WOW!
Awesome replies! And with that, I'd just like to say THANK YOU to all who have participated so far in this discussion.
It's kind of funny. I've actually bought about 10-15 different lasers over the past year or so, but I can't seem to keep them around for any longer than a couple of days at the most. Every time I get one someone I know thinks it's cool and talks me out of it one way or another. I'm going to laugh my butt of one day when I go to one of our local football games and the whole place lights up with laser light when our team scores a touchdown!
I wasn't really looking to buy one of these lasers today, it was just that the ad caught my eye. I was really surprised to see one listed as being so powerful yet at such a low price. That said, I can definitely believe that cheap price is equal to cheap quality.
If I'm not mistaken, isn't it true that cheap lasers can also be a dangerous choice because of unadvertised IR exposure? I've heard that many of the cheap green ones can have some problems with IR radiation. I'm not sure if it's true or not though.
I am a bit hesitant to experiment with anything stronger than the low wattage lasers I have had so far because I suffer from a somewhat rare side effect that lasers can cause in some people. Extreme nausea simply from exposure to the light. I've looked into the causes of this problem, (including posting the question here) but haven't found any real concrete explanation as to what is happening. I'm a bit gun-shy going with a more powerful laser simply for this reason alone.
I would however really like to some day get over this so I could experiment with designing a good high quality high power cutting laser in the blue spectrum.
I'll try some of the suggestions given on different sites to check out regarding these higher power lasers, including those given relating to "power meters."
Anyway, like I said. I just ran across that ad earlier and wanted to know if anyone here had heard of those lasers before.
Again, I'd like to thank everyone who replied to this post. I've gotten a lot of really good information today.
QUESTION: Who here holds the record for the most times their laser has been reflected???
Also, how's this for a light saber? If you had a telescoping rod that had a parabolic reflector attached to it, along with a parabolic mirror at the base, allow for a laser to be bounced back and forth between the two mirrors thus creating a light saber???
Just a thought.