Decided to jump in but would like advice...

[bschott]

Now I did read all the stickies and many, many posts before I posted this question so please be kind

I finally decided that I am going to purchase a few lasers but before I spend some well-earned money, I want to be sure I am getting quality products with nice life spans.  I know there are some recommended companies but I'm not sure what products from those companies would be 'the best' for me.

I have ~$300 to play with and would like to purchase one Red and one Green hand-held burning lasers, and possibly a violet (bluray?)  or blue hand-held laser (does NOT have to be a burner). I almost bought from CNI, but I'm looking to get the most 'bang for my buck' and rather would ask those who are much more knowledgeable than I.  I have a small collection of red and green presentation pointer lasers, but I'd like to move up to a small collection of burning lasers.

For that, I'm also going to need a set of goggles to help protect my eyes from stray/unintentionally reflected light.  I know that the wavelengths of these lasers will probably require different filters for the glasses.  What would you recommend for a good set of goggles?

Thanks in advance

 

[Asherz]

Hi bschott,

I'm pretty new here myself but I've purchased a few lasers already. As new member I just wanted to get a pretty high power laser for as cheap as I could which would last a while.

Personally I wasn't too worried if a button was slightly loose or if the build quality wasn't great so I decided to purchase 2 of my lasers from Dealextreme.com

I decided to go with the 100mw green true laser, and 200mw red burning laser both from deal extreme which I believe comes to around 80$ and I have both the lasers now and am more than happy with what I received, the red has been with me a few months and is still going strong and I haven’t actually noticed any problems with it, it burns great and also has a focusable lens. I got the 100mw through a few days ago and was amazed by how great the visible beam is in most conditions and how far the dot goes! It’s insane.

I was more than happy with the products I received from DX, and for the amount I paid am more than happy.

Next I purchased a pre-built module with rkstr driver and PHR-803T diode in from hightechdealz and am waiting for that to arrive, but I think it will be great to be able to put into a project box or a pointer, as I purchased a full body djr heat-sink V2 made by dark_horse I decided I am going to fit it into a djr (Or try), might just end up making my own host lol. But I am looking forward to this violet laser;  it comes with a pre set current of 120mA which is the optimum setting for burning/life span. Link:  http://hightechdealz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=10
It’s 64$ I think and I worked out it's cheaper buying from their pre-built than it is buying all the parts and putting it together! Plus you minimize the risk of screwing it up: P

I also reccomend getting a cracked marble at 8$ from stonetek.org, where you can also get the full body heatsink. The 1" marble is slightly radioactive (twice the normal background radiation) which flurosizes beutifully when excited by the 405nm laser.

As for safety, which is a key part in all lasing activity, I will admit I do not have goggles for my red laser, but I rarely get it out and when I do I will admit I do burn stuff.. But I look away. I am an idiot do not follow my example lol. As for my green/violet laser I found a great option at dragonlasers where you can purchase goggles at a great price that will protect against BOTH 405nm light and 532nm green light! Here’s a link to those: http://www.dragonlasers.com/catalog...protection--Laser-safety-glasses-p-16242.html and for 25$ that can't be beaten for quality/cost.

Well I hope this helps lol and sorry it's quite a big post, just wanted to cram in all the info.

And good luck with your first buy(s)!

PS: one thing I forgot to mention was that the green laser from DX does NOT include a IR filter which is a danger. IR filters are cheap though and can be purchased and placed over the end of the laser. This will reduce the power of the laser though. Personally I'm not too worried as I'm not going to be looking into the laser and it will only be pointed outside so there isn't a major danger of reflections. (it's too bright to point inside).

 

[chipdouglas]

For the red burner I would go with www.o-like.com susie has good quality and customer service. for the blu-ray I would hit up jayrob. Umm about the green I can't answer about a burner but can recommend www.ledshoppe.com for good and inexpensive greenies. I have the 50mw and it pops balloons easy, and blasts the night sky with green goodness. But remember they do not come with an IR Filter. I think you can get that from nova laser and you custom fit it in to your cap. I would check out WL for the goggles.


michael

 

[Asherz]

dragonslasers 24$ multi wave length goggles cannot be beaten! XD

 

[bschott]

dragonslasers 24$ multi wave length goggles cannot be beaten! XD

I hadn't heard of these before.  Do they honestly protect against multiple wavelengths?  My sight is very important to me (as I am sure many others here value theirs' as well) so I really want to be protected against any potential damage due to stray laser light.  I looked into Dealextreme.com but they state they won't sell anything over 5mW to US residents

Given that, I'm thinking of getting the following:

Red 180~200mW Red Focusable burning laser:  http://www.o-like.com/b2b_cpinfo.asp?id=971
Violet (405nm) 120mA burning laser: http://hightechdealz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=10
(probably will buy the MXDL 5W flashlight host...do you have a link to dark_horse's DJR heat-sink V2?)
The Blue/Green/Violet laser safety glasses: http://www.dragonlasers.com/catalog...protection--Laser-safety-glasses-p-16242.html

Still looking for a company that would sell a nice green burning laser to folks in the US.   I really would like one that can start matches on fire from a few feet away (or more).

