Magnifying Glass = Range Extender???

[PainTrane117]

There is this video on YouTube of a guy using his 750mW Wicked Lasers S3 Krypton to pop 100 balloons in succession.
That seems impressive to me since I have a 2.2 watt laser with a G2 lens that I know for a fact couldn't pop a balloon as far away as he could with his laser that is 75% less powerful than mine.
The beam divergence on my laser beam is just too great, even if I try my darndest to focus it as small as possible. It starts to spread pretty bad at only 30 feet or so.
Do I need a larger/longer focusing ring? In this video you can see that he used a magnifying glass from Radioshack to boost the range on his laser... I've been thinking about trying the same thing.
Does anyone have an opinion on this? I would rather not use a magnifying glass but I am drawn to the concept...

 

[bdgreenb]

the trick is to focus it as tight as possible on the furthest target. Even with the multimode shape of the 445 diode 2200mw should pop a balloon no problem focused to infinity. IT also helps to have it mounted on something rather than holding it.

 

[Cyparagon]

The key here is they used the "burning lens" which just forms the first half of an expansion telescope, and the magnifying glass forms the second half. It's not a bad idea, actually.

 

[PainTrane117]

How do I focus my lens to infinity? I believe I have it focused as tightly as possible. It can pop balloons within 30 feet but after that the beam is just too broad.