Which to buy based on the following...?

ok i have a cheap ebay green laser under 5mw just to have one. i ordered my father-in-law a wicked laser executive 95mw with the burn caps. it works nice and all but as i dont make what he makes, id love to buy one i can actually afford
i was thinking deal extreme 100mw, 150mw, or the 200mw
determining factors include:
battery life with 2 Lenmar 1.2V 1000mAh NiMH (just a ballpark would work) i have a total of 10 of these so even if it's somewhat short battery life, i'm ok
what's the duty cycle with them?
should i expect it to suck a lot worse than the wicked one? as in not burning or not as bright?

i just have no idea what to expect with these and would only like to make 1 purchase, possibly 2 if i decide to get the 90mw ultrafire green from DX also as i like the waterproof feature and the build/casing
i searched but didn't quite find definite answers

so in the end, i'd like to get 1 of those pen style ones and possibly the ultrafire flashlight style one with it.

Never go with wicked there overall bad lasers, usualy underpowered and mode hop and such, dx lasers are really a luck of the draw but for the price i cant complain some work great some break right out of the box, but their customer support will let you return it but shipping takes forever, dx lasers of the power will not emit that much mw usualy alot less, and ir can be a danger because the ir filter in them is not adequate for that power lvl, for high quality good laser pointers go to http://novalasers.com They have high quality lasers and have excelent customer support, they have good ir filters and they are always overpowered buy some amount sometimes a small amount but most of the time overpowered alot. Go with their x series for pen sized, you can also get a keycap for them so you have to use a key to be able to use it for saftey, or if you want all the saftey features go with one of their alphas.

....lazer.... ;D ;D ;D

I have a Dx200 and all I can say is it rocks really it burns any thing I put it to along as its with in a few feet because of its bad divergence... it even light fireworks fuse a few days ago 3 in a row.... normal burring time I would say is about 10-20 min on energizer 900 nimh then I just recharge them. I have actually gotten them to last I think 40 min before it started to mode hop.... anyway its a good laser besides the 2mrad divergence and I would recommend it to a person whose just getting into lasers and doesn’t care about quality or how long it last.... mine has lasted since July and its still burning strong..... Umm the duty cycle I would recommend is about 30secons on to 10 seconds off... after that the outer shell gets an ill hot..... But other than that for 120$ you can’t beat it its great problem putting out 100-140mw or some where around their.....

But if you have the money I would recommend buying from nova say an x105 or so should be way better than the dx version..... Ir really isn’t scary as long as you don’t look at it within a few feet because it spreads out like a flash light and becomes almost harmless..... anyway if you have the money go with the x105 or the alpha 125 like I did because my dx after about 30 seconds now starts to mode hop because the crystals I assume were over driven to start with and now are now slowly wearing away..... Some day any day I can predict it won’t laze any more but o well should have my alpha by then..... But for a quick powerful laser right now go with the dx200 and hopefully you get a good one that you don’t have to rma..... For a long term laser that last more than 6 months go with an x series or alpha.

Just my 4 cents

Michael

thanks for the speedy reply. I looked at novalasers but if i were to get one of those, it'd be the x105 as i am trying to stay below $200 until i get through my training for a better paying job. if i go that route, it'd be just one laser this time around cuz its $9 over my "laser" budget. going for MCSE...

You will have no regrets going for nova they are a very good company and sell very good products,and if in same weird case where the laser malfuctions they will replace it and upgrade it to the next power lvl, so if that x105 was mesed up theyd send you an x125 back ;D

...lazer... ;D ;D ;D

Lol if it’s only 9$ over your budget then go nova don’t waste your money with the dx..... You will basically get the same power but a whole lot better quality and a product that will last almost forever if you take care of it

well actually after the form 5% discount its only 199.55 so you would effectively be under you 200$ budget after shipping and handling but then again you should get the case to protect your investment plus its rumored that you get a free diffraction grading

if the deal extreme ones would last me around 1 year, i'd be happy. by then, my income will have increased by 40+K

ok that's sounding a bit too good to pass up... i have some thinking to do now, id def buy a case for it.

well, talked it over with the wife and she was ok with me getting it so i got the x105 with case and extras. love the discount hope it comes soon cuz wife's little 10 year old half brother loves this stuff and he'll get a kick out of it as he's only seen my <5mw green and the standard cruddy reds. thanks for the advice. def gonna visit this site regularly ;D

dude u shud totally do a DIY, its cheap, and it burnz... Im too cheap to spend 200 bucks on a laser, but beleive me im happy with my senkat diode

that may be a future project of mine once i have time to learn how to build them. atm, i'm starting MCSE training in january 08 so i'll be pretty busy as i'm going to do 50 hours a week of training.