Alpha 45 or 65?

I'm interested in a Nova Alpha 45 or 65, but not sure which.  I have a Lyra-5 which is great for safe indoor stuff, but want to upgrade to a more visible laser.

I'm just interested in general starpointing, and want a bright beam, but also nothing too dangerous or bright, I'm not interested in burning anything. Thanks!

The 65 will be about 20-30% more visible. If you don't care about burning then just go with the 45.

Thanks for the info Coherent. Also another issue I was curious about was if when you power up a 65mW if it's essentially a 45mW but becomes a 65mW and more intense the longer the beam is on.

If that is the case, there is no point in me getting a 65mW as I won't keep the beam on for more than a minute or two at a time anyway.

mariner7 said:

Thanks for the info Coherent. Also another issue I was curious about was if when you power up a 65mW if it's essentially a 45mW but becomes a 65mW and more intense the longer the beam is on.

If that is the case, there is no point in me getting a 65mW as I won't keep the beam on for more than a minute or two at a time anyway.

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A laser rated at 65mw should ideally put out 65mw or more the moment you turn it on. Usually any warm-up period won't be longer than a few seconds.

In my oppinion, there's no sense buying a laser between 30-75mW... Either way, you can't look at the dot without eye protection and it can't burn well, so you might as well go the highest. I'd say get the 65, because they do the exact thing, except one's a lot brighter. And if you're going to spend a ton of money for the laser anyway, you might as well go as high as you can. ;D

Keep in mind that they're always overspec, so don't be surprised if you get the 65 and it's over 80mW.

Thanks for the tips!

I had this EXACT question a while back: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1229994687/2

What tipped me over to the 65 is that it would be visible in a lit room, which it is. It's rated at 69mw avg and I think 74 peak.

Given our wants, either would do just fine, but it's only $20 more, so I say go for the 65.

Let us know where you land!

Hey darmom, how do you like the Alpha 65?  Are you happy with it, is it too much (mW) or too little, or just right for your uses?  I wish I could try all of them in person and see how they compared.  I'd have much less trouble deciding.  For now I'm regulated toward just reading reviews, and looking at pictures and videos on the internet.  And we all know how different they can be.

Seems when in doubt, a good choice is to go with the higher power, when choosing between two powers.

Anyway, I'll let you guys know what I get in case anyone is curious.