DX 'True 30mW' green laser - dirty lens?

I got a 'True 30mW' green laser from deal extreme a couple days ago. When I point it on a surface I notice that there seems to be quite a bit of diffused light surrounding the point (grainy in texture). Would this be caused by a dirty lens? I've had other (red) lasers where all you see is the point from the beam, there is virtually no other light being emitted.

Yes that sounds like a dirty lens and the DX lasers can be a bull to clean. You can stick a q-tip in the hole and very gently clean the lens but some people don't recommend this. I just dropped my DX50 tonight and when i turned it back on there was a star shape that i think is caused by a cracked lens :'( But the good news is about twenty minutes later it got quite a bit better and it now just looks like a dirty lens and it still pops balloons. ;D

Ok thanks, and yea, it looks like it's gonna be the next mission impossible to get in there and do a decent cleaning of the lens. Anyway, I think it's a hell of a laser for the price; it can pop sharpied balloons from at least 4 feet and cut black electrical tape without much trouble. I'm also fairly certain that it has a visible beam range of over 2km, and thats through a window. (I tried posting links to my videos of popping balloons at 2.4V and 3.6V but it came up with a message saying that I don't have permission to post links... ...maybe later. )

I've attached a pic comparing the dot at the 2 voltages. Would anyone say that running 3.6V will make quick work of my diode, or will the life still be relatively the same? It really makes a nice difference, but I don't want to fry up the diode.