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- Jan 9, 2009
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I posted this same topic in the 'buy/sell/trade' forum, but upon reading most of the rest of the current posts that may have been a mistake, as I wasn't making a specific offer.
I hesitated mightily to post, but after researching this forum and all of the linked top-end manufacturer's web sites for several days, I can't find exactly what I'm looking for.
Some background - picked up a very cheap ebay 5mw green several weeks ago, and for the price ($18) I have no complaints at all. I'd like to spend a larger budget, though, to fix it's flaws for the applications I use it for:
- First off, I only need to point, not burn. Never burn. Visible beam at night, and a nice visible dot in full daylight. The 5mw pointer comes pretty close here, actually, but I need the beam to be visible from at least 10' off-center. This is for constellation pointing for my daughter and her friends. The 5mw is only visible if you're standing right next to me. From what I've read here, somewhere between 15-30 mw should be plenty, with probably a top cap of 50mw (correct me if this is wrong.) The daylight dot is working pretty well from the 5mw, and thats for agility training for my Aussie. She responds incredibly well in moving through the course in ad-hoc sequences by putting the dot on the hurdle or hoop she's to go through. Obviously high power here would be very dangerous, so I may have to buy a 5 mw just for this activity.
- Cold weather performance. This is the kicker that's really stumping me. The only laser I've found on the various web sites that even mentions cold weather capability is the Galileo at Laser Glow, and this is the real killer of the cheap $15 green I'm using right now. It's especially surprising to me since so many of these lasers are ostesibly sold as 'astronomy pointers', and even in warm climates the nights get chilly. All the greens I see show an operating range of 15-30C, which is just too warm. I'd buy the galileo in a heart beat if it had a bit more power and a momentary switch.
- Consistency and power. The cheap greenie eats AAAs like my daughter does to popcorn. Anything beefier would be much better... AA, C, CR, etc. Consistent beam output is good, though my problems there likely relate to the cold weather performance problem above, and not really to power. From reading here it sounds like at least a small heatsink is critical to keeping a bright beam for any length of time, which the pens lack.
- Reasonable cost. I can drop $100 on this easily, but the $200-$300 on up most of the true 'portable lasers' cost is a bit outside of my range. Though if the Laser Glow Ares 35 was in stock I might be tempted to grit my teeth and buy it (assuming it will operate in cooler weather.... they don't say.)
Sorry for the information overkill, but I've spent a lot of time researching and come up empty. If anyone knows a unit that comes close to these criteria, including custom makes, please let me know, and they'll have a paypal in minutes. Located in the US, btw, so DX is out.
I hesitated mightily to post, but after researching this forum and all of the linked top-end manufacturer's web sites for several days, I can't find exactly what I'm looking for.
Some background - picked up a very cheap ebay 5mw green several weeks ago, and for the price ($18) I have no complaints at all. I'd like to spend a larger budget, though, to fix it's flaws for the applications I use it for:
- First off, I only need to point, not burn. Never burn. Visible beam at night, and a nice visible dot in full daylight. The 5mw pointer comes pretty close here, actually, but I need the beam to be visible from at least 10' off-center. This is for constellation pointing for my daughter and her friends. The 5mw is only visible if you're standing right next to me. From what I've read here, somewhere between 15-30 mw should be plenty, with probably a top cap of 50mw (correct me if this is wrong.) The daylight dot is working pretty well from the 5mw, and thats for agility training for my Aussie. She responds incredibly well in moving through the course in ad-hoc sequences by putting the dot on the hurdle or hoop she's to go through. Obviously high power here would be very dangerous, so I may have to buy a 5 mw just for this activity.
- Cold weather performance. This is the kicker that's really stumping me. The only laser I've found on the various web sites that even mentions cold weather capability is the Galileo at Laser Glow, and this is the real killer of the cheap $15 green I'm using right now. It's especially surprising to me since so many of these lasers are ostesibly sold as 'astronomy pointers', and even in warm climates the nights get chilly. All the greens I see show an operating range of 15-30C, which is just too warm. I'd buy the galileo in a heart beat if it had a bit more power and a momentary switch.
- Consistency and power. The cheap greenie eats AAAs like my daughter does to popcorn. Anything beefier would be much better... AA, C, CR, etc. Consistent beam output is good, though my problems there likely relate to the cold weather performance problem above, and not really to power. From reading here it sounds like at least a small heatsink is critical to keeping a bright beam for any length of time, which the pens lack.
- Reasonable cost. I can drop $100 on this easily, but the $200-$300 on up most of the true 'portable lasers' cost is a bit outside of my range. Though if the Laser Glow Ares 35 was in stock I might be tempted to grit my teeth and buy it (assuming it will operate in cooler weather.... they don't say.)
Sorry for the information overkill, but I've spent a lot of time researching and come up empty. If anyone knows a unit that comes close to these criteria, including custom makes, please let me know, and they'll have a paypal in minutes. Located in the US, btw, so DX is out.
rob