Help on choosing laser 405nm or 445nm?

[ThatOneDude]

Hello there fellow forum members. I dont post much (since all I do usually is read read read), but Im thinking about buying a laser. I have a 264mW Red laser (and others) but now after some time I feel like im ready for the next step. I was thinking either a 500mW 405nm or a 1W 445nm (both from lazerer, bugdet not so big). After much pondering I cannot decide which one to get. I just want a laser that can burn really nice but at the same time one that is Bright to point at the night sky. I want the 405nm for its punch of burning power, but I also want the 445nm for its brightness since it is much brighter then a 405nm. Any suggestions will be really appreciated (especially beam shots of either one ). :thanks:

Also I would really like to know the burning power difference between the 405nm and the 445nm. Again... :thanks:

 

[skir0987]

It depends on how far away you want to be burning things. I've got a 1.5w 445 and a 600mw 405... up close, the 445 burns much better, but the 405 is able to burn much farther away because it is not multimode. The 405's beam is also much nicer (not as thick), but like you said is not nearly as bright.

If you just want to be able to burn up close, go with the 445, because it's wattage is much higher and the beam will not have diverged much up close when focused.

I was playing around with my 405 earlier today, though, and I gotta say that thing is awesome. If you unfocus it and point it around at things in the dark, you can see everything floresce just like under a blacklight.

 

[Ash]

405 is a great up close burner, but mW for mW, the 445 will be much more impressive in the night skythan 405, and will still burn extremely well.
I would go 445 first, but make sure you use the right glasses. Those 445 blues can be almost blinding on a white wall.

 

[AUTO XX]

The 445 also seems more "durable".
I have abused mine a couple of times by getting it hot or experimenting with it, the 445 is a tough little diode

 

[Ash]

Oh. I am trying to break the 12x handheld I just made in a small host. :eg: I drop it all the time on concrete, I set it without using a test load, and left it on for over an hour at the last LEM. The thing was burning hot, but still metered in spec when cooled.
You're right though. I don't even used ESD when building 445's, they're tough as nails.

 

[AUTO XX]

Well, I wouldn't go THAT far... *smartass*
^_^

 

[DrSid]

Yep .. you can practically handle 445nm as light bulb. Around here, we have flat 4.5V batteries (basically 3 AA glued together). It has flat stripe contacts on top. As kids we used to attach small light bulb to it with rubber band. It was my first circuit, and it was for most people I know. And you can do just the same with 445nm diode. It's the right voltage, and it can even handle 4.5V in reverse (for several seconds at least, not that I did that on purpose). I also made simple drive pointer later (see my sig).
Still you might get unlucky, and it's expensive.

 

[ThatOneDude]

Well I guess 445 it is Thank You all for the answers. Now for the money... soon... Yea :yh:

 

[shintashi]

for me, price was a major issue. The violets after all the tricky stuff you have to do with drivers, heat sinks, and unstable diodes meant they cost considerably more. I tested my wife's violet laser yesterday morning and this evening, and we discovered at night, the violet beam is very long and stable, and visible. The blue beam by comparison is science fiction level frightening, especially to old people like my parents. The violet has a very creepy burn factor I have yet to fully test, but I can say after working with blues, violet is deceptively hotter than you would think. It's almost like the polar opposite of green, which is stupidly bright for it's power but very cold in terms of human eye luminosity:actual heat.

You could probably conduct a lot more burning stuff with the violet without freaking out people, and then saving visible beam for night time. While all lasers at this range are dangerous and need eye protection, the psychological effect of the blue laser may be more troublesome - even more than green which people are more familiar with due to green dot laser sights.

Blue lasers were apparently briefly featured on Sons of Guns/Red Jacket but no one made mention of why the laser sight for the machine guns was blue.