My last 2 days have been nothing but looking up lasers, reading reviews, understanding the technology, and I think I'm ready to purchase. Here are the candidates. Can someone help me choose? Excluding the glasses (I've already placed an order), I have a $100 budget (shipping has to be included in that).
I want to stick with green lasers because I will use this at night a lot and I want it to be very bright. I also do want it to be ABLE to burn easily but it won't be the main focus.
1. LP 532nm 150mW green PEN laser from laserbtb - $90 with shipping included
pros:
- only $80 with IR filter installed
- 150mW
- pen form (I actually like this, it's more portable)
cons:
- DPSS laser so temperature would have a big impact on this, I want to use this on cold nights also.
- pen form (lol). The reason I also listed this as a con is because I've read that the HL form is a better host than the pen because of heat absorbing and it can focus better (I want to burn, so this sounds important).
- Due to the things above, I don't think the duty cycle will be very long
- Doesn't seem to have any focus adjustment
2. HL 520nm 50mW from laserbtb - $100 with shipping included
pros:
- 520nm
- better host
- focusable
- Not a DPSS, so less affected by temperature
- single mode
cons:
- I could only afford the 50mW version of this. How much dimmer will this be than the 150mW pen above? How will it compare in terms of burning to #1? (considering it has focus?)
- Pretty sure that's the only con
3. SF501B 532nm Green from scifilaser - $65 with shipping included
pros:
- good host
- focusable
- Cheaaaap
- Can burn decently
cons:
- DPSS. Not really a con
- Not in stock. Not sure when it will be
- 80-120mW. I'm not sure exactly what I'll get. The one from laserbtb will for sure be around 150mW
Lucklaser, lazerer, and a few other sites also had some really great deals but I've heard some very bad things about them so I did not include them on here.
So sorry for such a long thread. I would appreciate ANY feedback, experiences, or maybe a laser I didn't list on here. You guys have been really helpful so far, thank you for that.
I want to stick with green lasers because I will use this at night a lot and I want it to be very bright. I also do want it to be ABLE to burn easily but it won't be the main focus.
1. LP 532nm 150mW green PEN laser from laserbtb - $90 with shipping included
pros:
- only $80 with IR filter installed
- 150mW
- pen form (I actually like this, it's more portable)
cons:
- DPSS laser so temperature would have a big impact on this, I want to use this on cold nights also.
- pen form (lol). The reason I also listed this as a con is because I've read that the HL form is a better host than the pen because of heat absorbing and it can focus better (I want to burn, so this sounds important).
- Due to the things above, I don't think the duty cycle will be very long
- Doesn't seem to have any focus adjustment
2. HL 520nm 50mW from laserbtb - $100 with shipping included
pros:
- 520nm
- better host
- focusable
- Not a DPSS, so less affected by temperature
- single mode
cons:
- I could only afford the 50mW version of this. How much dimmer will this be than the 150mW pen above? How will it compare in terms of burning to #1? (considering it has focus?)
- Pretty sure that's the only con
3. SF501B 532nm Green from scifilaser - $65 with shipping included
pros:
- good host
- focusable
- Cheaaaap
- Can burn decently
cons:
- DPSS. Not really a con
- Not in stock. Not sure when it will be
- 80-120mW. I'm not sure exactly what I'll get. The one from laserbtb will for sure be around 150mW
Lucklaser, lazerer, and a few other sites also had some really great deals but I've heard some very bad things about them so I did not include them on here.
So sorry for such a long thread. I would appreciate ANY feedback, experiences, or maybe a laser I didn't list on here. You guys have been really helpful so far, thank you for that.
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