I have a cheap green pointer from Amazon that claims to be 20mW. I have nothing to compare it to so I'm not sure if it really is 20mW. Overall I've been mildly satisfied with it (it bores me as time goes on, and the dot has lots of excess fuzz around it). I can see a dim beam at night or in dark rooms, which to me isn't nearly as visible as I have come to expect it to be (based on what I've read about lasers here and on the reviews on Amazon). Also, I recently found out that it's leaking some IR. I shined it through some red wine in a glass and saw some of that purple IR light through my camera. I'm now considering buying a Lyra series laser from Laserglow, even though it's 15mW lower than my laser (if it actually is 20mW which I doubt). I've heard great things about the Lyra. It's very affordable for me right now and the deciding factor is brightness.
Can anyone give me a rough mW to brightness scale for green lasers? How visible is the beam on a 5mW Lyra in different settings? How visible should a real 20mW be in different settings? Right now, mine has poor divergence, IR leakage, and a dim beam in the night sky. I've noticed however that the beam's visibility is sometimes better depending on the weather, but still not incredibly bright like the Amazon reviewers have stated. I have a bad feeling that my laser was underpowered. I'm hoping that a good 5mW will be brighter. I've good things about the Lyra around here. It seems like a stable laser. How does its output hold as the battery life drains? My laser gets dimmer over time until I put in some new batteries.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Can anyone give me a rough mW to brightness scale for green lasers? How visible is the beam on a 5mW Lyra in different settings? How visible should a real 20mW be in different settings? Right now, mine has poor divergence, IR leakage, and a dim beam in the night sky. I've noticed however that the beam's visibility is sometimes better depending on the weather, but still not incredibly bright like the Amazon reviewers have stated. I have a bad feeling that my laser was underpowered. I'm hoping that a good 5mW will be brighter. I've good things about the Lyra around here. It seems like a stable laser. How does its output hold as the battery life drains? My laser gets dimmer over time until I put in some new batteries.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.