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Out of all the lasers you own what's your favorite, and for what reasons?
I get to go first. I prolly don't have nearly as many as most people here. Below is a picture
Two cheap (< $5.00) red pointers, my x-65, and my two homemade 15-20 mW 635 nm pointers.
I recently got the x-65, and I really like it. But I must confess it's almost too bright. I used to read all these posts about people wearing goggles and I thought, 'jeez, what a bunch of pansies'. Now I understand why
Holy smokes, once you get close to 100 mW (or more!) of green the spot is arc welder bright on a white wall. Even when burning black objects up close the spot is so bright I find myself blinking away after images when I'm done. The green is a beautiful elemental color, but it's also kind of harsh.
So my favorite remains my 'homemade' 20 mW red. Lots of reasons beyond personal bias. First I just like the red color better, especially close to 635 nm. It's a lovely pink or rose color, compared to the deep cherry red of most 655+ nm reds. The spots brightness compares to a 5-7 mW greenie, so it's bright enough to dazzle a bit without overwhelming. Also it has no duty cycle (it takes over 15 minutes before the meredith housing gets slightly warm) and lasts over 40 hours on one set of batteries. The APC power supply keeps the diodes output super stable. This is the laser I reach for when I need my coherent photon fix. And it's a couple years old now, with at least 200-300 hours of use - it's proven to be reliable.
I think a 100-200 mW red (next project with the senkat diodes) would make an ideal burner (and andy's video certainly proves it) - powerful, but not so bright it rapes your retinas like a big bad greenie does.
Final shot is tail standing the laser to use it as a nightlight (ceiling bounce). I was taking a leak and thought it would make a good picture. I adjusted the image brightness so it closely matches how bright the laser appears.
At this point I'd like to get some other colors. I'm impatiently waiting for the cost of the violet diodes to come down. I really want to bag one of those. And blue would be nice. I want more direct injection diodes, so I hope ROHM is able to come out with some blue and green ones. Those would be ideal for pointers.
I get to go first. I prolly don't have nearly as many as most people here. Below is a picture
Two cheap (< $5.00) red pointers, my x-65, and my two homemade 15-20 mW 635 nm pointers.
I recently got the x-65, and I really like it. But I must confess it's almost too bright. I used to read all these posts about people wearing goggles and I thought, 'jeez, what a bunch of pansies'. Now I understand why
Holy smokes, once you get close to 100 mW (or more!) of green the spot is arc welder bright on a white wall. Even when burning black objects up close the spot is so bright I find myself blinking away after images when I'm done. The green is a beautiful elemental color, but it's also kind of harsh.So my favorite remains my 'homemade' 20 mW red. Lots of reasons beyond personal bias. First I just like the red color better, especially close to 635 nm. It's a lovely pink or rose color, compared to the deep cherry red of most 655+ nm reds. The spots brightness compares to a 5-7 mW greenie, so it's bright enough to dazzle a bit without overwhelming. Also it has no duty cycle (it takes over 15 minutes before the meredith housing gets slightly warm) and lasts over 40 hours on one set of batteries. The APC power supply keeps the diodes output super stable. This is the laser I reach for when I need my coherent photon fix. And it's a couple years old now, with at least 200-300 hours of use - it's proven to be reliable.
I think a 100-200 mW red (next project with the senkat diodes) would make an ideal burner (and andy's video certainly proves it) - powerful, but not so bright it rapes your retinas like a big bad greenie does.
Final shot is tail standing the laser to use it as a nightlight (ceiling bounce). I was taking a leak and thought it would make a good picture. I adjusted the image brightness so it closely matches how bright the laser appears.
At this point I'd like to get some other colors. I'm impatiently waiting for the cost of the violet diodes to come down. I really want to bag one of those. And blue would be nice. I want more direct injection diodes, so I hope ROHM is able to come out with some blue and green ones. Those would be ideal for pointers.
