Here is what i got (click the thumbnail)...
The diode started out rather well, i was hopeful, but i won't be able to race it side by side with Dave's as it is now just an 11mW diode - at 280mA, where it popped, after producing 318mW through the 405-G-1 lens for a few seconds....
I do think the diode MAY be a little bit better than the GGW, but not the kind of better we were hoping for.
GBL actually already said what i wanted to suggest.
Problem is - the price...
I think these diodes might make for more reliable >200mW (= after plastic lens/more with glass) lasers than GGWs, without the need for special pre-selection and weeding out the weaklings, even with an occasional superfreak, which might reach 8x-like powers, such as Dave's....
EDIT: I mean, i don't like setting GGWs above 200mA, because i want them to last a year (or several) of normal pointer use.
But with these "8x" diodes, i would feel more comfortable setting them as high as 230 or maybe even 250mA, as GBL suggested.
They might even all be capable of reaching >200mW after plastics "safelly", something that is not the case with GGWs.
But they are definitelly not even close to the BDR-203BK which i had the pleasure of testing last night.... :cryyy:
If they were a little cheaper tho, i would consider buying them, as a replacement for GGWs, which are starting to BUG me severelly, with their inconsistency! I am getting stuck with more and more GGWs that can barelly push over 150mW at 200mA (some even peak as low as 138mW at 200mA)! :yabbmad:
Anyway, here's another $100 down the drain in the name of science (i have to console myself somehow, by now i could have made me two proper 8x's if i didn't do all these experiments)...