Re: 1-1.2 watt 445nm lasers CHEAP $180
It's not even remotely close to as visible as a 300mw. I'd say around 150mw IR filtered. I've put it against a 300mw (ish) and a 150mw green and the 300mw green is incredibly brighter than a 1.5 watt 445 even.
I suppose your right at a distance anyway... the green will carry longer through the air and still be visible.
I had a 325mw Herc that could be seen from about 5 miles away if I beamed it low to the horizon and pointed it over my dads house.
I later added a collimator and it helped even more.
On that note, these are multimode diodes... which means at considerable distances the divergence will be so wide that the beam turns at best into a weak flashlight.
These lasers are more fit for closer demonstration of burning... by closer, I mean 30 - 40 feet and closer... anything past that the divergence degrades too much.
It can be a bonus if you aren't fond of everyone seeing the source of the beam every time you do something.
Don't get me wrong, the beam of 1.2W+ is quite beautiful streaking across the sky at night.
While most of the photos you see usually exaggerate it since they are long exposure shots.
In real life, the beam has a beauty the camera can't quite catch anyway.... something about the color is striking....
I especially like the 405 beams too... but they are even less visible.
On the other hand, if you had that much burning power in green, you wouldn't be able to use it without glasses as it would be too bright. Plus green can have invisible IR frequency leaked within the beam... especially if its not filtered.
I could not use my green without glasses since the spot was so bright I couldn't tell how the focus was set.
The blue at these higher powers almost have the same problem but are more manageable.
Whereas the blue is much safer IMO since what you see is what you get as far as possible light and harm to the eyes.
if i only had a camera that could capture them both :O
