You can not count on the Chinese to give you a real 3w diode in the thor, I don't own a thor but have been told by others that they are " OK " so maybe you will get a 3w or maybe a 2w, do you have a LPM to test it ? If not sanwu sells them as well as better lasers, also the diode and driver are only half the equation, the optics are also important.
Think about holding a magnifying glass and lighting a fire, that's all you need on a sunny day, the diameter of the magnifying glass and it's shape do make a difference but a single lens will not let you accomplish your task from 10 feet away unless it's quite large, this is similar to using this multi mode laser diode that's in the thor, up close ( inchers away ) focused tightly it's energy is concentrated tightly enough that it can ignite a piece of paper quickly, but at any real distance it's beam has diverged too much, add the expander and you can reach a little further but it's still very limited as far as it's useful distance. 2 or 3 meters is about it for lighting brown paper if you hold still and use the 3X beam expander they sell with the thor, that's how bad the divergence of these laser diodes really is.
To casually walk by your debris pile and ignite it on the trot the thor will not do, not even close, but if you can hold very still or brace the device such as using a tripod you can get it to impart enough energy to heat a small spot on a brown piece of paper past it's flash point at 2 - 3 yards ( with the beam expander ) so it's not as useful as it seems on the desktop unless you can focus desktop tight at your working distance and hold desktop steady, passing by on the move forget about it.
I live in a small-medium town, but when I've walked to the open countryside hills a mile or two away I carry the laser in one pocket and the battery for it in a different one. Saves any accidental pocket fires!
