I'm not really sure you'll have much luck selling a zombie diode. I say that only because a few people have tried in the past, and I'm not really sure any have actually sold.
There is always discussion of price, but it doesn't even seem like the diodes sell well when hugely discounted.
It's actually kind of a shame, because even 100mW of laser light from a 445 is pretty awesome. To put that in perspective, 100mW of blue laser light (of any sort) in a portable would have cost $500 or more just 2 years ago.
I've often thought that a neat project for a new members with some time on their hands, would be to collect the zombies from various forum members. Then put together a $0.50 cent driver (with an LM11117, a resistor, and a couple caps on a simple pcb). Then create little ~100mW "zombie modules".
You'd be looking at:
- Driver $0.50 (seriously)
- Wire $0.25
- Aixiz Module $2.50
- Lens $0 (the stock acryllic is fine)
- Zombie Diode (depends on sourec)
So for basically $3.50 plus the price of the zombie diodes (probably would vary depending on source and shipping) you could put together little "zombie modules". Basically, low output ~100mW blue 445 setups.
They wouldn't appeal to everyone. But man, I'm sure they would sell for $30. I think there are a lot of new entrants into the hobby that would love a 100mW blue laser for $30. And even if someone had to pay an average of $5 or $10 to collect zombies from members on the forum, that would be a nice return for their time. $15 in parts, $30 selling price.
I think that ^ would be a neat project for the right person.
