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A Guide To Buying Your First Green Laser

You could, but the beam would be invisible because a PS2 uses infrared light, plus it would be really low power.
 





dang, oh well i just had one from an old slim ps2 laying around and wanted a use for it.

also could you point me in the right direction for a DIY handheld laser build? i have no experience in lasers but i would really like to get into building them myself. i would like to preferably make a green one if it would not be too difficult. otherwise i high powered red would be fine to, maybe 50-100mW
 
Sure, it's good you're getting into DIY! Green lasers are impossible to build from scratch, as you would have to do some near-impossible crystal alignment. The only way you can make a green is to buy an O-like module and drop it into a heatsinked host made by a member. But because O-like modules have become so inconsistent recently, I would not recommend doing that any time soon. If you are ok with contacting Susie for a replacement if the module turns out bad, then go ahead and try it, but it would be risky. The member "jayrob" sells some good hosts, so check them out in the pro shop if you decide to do it.
 
randomlugia said:
if you want to have some fun with a high powered laser at home, get either the LEDshoppe 50mW pen (cheap), or the Optotronics 30mW that you linked (quality parts). I would stay away from Rayfoss pens under 50mW.
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I definitely want to have some fun with a more powerful laser. Can you let me know a little more about the "quality" I am going to get with optotronics? It is almost triple the price, but I will totally pay it if I am going to get a longer lasting/stronger laser. How can similar products differ in price sooo much?
 
traveling said:
I definitely want to have some fun with a more powerful laser. Can you let me know a little more about the "quality" I am going to get with optotronics? It is almost triple the price, but I will totally pay it if I am going to get a longer lasting/stronger laser. How can similar products differ in price sooo much?
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I'm not sure if you have any idea how hard it is to make these lasers... It is EXTREMELY difficult. The crystals have to be cut and alligned, the diode has to be perfectly made, with a good regulation driver to keep it going and keep it in 1 mode. Chinese manufacturers will often just throw some cheap parts together, not even bothering to check IR filtering, beam quality, allignment, and final output. Quality can be extremely inconsistent at times, and if the laser isn't carefully driven, the diode, DPSS, or both will burn out sooner or later. Plus they won't come with a garuantee, or they'll just send you another cheap laser. Optotronics is a very trusted company. They will check everything, take careful measurements to make sure quality control is perfect, and send the laser right on spec or higher, and with the best customer service out there. Also, the divergence will be lower than the cheaper company's. I'm not saying the LEDshoppe lasers are bad, they just aren't perfect. The Opto units will be well worth the extra cost in the long run.
 
randomlugia said:
I'm not sure if you have any idea how hard it is to make these lasers... It is EXTREMELY difficult. The crystals have to be cut and alligned, the diode has to be perfectly made, with a good regulation driver to keep it going and keep it in 1 mode. Chinese manufacturers will often just throw some cheap parts together, not even bothering to check IR filtering, beam quality, allignment, and final output. Quality can be extremely inconsistent at times, and if the laser isn't carefully driven, the diode, DPSS, or both will burn out sooner or later. Plus they won't come with a garuantee, or they'll just send you another cheap laser. Optotronics is a very trusted company. They will check everything, take careful measurements to make sure quality control is perfect, and send the laser right on spec or higher, and with the best customer service out there. Also, the divergence will be lower than the cheaper company's. I'm not saying the LEDshoppe lasers are bad, they just aren't perfect. The Opto units will be well worth the extra cost in the long run.
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I've been looming into either the o-like ultrafire 50mw, or an opto 50 mw, but i was told by someone that opto pens only have the benefit of being metered before being shipped, and they really arent of any better build quality. Is this at all true?
 
solidekans said:
I've been looming into either the o-like ultrafire 50mw, or an opto 50 mw, but i was told by someone that opto pens only have the benefit of being metered before being shipped, and they really arent of any better build quality. Is this at all true?
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Comparing a cheap Ultrafire host to a quality pen is difficult. They both have good and bad points, regardless of quality. For example, the bigger host will have a better battery runtime, heatsinking, and duty cycle. But the pen will be smaller, and at less than 95mW, heatsinking probably doesn't even matter. If Opto made an Ultrafire host, I would choose it right away, but this would be a hard decision for me. I prefer the torch host, but Opto will definitely have higher quality parts. And considering Opto doesn't make torch hosts, I would say get whichever style you like better, or get an RPL if you're set on a high quality large host. Also check out Rayfoss's: www.rayfoss.com

I haven't quite trusted O-like recently.
undecided.gif
 
Not quite. Both lasers will probably last forever, or as long as you keep them. I have never had a green laser "break", unless it was incredibly cheap (which O-like isn't). Duty cycle would be how long you can keep the laser on. Example: 90 seconds on, 30 seconds off. I would contact Opto and ask what the duty cycle is for the pen you want, and if it seems too short for what you want, get the Ultrafire. As for output, it depends on if you're talking about the +55mW, or the +40mW.
 
Yeah i knew about the duty cycle already i was just wondering about the lasers' lifetimes. And as for the output i was looking at the opto 55mw.
 
Okay, well like I said, the lifetimes will both be VERY long. The output would probably be a little better on the Opto, seeing as both companies are known for overspec units, will O-like becoming more and more inconsistent.
 
Hey all
Been lurking for a while.. and finally pulled the trigger. Been wanting one of these greenies for some time.

Even though i read a bad review about shophde i decided to take a chance. I emailed them first and someone got back to me right away. I didnt call but the site has an 800 number. but anyway, probably the number one reason i decided to try them was they arent shipping from China.

This is the one i bought 50mw 532nm Astronomy Powerful Green Laser Pointer - July 4th

Soo... i have no way of judging the actual power but the 50mw is pretty darn bright and without any doubts can hit objects miles away.

a brief review of the transaction. item was priced at 24.99 plus 2.99 shipping. found a coupon on retailmenot for 15% off (HDE15 I dont know when its good till but worked two weeks ago) total price was 24.20. Order was shipped the next day and tracking number was provided in email; arrived within a week in a nice black box. The batteries were crap but.. i wasnt buying batteries from them.

I recommended them to a few friends and im not sure if they have bought yet but i havent heard any issues. Maybe the previous guy just got a defect.

I'm thinking of picking up a 405nm.. but i guess i should save those questions for another thread.

So yeah. I had a good experience with that company and i dont think they are bad or scammers.
 
^ Sounds good. You should get a 5mW green (less than 10 bucks) so you can verify that output.
 
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