- Joined
- Nov 14, 2007
- Messages
- 83
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- 8
I know this isn't exactly world-shaking news, but believe it or not Fry's Electronics actually sells a green laser pointer with a power level above 5mw. Here is the product link for it:
FRYS.com | TREND
The packaging for the pointer describes the output power as being "< 30 mW", though the warning sticker on the pointer itself says its less than 5mw. It comes with kaleidoscopic optics, so I decided to take one for the team and buy one.
As it turns out, I believe this pointer really does output around ~30mw. I don't have an LPM, but the perceived brightness was easily twice that of my 5mw pointer. In fact it was very close to a 50mw pointer I have.
That's where the good news ends, however. This thing eats batteries like crazy, and the beam profile and stability aren't great. I think the diode is driven directly from the battery to cheaply induce high power output. I hooked it up to a desktop power source and measured the operating current, which was extremely high for a 3mw green, approx. 325 mA, meaning it was sucking down a watt of power to produce 30mw of light.
Anyway, it's a dirt cheap, locally available green laser pointer of higher output power than your average store bought 5mw greenie. Just thought you all might be interested...
FRYS.com | TREND
The packaging for the pointer describes the output power as being "< 30 mW", though the warning sticker on the pointer itself says its less than 5mw. It comes with kaleidoscopic optics, so I decided to take one for the team and buy one.
As it turns out, I believe this pointer really does output around ~30mw. I don't have an LPM, but the perceived brightness was easily twice that of my 5mw pointer. In fact it was very close to a 50mw pointer I have.
That's where the good news ends, however. This thing eats batteries like crazy, and the beam profile and stability aren't great. I think the diode is driven directly from the battery to cheaply induce high power output. I hooked it up to a desktop power source and measured the operating current, which was extremely high for a 3mw green, approx. 325 mA, meaning it was sucking down a watt of power to produce 30mw of light.
Anyway, it's a dirt cheap, locally available green laser pointer of higher output power than your average store bought 5mw greenie. Just thought you all might be interested...
