friends usually do stupid shit when we go camping'/cottage and end up spending hours trying to get back to where we are... and it sucks being stuck on a boat and not remembering which dock goes to your cottage.. (heheh alchol)

Click to expand...

If you want to use it at night, get the X75. It would be plenty visable at night.

have you ever used or seen a green at night 5mw looks awsome
for any type of balloon poping burning ect 50mw+ is what you need for green
and 200mw of red is powerfull i have two dx200 reds they both burn nicely
my rpl 375 is a firehouse but wat too powerfull to just play with can easily do way too much damage if accidenly pointed the wrong way all i'm saying is be carefull if you accidently shine a 50 mw green laser at a friend and hit his eyes it could do major damage if you used 200mw you will do much more a 300+ accident could get you jail-time be carefull please :-X i'll shut up now