Good Beam Laser?

I have searched, and gotten okay ideas, but finding an answer when nobody's asked the question is hard.

So, with the rage-preventing (hopefully) reasoning out of the way: What is a good, CHEAP, laser that has an excellent beam?

I have only a 5mW greenie. Needless to say, the beam is a bit dissapointing. Pointed straight up into the night sky, the beam is practically invisible to anyone standing more than 10ft away. I'd like a laser whose beam stands out much more brilliantly, preferably a solid beam rather than looking speckled and fractured as my 5mW's always appears.

I live in the US, so the amount of sites I can order from is slightly limited.

Thank you all in advance.

Any 50mW or more will blow your mind and unless you live under big city lights, the beam is VERY VERY visible. I bought one from Led Shoppe for $22.49 out the door but 50mW that cheap usually ship from Hong Kong and shipping can take up to 20 days. Mine shipped from Led Shoppe on the 20th of October and I have yet to see it but I know it's coming soon.

Buying one from within the states is a bit more expensive but shipping is obviously quicker. I also just paid $105 out the door for a 50mW from Optotronics which is an awesome company to deal with but most say (for what you're going to use it for) if you can wait for out of country shipping, you can pretty much get the same pointer for a 1/4 of the price. Look at the "Companies" thread to get ratings of the companies people here buy from.

Good Luck!

g2

Thanks, I can wait a few weeks for $80. Lol.

Any other input?

For your first laser I'd recommend a 30mW Romisen from DX, uses CR123A batteries, great little laser for a starter.

You can also get a 30mW Newwish (TRUE) pen style, that was my first laser.


EDIT: You can get into the Wicked Lasers GB, if we get to 10-25 people we will get a big discount.

For 100 bucks you can have a 150mw green from o-like and it will be exactly what you are looking for.

But that aint cheap.

Lasher bought the same 50mw I'm getting from http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/ledp/LP1076.htm and he said his took 12 days. You're gonna get a lot of "you should get this" because that is what you asked for but there are many different laser addicts in this forum including myself with different spending habits and uses but I'm telling you that for the 5 days I had my 50mW Optotronics (just sold it to save up for the o-like 50mW), that thing was badass.

I'll put it into perspective for ya but let me give you a quick background story. I had a 5mW laser for a few years (actually 2) and had the same issues most did. It was awesome and a step up from say, a flashlight:crackup: and it made all the kids and adults drool wherever I took it but after a while, I realized the beam was pretty weak and unless you're right behind it, it was hard if not impossible to see.

Well the switch in mine finally just broke and was on the hunt for a new one. Then I found this site and realized they sold ones way more powerful than the dinky 5mW. So I ordered my Led Shoppe 50mW but got antsy after just 3 days of it not arriving so ordered the Opto 50mW which is out of Denver which cost me $105. I kinda felt duped because Led Shoppe's website has a Minnesota address so I thought it would arrive quick but after talking to people here about it, they told me it's ships from Hong Kong. For $22 I should have known that:scowl:.

So the Opto 50mW arrived in three days (including the weekend) and I was so excited to try it while I was at work, all I could find was two AAA's from a TV remote. Put em' in, turned it on and I was not impressed. I heard that even with the 50mW, you could see the beam inside a lit room. So I went into a totally dark room and again, not any brighter than my 5mW. I was like s%#* what a waste.

So right after work, I rushed over to Wally World and got brand new batteries and OMG!!! Inside my house (it was still daylight out mind you) I could see the beam shooting through my family room and the freaking dot was super bright and almost gave me a instant headache. Then I wanted to see this puppy at night and boy, I have never wanted it to get dark so fast in my life. Now I live in East Tennessee and have the Smoky Mountains as my back yard so the city lights are far away the air quality sucks. Well, it sucks for people with asthma or emphysema but for me, it rocks!

I hit that button and BAM!! That beam was crazy bright and can be seen from any angle. None of this " you have to be behind it or within 10 feet to see it" crap. I shot it down the neighborhood street which is about 100 yards long and the neighbor at the very last house on the same side of the street as me said he saw a HUGE beam about 20 feet in front of him. What a difference a new set of batteries makes.:bowdown:

Oh, by the way, some claim out of the box 50's can burn but mine from Opto didn't and they say it's all in how they converge the beam or whatever the term is for "the beam is too fat" but if you YouTube 50mW, you'll see some that do burn. They may have tweaked it, I don't know.

Hope this gave you some perspective on what a 50mW can do. I have heard from many people on this forum that for what you and I want it for, there is no reason to spend $100 or even $50 on a 30mW or 50mW. Have the patience and get one from the Led Shoppe or o-like which I hear has great products and a helpful staff even though they're in Hong Kong. On the o-like site, there are links to talk live with Susie. She's usually on all the the time depending on timezone differences and maybe a smoke break or two.

I can tell you from experience go with an "O-like" 150mw module and just put it in a "host" of any kind, mine is run off of 2 AAA energizer 8x lithium batteries and is very bright and has a great tight beam! I put mine in an old video game "light gun" used to point at the T.V. and "shoot" during a game...it had room inside for a battery housing from Radio Shack pre wired then connected the power through the switch (trigger) and then to the o-like 150mw green laser module, I put some electrical tape over the circuit board to insulate it and then used a wire twist tie like used from a loaf of bread to permanently keep the switch on the module in the ON position and use the trigger to actually turn the laser off and on. It works great and looks TRUELY SCI-FI all the way!!! Much better than a "pointer" that gets BORING.

Gsquared18 said:

...but I'm telling you that for the 5 days I had my 50mW Optotronics (just sold it to save up for the o-like 50mW), that thing was badass...

Click to expand...

Why would you sell it to get ANOTHER 50mW from O-like if it worked so well?

zxn474l said:

I can tell you from experience go with an "O-like" 150mw module and just put it in a "host" of any kind, mine is run off of 2 AAA energizer 8x lithium batteries and is very bright and has a great tight beam! I put mine in an old video game "light gun" used to point at the T.V. and "shoot" during a game...it had room inside for a battery housing from Radio Shack pre wired then connected the power through the switch (trigger) and then to the o-like 150mw green laser module, I put some electrical tape over the circuit board to insulate it and then used a wire twist tie like used from a loaf of bread to permanently keep the switch on the module in the ON position and use the trigger to actually turn the laser off and on. It works great and looks TRUELY SCI-FI all the way!!! Much better than a "pointer" that gets BORING.

Click to expand...

I've been thinking about that. The problem is, I'm electronically impared. I would not know where to begin when it comes to assembling a diode and putting into a host. Is there a link to a website you could provide to me that could teach a toddler to "build" a laser from a diode/whatever else you need?

Perhaps even you could walk me through it?

Mo13 said:

Why would you sell it to get ANOTHER 50mW from O-like if it worked so well?

Click to expand...

No, no, no, I sold the Opto 5omW to save up for the 150mW from o-like.

If you can get a decent focalprice 50mw LP115B for $15, you will be amazed. Ask them to test for bright beam before they ship.

That sounds good! I'll chjeck it out now, thanks.