Intending to buy a green laser

[omri011]

Hello. I'm new to laser business, and I'm interested in buying a green one.
After reading reviews, Iv'e pretty much took DX out of the list, since they don't tend to be up to specs, and because 0-like and Rayfoss have a really good customer service that's a safenet.
So I have a few questions

What's the difference between a torch and a normal pointer?
Looking at both sites I couldn't find a place that tells me if a laser has an IR filter, so where can I find out?
There's a huge variety, so can you please help me choose a laser for around 40$? It makes it even more confusing when I see 2 pointers in the same site, with the same output and an 8$ difference, or a torch on Rayfoss for 43$ and a torch on o-like for 26$.
Thanks in advance!

 

[john_lawson]

get a herc 500 from laserglow

 

[daguin]

get a herc 500 from laserglow

You owe me a new keyboard

This one is all covered in diet Coke now.

Peace,
dave

 

[Deleted member 8382]

for 40$, get 2 true 50mW lasers from dealextreme. Maybe they are 45mW, but at these price range you won't get more than 50mW anyway.

It's not the only the output that matters, but how the laser is build etc.

For instance, there are many cars with a 150CV motor, but all with diferent prices, you get me?

Yours,
Albert

 

[omri011]

Iv'e read what a torch type is, and I think this type fits me much more. Also, DX still seems a bit untrustable compared to o-like and Rayfoss. Also, I couldn't find torches on DX.
All the other questions except the first one still remain.

 

[Deleted member 8382]

there no IR filter at this price (you don't need it anyway).

trust me that DX is as trustable as rayfoss or O-like when it comes to service.

 

[omri011]

I see. But isn't a torch better regarding heat and durablity issues?
Also, why wouldn't I need an IR filter? Iv'e read that even 5mW lasers have dangerous levels of IR.

 

[Greendream]

It's not really much of an issue at those power levels.

Listen to Hallucynogenyc, he knows what he's talking about.

I've had a few from DX (including the true 50 and a few true 5's), and they were all over spec (I tested with a laser power meter).

 

[samsomiler]

get a herc 500 from laserglow

lol lol lol and much more lol

 

[omri011]

Ok, thanks you guys. Should I give up on buying a torch?

 

[Greendream]

Not necessarily omri...

if the style matters to you, it might be better, or perhaps you'd prefer one with a safety feature like a key-lock. Or if you plan on using it for long periods of time it would probably be worth it for the better heat sinks that torch style designs offer, but if you want best bang for your buck in terms of beam/output I don't think the pens can be beat, as long as you stick to the lower powers, and adhere to a reasonable duty cycle when using them.

It all depends what you want to do with it, but if it's for general use (popping the odd balloon and/or impressing friends ), you can really go too far wrong with a cheap greenie from DX... the only problem is they are on back order at the moment, and it's anyone's guess just what the next batch will be like.

There is some element of gamble in it, but it's like that everywhere really. I've noticed bad reviews from places like Laserglow and O-like (both highly respected companies on this forum) recently, but not a single bad review from DX.

I cant vouch for them, since I never used them, but Focalprice seems very similar to DX, so perhaps hedge your bets, and get one from there and one from DX. Whatever you descide, make sure you post a review when you get it

And get yourself some goggles if it's for indoor use! I think the Dragon Lasers ones are quite nice for the price.

 

[scopeguy20]

You owe me a new keyboard

This one is all covered in diet Coke now.

Peace,
dave

ROFLOL! :crackup:

I might recommend an LED Shoppe 50 mW, I got a few that wold light a match, and at about $25 how can you beat it? btw, get goggles! -Glenn

 

[omri011]

Ok guys, thanks alot
And yeah, I'm quite clumsy so goggles are a must for me.

 

[Deleted member 8382]

About the IR filter, I'll explain it one last time xD

IR light is combined with the green one, IR may diverge more than the green one, so the only chance you get damaged by it and not by the green one could be for example if the green beam goes near your eye, maybe some IR came in, but then I think it would be very dispersed and you wouldn't get damaged anyway.

Not only it's not really dangerous but it might help you a lot if you try to burn with a laser. It's the total amount of power that burns, so having a 50mW green laser with 50mW of green light and no filter means that there are 20mW~ of IR. This means that you are burning with a 70mW laser at the end. And moreover, IR burns some things better than green light, so IR might allow you to burn things you couldn't without it.

And as a last thing, an IR filter will block most of the IR light and some of the green light, just some mWs, but some. So at the end it will reduce it's burning abilities and it's brightness.

The question then is, why have you read somewhere that IR is going to kill you? Easy. An IR filter is very cheap, a small piece like the one inside a laser pointer is 5$ or less if you buy it alone, and if you get a big piece and cut it to small pieces you have a piece under a dollar.

Taking profit of this, Dragonlasers, Wickedlasers, and many other companies justify their prices saying that their lasers are safe and that others are going to kill you to gain buyers. It's just like when banks give you a present for using any of their services because they know people won't look at the really important things if they give you this kind of things.

If you need to use long cycles etc then a torch might suit you better, but for general use, especially for a beginner, the true 50mW laser pointer from dealextreme is your best option, believe me, there are a hundred people looking for the same info than you and I kinda already know the answer after having answered it for a hundred times xD

Buy the DX50, and after you get tired of it (which will take some months for sure) get the 20$ you saved and add it to the "next laser cash" bag.

Yours,
Albert

 

[omri011]

Wow, that was enlightening. Thank you Albert, I see things quite different now

 

[Asherz]

I went with a true 100mW DX green laser pen as my first green, It was more than bright enough to keep me satisfied and when it finally got a bit less powered and got some scatter around the dot I went with a better quality O-Like 150mW module (actually 171mW) and a cool custom host.

You can checkout a review in my sig