 

[chipdouglas]

A few feet is gonna be tough greens do not generally have a focusable thing attached. If you search on here though somebody made one that can be focused. but you would still need a large amount of power.

michael

 

[bschott]

A few feet is gonna be tough    greens do not generally have a focusable thing attached. If you search on here though somebody made one that can be focused. but you would still need a large amount of power.

michael

Thanks for the information!  

What do people think of an Optotronics 100mW Green Laser pointer
http://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=glp-100

Edit:  it says that this produces 1-4mW of IR.  Sounds like an IR filter should be used but I couldn't find the filters that were talked about by Asherz and chipdouglas. I tried but couldn't find Nova Laser's website  Can anyone provided a link to some IR filters for laser pointers/portable lasers?

 

[HumanSymphony]

[quote author=chipdouglas link=1241021329/0#5 date=1241040507]A few feet is gonna be tough    greens do not generally have a focusable thing attached. If you search on here though somebody made one that can be focused. but you would still need a large amount of power.

michael

Thanks for the information!  

What do people think of an Optotronics 100mW Green Laser pointer
http://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=glp-100

Edit:  it says that this produces 1-4mW of IR.  Sounds like an IR filter should be used but I couldn't find the filters that were talked about by Asherz and chipdouglas.  I tried but couldn't find Nova Laser's website  Can anyone provided a link to some IR filters for laser pointers/portable lasers?[/quote]
What's more dangerous: 100mW or 4mW? :

 

[laser83]

[quote author=chipdouglas link=1241021329/0#5 date=1241040507]A few feet is gonna be tough    greens do not generally have a focusable thing attached. If you search on here though somebody made one that can be focused. but you would still need a large amount of power.

michael

Thanks for the information!  

What do people think of an Optotronics 100mW Green Laser pointer
http://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=glp-100

Edit:  it says that this produces 1-4mW of IR.  Sounds like an IR filter should be used but I couldn't find the filters that were talked about by Asherz and chipdouglas.  I tried but couldn't find Nova Laser's website  Can anyone provided a link to some IR filters for laser pointers/portable lasers?[/quote]

Optotronics is known as the best company when it comes to fully built professional lasers. That would be the best quality you could get if you wanted to buy from a company. 100mW of unfocused green will not burn however.

Personally, if I were you just hang around the buy/sell/trade section here and you'll find something well worth your money. A focused green laser is a bit rare and not something you'll normally be able get without some modding.

 

[HumanSymphony]

[quote author=bschott link=1241021329/0#6 date=1241041511][quote author=chipdouglas link=1241021329/0#5 date=1241040507]A few feet is gonna be tough    greens do not generally have a focusable thing attached. If you search on here though somebody made one that can be focused. but you would still need a large amount of power.

michael

Thanks for the information!  

What do people think of an Optotronics 100mW Green Laser pointer
http://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=glp-100

Edit:  it says that this produces 1-4mW of IR.  Sounds like an IR filter should be used but I couldn't find the filters that were talked about by Asherz and chipdouglas.  I tried but couldn't find Nova Laser's website  Can anyone provided a link to some IR filters for laser pointers/portable lasers?[/quote]

Optotronics is known as the best company when it comes to fully built professional lasers. That would be the best quality you could get if you wanted to buy from a company. [highlight]100mW of unfocused green will not burn[/highlight] however.

Personally, if I were you just hang around the buy/sell/trade section here and you'll find something well worth your money. A focused green laser is a bit rare and not something you'll normally be able get without some modding. [/quote]
Yes. It will. lol.

 

[RA_pierce]

Personal recommendation:
http://www.novalasers.com/NOVAstore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=3&idproduct=86
with 5% LPF discount code WARP5
and
http://o-like.com/b2b_cpinfo.asp?id=971

That comes out to:

209.00   X105
- 10.45    -5%
=198.55
+ 47.99   Red laser
=246.54

That leaves you 53.46 out of your $300 laser budget for either a DIY PHR (violet) laser, safety goggles, upgraded shipping, accessories, another cheap laser, or 5 movie tickets to kill time until your goodies arrive.

And for a few bucks more, you can purchase one of mohrenberg's blu-ray kits and have yourself a ~100mW violet laser.



By the way, I own both the X100 (bought it when they were called X105s) and the new firm dilda. Both are great.

And 100mW of green "unfocused" WILL burn... Very well, in fact.

 

[Asherz]

[quote author=Asherz link=1241021329/0#3 date=1241028595]dragonslasers 24$ multi wave length goggles cannot be beaten! XD

I hadn't heard of these before.  Do they honestly protect against multiple wavelengths?


[/quote]

Yep, they protect:

OD>3.5 for 190-500nm
OD>3 for 500-540nm

Those OD's are more than enough to protect your eyes, unless you purposly hold the lasers at the goggles of course, but I don't think any goggles can protect you from that

 

[bschott]

Hum...I'm wondering if I should go with these 'professional' setups or just ask around here and see if anyone would be willing to make a nice +100mW Red burner, a +100mW Green burner and a Violet (doesn't need to burn) pointer together for me.

Suggestions on whom I should speak to for that? I'm not feeling up to making my own laser...yet. I also think that the enthusiasts would have a better product and be more detail oriented than the mass produced company lasers are.

 

[Asherz]

Your best bet would be to camp and the buy/sell section