I am dissapointed too about GGW diodes. I brougt 2 on May, this year (here is the thread:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/ggw-sled-gb-phrs-lpcs-low-12-ea-39833.html) and set it up:
first at 180ma/185mw
second at 160ma/170mw
Booth are aged now (less than 30-40mw) in less than 50-60 minutes usage (not continuos usage - 5 minutes on, 1 hour off, 3 mintes on, 3 days off, etc)! The second diode, intentionally has been setup, for long lasting than first one. Start aging quicly after I keept on 10minutes. After I stoped, I saw that I lost 20mw...still only 150mw. Start again after 1 day, another 10-15minutes. goes more down...near 110mw....!!! And so on...Now, still working but has maximum 30mw output...
Personally I think that better than test HOW MUCH HIGHER can be pushed a diode, most important is to see, HOW LONG can survive at 100ma, 150ma, 200ma. If at these rates, diode will not survive minim 100hours (more than 4days), I think it cannot be considered SAFE current. Normally, we should get 1000hours (more tha 40days), for a resonable life of a diode (like PHR diodes, 3 months for an average current 100mA/100mw)!
1 hour for 50-100USD/diode seems to be very expensive, and in my opinion not worth... I saw a lot of posts saying here "safe current"... but not quoting it in time (how many hours)...so, i suggest to define some limits for this attributes, to not confuse users ... And for newcommers, really safe current for a diode is the current named "Operating Current" by manufacturer and for we can get 10.000hours (over 416days) lifetime!
...10 minutes lifetime but high output power, could be considered super safe for someone... depending by its reference system. why to not write one here to define: "safe", "resonably", "last long", etc....if we cannot use the already existing one (I have no doubt, what is safe for a laser diode manufacturer, is not the same for us)...
Alx