Buying my first high powered laser

Hello all,

I'm new to these forums and also new to high powered lasers. I have a few low energy lasers (green and red) but not something powerfull. Now its the time for me to buy a real laser, and I would like to have some backup on my choice what laser I should buy.

After some research and reading on this forum I'm pretty sure its gonna be a laser from Nova, and I'm doubting between 2 different ones. For the money (+/- 400 dollars) I can and want to spend on a good laser, goggles and some lenses/optics, I'm looking for the Nova X125 and the Alpha 105. Their prices are about the same but I cant really choose between them. Things I would like to do are playing with some optics and photografy and offcourse burn some stuff (pop balloons, light matches etc etc).

Does anyone here knows the lasers from Warnlaser or do you recommend to just stick with Nova? I cant find much about them.
Also I would like to know if anyone here got some expertise on getting lasers through the Dutch customs, I heard sometimes this could give problems.

I hope some of you can help me in my choice and questions I have, thanks allready!

Qgene

Hello and welcome to the forum.  I plan on getting a Nova X175 eventually (still recovering from my Optotronics RPL   ) but I want to get the blue RPL 30 as well.  I've heard wonderful things about Nova, about their products being exceptional and their customer service compensating well beyond expatiations.  The safety dongle (turn on delay) of the alpha is a big turn off to me.  Maybe an Optotronics PPL might better suit you.  http://www.optotronics.com/products.php Plus there are a couple of discounts available with Optotronics if you wish to go that way.  

I hope this helped, good luck with your laser and keep us posted!

I say go with the X125. The Alpha has a bunch of safety features that might annoy you.

Stay away from warnlaser! They are IR spewing pieces of crap.

Definitely get the X-series for your first laser, the Alpha is a good laser but all the safety features will simply annoy you.

I just placed an order with Nova for an nice X-125 laser together with the Shields Sport, lens holder and some playing stuff. I had some questions before I placed the order, and I have to say, quick reply, nice service

Can't wait to get started with it! I'll keep you updated