RLF18130 model... What lens for thinner beam?

Hallucynogenyc said:

I see you are a bit confused.

Different diodes need different currents and voltages, it's really useless to compare powers between lasers by looking at the voltage they take from the batteries. As an example, you have the 5mW red keychains that use to work on 4.5V and some 400mW or more green lasers that take 3.6V!

Remember that between the batteries and the diode there's the driver, which can boost or reduce the voltage/current the way you want. It's a bit more complex than what you are thinking, lasers are different than light bulbs/Leds

The only way to know the difference in brightness is to look at the power, and this only works with lasers of the same color, and you must know it's not a linear relation. Needless to say, this does'nt apply when comparing different colors, since the human eye see some colors better than others. This way a 30mW green laser it's way brighter than a 200mW.

So, for example, a 30mW green pen from dealextreme that works on 3V is brighter than the 200mW red laser you are looking at that works on 7.2-8V

Also, if you wanna hear my opinion, if you are looking for a good beam, forget about anything else than a green laser. a 50mW green pen from Dealextreme.com. Will have a brighter and smaller beam than any red laser you will ever see, for 20$!

Yours,
Albert

Click to expand...