anyone owning a 1 watt + HH laser, long distance beam profile ?

i'm curious about the beam profile out at two hundred feet of all the 1 watt or higher lasers of the many types and builds that are here at LPF?

thank you for your time...

It'd help if you could be more specific, >1W doesn't really give us much to go on, members here on LPF have numerous >1W lasers, the beam specs of which vary wildly. Without narrowing it down there'd be a lot of different information to sort through.

this is narrowed down...

1 - HH (hand held - in the title)

2 - beam profile (shape & size)

3 - at two hundred feet

4 - all the 1 watt or higher lasers

5 - of the many types and builds

6 - here at LPF

and i'll add one more...

7 - from anyone who would like to share this information here in this thread, thank you...

There are many setups out there that are very different. The reason we were asking for more specifics is that without knowing which diode or lenses you are interested in, the answer will vary widely. For example, a single-mode laser diode will have a much smaller spot at a distance because it usually has much lower divergence. Compare this with a multimode diode, which usually diverges much faster in one direction and gives a stripe-shaped dot. An option to make the dot smaller is to use a beam expander. This makes the beam much wider at the laser aperture but diverge less so that over a distance the dot will come out tighter. I don't have any reliable numbers on my blues, though, sorry.

Popular visible lasers that get up to 1W for less than $1000 below (purely speculative, haven't actually measured)

405nm ($100-$150)very good divergence, haven't measured myself but would expect less than 6" circle at 200ft
445nm/450nm($60-$100) laser will have a large line several feet in length at 200ft.
520nm($250-$400) similar to 445nm, maybe slightly better
532nm($500-$999) similar to 405nm could be worse or better depending on laser quality
638nm($100) a line probably 5ft+ in length
650nm($300) Unsure, probably somewhere in between 638 and 445

You can always use a 10x beam expander to make the beam 10x larger at the aperture for 10x less divergence. (divergence is how much larger a laser beam gets over a given distance).
I will soon have a 1W 405, 445nm, 520nm, 638nm so when I get them I can take pictures if you want. What is your application?

Pictures below, notice the difference between line of 445 (multimode diode) and dot of 532 (single mode diode).

5mW 532nm


6W 450nm

i understand the many setups out there are very different and they will vary widely and that's just what i'm looking for, i'm interested in seeing how the very different setups stack up against each other at 200 feet because 200 feet will magnify the differences of all of the very different setups...

brendon7358 said:

Popular visible lasers that get up to 1W for less than $1000 below (purely speculative, haven't actually measured)

405nm very good divergence, haven't measured myself but would expect less than 6" circle at 200ft
445nm/450nm laser will have a large line several feet in length at 200ft.
520nm similar to 445nm, maybe slightly better
532nm similar to 405nm could be worse or better depending on laser quality
638nm a line probably 5ft+ in length
650nm Unsure, probably somewhere in between 638 and 445

You can always use a 10x beam expander to make the beam 10x larger at the aperture for 10x less divergence. (divergence is how much larger a laser beam gets over a given distance).
I will soon have a 1W 405, 445nm, 520nm, 638nm so when I get them I can take pictures if you want. What is your application?

Click to expand...

yes, yes, this is what i'm looking for! thank you very much! i'm trying to learn what to expect from all the very different setups, and there are a lot!

ryanlee said:

i understand the many setups out there are very different and they will vary widely and that's just what i'm looking for, i'm interested in seeing how the very different setups stack up against each other at 200 feet because 200 feet will magnify the differences of all of the very different setups...




yes, yes, this is what i'm looking for! thank you very much! i'm trying to learn what to expect from all the very different setups, and there are a lot!

Click to expand...

Yw, a better question would have been "Which laser diode that can do 1W has the best divergence?" but of course you can make any laser have great divergence with the right optics (beam expanders and such). The bdr-209 16x 405nm diode is your best bet for low divergence at a reasonable price. However they often will only do 900mW, the difference between that and 1W however is negligible.

Brightness is also important though, check out the relative percieved laser brightness calculator in my signature.

brendon7358 said:

I will soon have a 1W 405, 445nm, 520nm, 638nm so when I get them I can take pictures if you want.

Click to expand...

yes please, the more pictures the better!

thank you very much!

brendon7358 said:

The bdr-209 16x 405nm diode is your best bet for low divergence at a reasonable price. However they often will only do 900mW, the difference between that and 1W however is negligible.

Click to expand...

I've found the lower divergence and round spot of a single mode like the bdr-209 with a 3-element lens will make it burn better than a multimode 1W+. Just goes to show that the application is important in choosing the specs and that power isn't everything.