Best laser for $100

I've looked at a few sites so far such as skylasers and that new place, nitroxlasers.

I'm just looking for the highest power, good quality handheld laser I can get for $100. I see that nitrox has a 240mW for $130, which seems kind of unrealistic. I already have a 55mW from Opto, so red is my next purchase.

What about dilda?

200mW red for ~45$ ? /47$ new model
O-like.com

I have one of these, theyre nice.
-Greg

Do they ship to the US? I know DX doesn't.

Yes they do, and you can run them off 3.6v CR2's, which gives them an actual output of 240mW-ish, they are indestructible (within reason), Susies service is second-to-none ....

The Nitrox will be around the stated power, but they're using LOC diodes and you should be able to find a quality LOC build here on the "Buy-Sell-Trade" forum for much less money - while the LOC (and the LCC) diodes have a pretty decent track record, it's literally next to impossible to kill a Dilda (and oh yeah, $47 with batteries and charger...)

How are places like skylasers selling 100mW for $100 then?

Mainly they sell to people who haven't reaped the benifits of the forums, etc (for whatever reasons) - if you google "laser pointers" or similar, you will generally be shown the bigger retail sites far before the forums, so if you aren't too "web savvy" and are just looking for a place to buy a laser online (maybe because you heard or read about that possibility somewhere) those companies will generally be the first option you find - and they capitalize on it.

Not to knock reputable sellers like Optotronics or Laserglow, etc - they spend a lot of time and money to find reliable designs and suppliers, offer warranties, guaranteed output, beam specs, etc and therefore have to charge more $$ - but for every decent, quality supplier out there it seems that there are 20 or so "whatever the market will bear" sellers, too.

Susie at O-Like is a pleasant exception to the norm with Chinese suppliers, and she actually guarantees her products and provides excellent products at fair, realistic prices - seriously, do some reading on the "Dilda" here on the forums and I doubt you will find any real negative posts.

Of course, then just for fun, search the forums for "skylasers" or "Wicked Lasers", etc etc and get ready to hear horror stories, jeers, complaints, and in some cases, blatant hatred (and to be fair, the occasional thumbs up also, and I mean OCCASIONAL, definitely not the norm)...

Seriously - take your $100 and buy 2 Dildas, at least one of your friends will see yours and want one for themselves, you can show them the skylasers site with the $100 100mW and charge them whatever you want to offset the cost of yours!

Well, you've convinced me. I'll buy one of the new style dildas, a cheap greenie (since mine died) and probably one of those IR lasers.

How about goggles.

-greg

I'm a chem major with a concentration in energetic materials, so I've lost half my eyesight already. :-X

Id get something from Mohenburg, nice lasers for the price!

why thank you day, so nice of you to say lol

but yeah, in all seriousness.....my lasers are AWESOME!

do you guys think the custom builds are worth the extra money compared to the $50 dilds (i don't like the sound of any vowel after the 2nd d )?

other than the cooler host, would custom builds last longer ?

primary.Sequence said:

do you guys think the custom builds are worth the extra money compared to the $50 dilds (i don't like the sound of any vowel after the 2nd d  )?

other than the cooler host, would custom builds last longer ?

Click to expand...

Yea most custom red builds are 200-250mw and are better quality with prettier hosts and easyer to find batteries so in a way custom builds are worth it.

Other type of question: Would it be possible/economic to buy a Dilda just for this "impossible to kill" diode? I will need 200mW of red for a scanner and so it should be proof to last in looong use...

Just be careful, I have a small blindspot right in the middle of my vision in my right eye from a blueray lasers lucky I moved my eye away really fast and it was through thickish fog!

If it's for a scanner, the dilda would still be good as the driver is already mounted to the head so it's really easy to access the connections for an external 6-8vdc power supply, and the diode would still be safe and secure in it's focusable heatsink ...

Search the review thread for "Dilda" and you'll find some disassembled views that will show you what I mean.