Well I finally got to test my C6 first ever build (pic here: Hi everyone) and a couple of laser pointers ordered from Ebay.
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices
New 5mW 532nm Green Laser pointer pen Astronomy Mid-open Visible Beam Light | eBay

These were all rated at < 5 mW, other than the C6 that is

First up the C6 with a flexdrive V5 preset at 1.5 A from DTR. With a 3 element glass lens compared to a G2 and tested with both an AW 2000 mAh battery and a panasonic 3100 mAh. I didnt include the graphs for the panasonic battery tests, but the results were consistantly 2-3% lower than the AW's.

AW 3 element glass:


I attempted to copy Jayrobs idea, but with a G2 lens; FS: 405-G-1 Glass Lens Mod - 31% Increase vs AixiZ! and drilled out an aizix lens mount with a 1/4" drill bit. I had to sand a little with some emery paper before the lens would fit. The spacer was cut from the 6 mm section of an old radio antenna and dropped into place before securing the lock nut. The result was 1955 mW at only 1.5 A! giving an increase of 27%! This is slightly lower than Jayrobs 31%, but I think I can improve on it by using a slightly larger bore spacer and by drilling out the entry aperture of the lens mount too.

Here are the results - AW G2:


The ebay laser pointers were surprisingly powerful too!

First up the 405 nm. With 2 NiZn 1.6 V batteries it gave an impressive 103 mW. A small battery spacer was made from an old marker pen and a small steel rod (measured 0.0 - 0.1 ohm) and an AW 10400 350mAh battery giving 134 mW! (23% increase)

Purple 10400:


The next was the red 650 nm, which gave an extremely impressive 155 mW with the NiZn and with the 10400 battery 188 mW!! (18% increase)
Red 10400:


Finally the green gave 24 mW with the NiZn and 33 mW with the Li battery. (27% increase)

Green 10400:


Not bad considering these are 9, 7 and 5 dollars respectively! Hope you find these results useful!


Edit: Just thought Id add a link to a post I made (in Kommed's Thread) about cheap greens. Here I got up to 47 mW unfiltered and 23 mW IR filtered, with a single 10440!

Very nice. Glad you like it.

I have been seeing quite a few builds @ 1.5A hitting just under 2W with the G-1/G-2's. The G-1/G-2's give a 31% increase over the three element with the 405nm diodes. The gap is a little lower with the 445's as you see. Actually 27% is really good. Usually around 250mW-300mW difference between the two with 445's set 1.5-1.8A.

I purchased a violet, red and green pointer on ebay all at <5mw to introduce lasers to my kids and teach them proper respect. At 7 and 8 they are now well versed in the hazards of lasers and show a healthy respect for them. Of course, they will never be exposed to anything over 5mw at their ages, but I'm much more comfortable that when they get older, I'll be able to trust them with higher outputs knowing they'll use protective gear and good handling practices. For $3 a pointer, it was well worth the money.

How do you know for sure that your children's Lasers are
not >5mW...
You can not trust the Label on cheap low powered Lasers...

I've received <5mW eBay Lasers that output >60mW...
Enough to cause eye damage...

Do they wear appropriate Laser Safety Goggles/Glasses when
operating their Lasers...


Jerry

Lasersbee is quite right, in the OP above the ebay lasers were all labeled as <5 mW and these were 134 mW, 188 mW and 33 mW respectively!

Maybe you should try and get them metered?

That's good advice. I'll have to get them metered before getting them out again.

Well, I'm glad I took your advice. I purchased a LaserBee LPM to meter my ebay pens. I couldn't believe it! The 532 was 20mW and the 405 peaked at 62mW. The two reds I have ranged between 5 and 7mW so I feel safe letting the kids use those. They definitely won't be getting the other pens without goggles on.

Thanks folks for your words of wisdom!

So are they finally binning PHR's now for the cheap blu-rays?

what does binning mean? is it a special term for doing something to the diode to make it more/less powerfull or is it just that you throw them away? i read the same term in another thread hence i ask

Binning is sorting the diodes out on the classifications like efficiency, power, color etc. You will have classes of the same diodes. The better ones are sold at premium prices. It is just economy. Intel does it all the time with the CPU's

oh right, so a binned phr would be able to put out more mw than a usual phr.
thanks blord

binning means all the diodes are tested, and then sorted. the real bright ones go in bin A. the dim ones go in bin B.