Thank's to everyone for the recommendations and info.
I just want to give a review as a "NEWBIE" to green lasers.
I just received my *cheap* $13.79USA 532nm 5mw laser from an Epray seller located inside the USA. I looked for someone inside the US to cut down on shipping time. I paid a bit more than getting one from a china seller but the difference in cost was only a few dollars and I'm impatient to boot
I'm not going to give the sellers name or auction number (unless someone wants it) because I am NOT affialted with this person or trying to do any advertising for them. This is just my impressions as a new owner.
As I stated in my first post, I wanted it mainly for starpointing and having a VISIBLE beam.
This laser has some kind of cap that can be rotated to provide different difraction patterns of multiple dots as it's rotated. The grandkids think it's cool and it is rather amusing for a while.
When you remove the cap, you have a standard "Dot" type of laser.
OK, let me back up a few days....I had never seen a green laser in person so I went to Radio Shack to examine theirs. Yes, you could see a green dot on the wall but it was about as bright as my cheapo red laser. I WAS NOT IMPRESSED!!
Anyway, I installed 2 new energizer brand alkaline AAA batteries and pushed the button. I still had the difraction cap on and was amazed to see lots and lots of green dots all over the ceiling and part of the walls. I could rotate the cap and the dots would twist and swirl similar to a kaleidoscope.
It reminded me of a discotech
After the novelty wore off, (a few minutes) I unscrewed the cap and pointed it at my light blue/greeninsh wall about 10' away. WOW! That was bright! Much more than I had expected based on my short experiance with the Rad Shack unit.
It was still daylight outside and we have a rather large window in this room so the room is quite bright with ambiant light. I tried to hold the laser up at eye level (pointed away from me of course) to try and see the beam. I could see it, but it was VERY weak. As the outside light started diminishing, I could see the beam much better even with the lights on. I tried the laser in a completely dark room and could see the beam VERY well so long as I placed the spot on a dark background so the laser light didn't light up the room from reflections.
Once the sun had set behind the mountain, I took it outside and could see the beam VERY well even from the side. It wasn't DARK outside, but I would call it dusk. Still able to read a book amount of light. The beam seamed to stretch out to infinity. VERY nice and just what I wanted it to do. It was cloudy and the beam seemed to go to the clouds and stop at that point.
I pointed it at trees 200-300 yards away and could easily see the beam all the way to the point.
The temperature was in the low 80's and the humidity was 90% so I'm sure the excess humidity helped me see the beam so well.
Now like I said, I don't have 1st hand experiance with laser's and different power levels or know what to expect from them but I don't think the Rad Shack unit could hold a candle to this one under the same conditions. At least, not the one that was demonstrated to me at Rad shack. Could have been low batteries, a defective laser, or just a lower power laser.
Anyway, this laser seems to be doing the trick for me but time will tell. I'm going to try it when the humidity isn't so high and the are less clouds.
If you have read this far, thanks! I just wanted to share a first owners experiance with a low powered green laser in case there were others like me that were interested.
I am curious IF this laser is indeed 5mw or actually higher. Is there any way to determine the PO without purchasing a LPM?
Geesh, just what I need...another expensive hobby
But I can see the amazement alot of people have with lasers now. I am still fighting the urge to purchase the O-like 200mw:devil:
Thanks again to everyone.
Rod
