Maybe a noobish question..

[Hislordship]

I was wondering...

Why is it that a 1000mw blue laser is way cheaper then lets say a green one with half that power?

Shouldn't it be the other way around?
This seems to be the case with red and green lasers being more expensive then blue and violet even if they are of higher power..

I don't get it ^^

 

[oahu99]

I believe the reason is because the blue diodes are commonly used in projectors, so the companies have worked alot to get the price point down. However, green lasers don't have a common use like that so the price doesn't really matter to the manufacturer.

 

[DrSid]

Red are build for DVDs, 405 for bluray, 445 are build for projectors .. that dictates their parameters. That is why red and 405 are singlemode. That's why reds are most common (and cheap) in 300mW and 405 in 700mW. That's why 445 are multimode, power is more important than beam quality in projectors.
Greens on the other hand are mostly used only in pointers. Also they are DPSS, not diode only. More complex construction makes them more expansive, but they are also more sensitive to miss-alignments, making the better ones again more expansive.

 

[Hislordship]

Red are build for DVDs, 405 for bluray, 445 are build for projectors .. that dictates their parameters. That is why red and 405 are singlemode. That's why reds are most common (and cheap) in 300mW and 405 in 700mW. That's why 445 are multimode, power is more important than beam quality in projectors.
Greens on the other hand are mostly used only in pointers. Also they are DPSS, not diode only. More complex construction makes them more expansive, but they are also more sensitive to miss-alignments, making the better ones again more expansive.

Thank you for the information
But most of the time i see red lasers more expensive then blue ones and way less powerfull..
Is there a reason for that? i rarely ever see a red laser for sale that is above 800mw and then they sell really expensive while a 1000+mw blue is cheaper ^^

 

[TheDukeAnumber1]

It's all market supply/demand and economy of scale. High powered diodes in red, green, and blue all exist, but their prices to us largely depend on if the diode is used in consumer electronics.

 

[Hislordship]

I always used to think that blue was cheaper because it was easier to make ^^

 

[FlutterPie]

I always used to think that blue was cheaper because it was easier to make ^^

Like someone above mentioned, it is because the blues are used in projectors. If you buy one of the projectors that has the blue diodes in it for let's say around $700. Someone like DTR harvests all the diodes in it and sells them. Divide the number of diodes in it (I believe 24) by the price you paid, slap on a little so you get your cut for doing the work and BAM!!! That's the price per diode.

 

[Hislordship]

Thanks for the replies i think i understand it now
Lucky for me blue is the cheapest cuz it's my fav laser color ^^

 

[midnighttattoo]

I was wondering...

Why is it that a 1000mw blue laser is way cheaper then lets say a green one with half that power?

Shouldn't it be the other way around?
This seems to be the case with red and green lasers being more expensive then blue and violet even if they are of higher power..

I don't get it ^^

build costs. a lot more work in a green ..

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Direct green diodes are still new to the market so they are only being bought by people like us who put
them in handhelds or lab units. I think this will change soon since they will boost efficiency in
projectors and we will start seeing RGB projector units begin to hit the market with high power
multimode blue green and red diodes. Once that happens, the price will begin to drop dramatically.
Ever since the problems developed with the 4W reds DTR used to sell, they have been sorely missed.
It would be great to see high power red diodes again.

I think we will also see the 3W blue diodes in projectors soon, though they will remain more expensive
because more power means less diodes inside each projector unit. Although it could also mean the
same number of diodes with greatly increased light output, but again at a price.