Powerful laser under $150?

Greetings. I am looking for a laser that is under $150. I have owned following lasers:
30Mw (Blue/Violet) laser,
50Mw Green laser,
~150Mw DVD Laser Diode laser.
And i would like to push it a little bit further, and get something that is really worth it's money, and is powerful. And as i am not a big specialist in purchasing lasers. I don't know current prices and reputable websites. So i would like to ask help from you, guys
All i want it to be is to be powerful, basically for playing with it, popping balloons, lighting matches, etc.

[I also have a bit of DIY skills and tools. I also own a cheap 30v 5a power supply.] - If this helps by any way.

Excuse me for my english.

Thank you.

Hello killas,

First off you are going to need to buy safety goggles since eye vision is nothing you want to play around with. Here is a link to a pair of Eagle Pair safety goggles which are one of the best:
Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles

For the laser itself, check out laserbtb pointer's. They are very well priced and are of good quality:
http://www.laserbtb.com/productshow.asp?id=83

-Alex

Tha Greenlander said:

Hello killas,

First off you are going to need to buy safety goggles since eye vision is nothing you want to play around with. Here is a link to a pair of Eagle Pair safety goggles which are one of the best:
Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles

For the laser itself, check out laserbtb pointer's. They are very well priced and are of good quality:
LP 515nm 532nm 1-150

-Alex

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Hi. I already own a pair of $10 glasses from Ebay. I tested it with a green laser, and only a very little bit of the green light would go through it. Should i keep using the cheap ones or get the ones you suggested me?

Thank you.

killas291 said:

Hi. I already own a pair of $10 glasses from Ebay. I tested it with a green laser, and only a very little bit of the green light would go through it. Should i keep using the cheap ones or get the ones you suggested me?

Thank you.

Click to expand...

I recommend going with the Eagle Pair goggles(if you have the money to spare). eBay goggles are fine for low powered-units but when you are going into the higher powered ones you don't want to take a chance with your vision

-Alex

Tha Greenlander said:

I recommend going with the Eagle Pair goggles(if you have the money to spare). eBay goggles are fine for low powered-units but when you are going into the higher powered ones you don't want to take a chance with your vision

-Alex

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Ok. Thank you for your posts.

I am thinking going with 1600mw laser
PL 445nm 500-2000mW and glasses.

Is there anything else i should know?

Thank you.

killas291 said:

Ok. Thank you for your posts.

I am thinking going with 1600mw laser
PL 445nm 500-2000mW and glasses.

Is there anything else i should know?

Thank you.

Click to expand...

Just be very careful and avoid pointing the laser in the night sky. If you do point it toward the sky, make sure there are no aircraft flying overhead as more and more noob-cakes have been purposely shining planes. Other than that, have fun and enjoy your laser

-Alex

Tha Greenlander said:

Just be very careful and avoid pointing the laser in the night sky. If you do point it toward the sky, make sure there are no aircraft flying overhead as more and more noob-cakes have been purposely shining planes. Other than that, have fun and enjoy your laser

-Alex

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Thank you for your help. I am willing to purchase the laser and glasses.

you should know that 1,6w is so overkill, i have 1w and its crazy bright and powerful not to mention it uses battery like crazy too, i dont even use it that much other then burning.. i prefer lower mw powered lasers using more.

500mW should fulfill any burning needs (popping balloons, lighting matches, burning electrical tape, making black plastic melt/smoke, etc.)
and you can even get a good deal here at LPF in the Buy/sell/trade section

mortuus said:

you should know that 1,6w is so overkill, i have 1w and its crazy bright and powerful not to mention it uses battery like crazy too, i dont even use it that much other then burning.. i prefer lower mw powered lasers using more.

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Well i had to pay +$30 for 60% more powerful than $118 one, so i though that it would be better to buy a little bit more powerful.

portable 1000mW
$ 118.08

portable 1600mW
$ 147.60

You can build one for pretty cheap just look for a small mag lite host that you can take a 2w diode(the aurora hosts are VERY cheap and work great). Then buy a driver that will drive your diode at the output you want. You can do this for less than $100 if you are lucky.

Cheers

upaa27 said:

You can build one for pretty cheap just look for a small mag lite host that you can take a 2w diode(the aurora hosts are VERY cheap and work great). Then buy a driver that will drive your diode at the output you want. You can do this for less than $100 if you are lucky.

Cheers

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I have already ordered this laser and safety glasses exceeding my budget.

I might build my own in future.

killas291 said:

Well i had to pay +$30 for 60% more powerful than $118 one, so i though that it would be better to buy a little bit more powerful.

portable 1000mW
$ 118.08

portable 1600mW
$ 147.60

Click to expand...

yeah ok if u really want there is nothing wrong, but remember never play with those unless you have googles on all the time, that power is nothing any human eye can deal with.

You can build yourself a powerful laser for $150 dollars and it will be better quality than anything you can buy from China at that price.

Get a host and heatsink from Survival Lasers. The C6 is cheap but very durable, and is easy to work with.

Get a diode and driver from DTR. You can order the diode and driver as separate parts and configure them yourself, or you can order the driver and diode pre-assembled and set to whatever current you want.

Putting these parts together involves soldering, literally, two wires together. You can make it even simpler and just solder the leads from the driver directly to the battery board (i.e. remove the two leads that come with the board) and that will eliminate the need to heat-shrink anything. Oh, plus sliding the laser module into the heatsink and tightening a set screw. Not so scary.

Then the host just screws back together. Maybe put some teflon tape around the heatsink to hold it in there a bit tighter and prevent it from rotating when you tighten down the front end ring.

Once I got the hang of it, my most recent C6 (520nm) took less than 10 minutes to assemble, and I was being careful. I wasn't hurrying. Total price? About 150 dollars. You can build a stupidly-powerful 445nm for about that much. Don't balk at that price; Chinese lasers often cost that much, while delivering much less quality. The laser you build will be more durable, have better heatsinking, will have superior optics, and best of all, if there is a problem the laser will be very fixable. Even if a repair means replacing the diode, at least that is easy to do (UNLIKE chinese builds).

Please do get yourself some safety glasses though, especially if you take the stupidly-powerful route. Stupidly-powerful laser is fine; being blind due to stupidly forgoing goggles is not!

Good luck. Forget China. Build your own if you want the most for your money.

yeah true but the laserbtb hosts are worth the price alone i think, feels sturdy and has safety features which i dont mind.

Personally, I would like to know how this all works out for you.

You might wish to double check the quality of your safety glasses. I've had multiple occaisions in which a pair of safety glasses didn't quite meet spec. There are scammers out there who will just take a regular pair of safety glasses and colour them red. If it doesn't block light at the specified wavelength, then you can be sure that you are taking a huge risk using them.