Most powerful laser in the US$200 range

Ok so in the time spent fixing my broken laser I might just have to order a new one. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif Last time I looked into this (about a year ago) there was a website offering some Leadlight lasers that were sorted (or aligned better) to provide higher outputs (15-20mW or so). Right now, what's the most powerful pointer in the $200 range (including any that require a mod, I don't have a problem with working with electronics)?
Thanks

Save your your money and buy from vital spirit if you can mod your own. *unless* you don't want to take the lucky dip of doing this and want garaunteed high power, then you need to see either chris at wicked or arnold at atlasnova. You pay for it though, but you still get the warranty which is void if you open any laser. Garuanteed high power though.

Thanks, Fiend. I am generally OK with electrical and mechanical mods (better with electrical). Does Vital Spirit have a website or just do ebay sales? What's their seller name? I tried searching 'vitalspirit' and no auctions came up.
Secondly, what 'brand' of lasers do they sell and where can I find the mod instructions? I'd like to check them out first to see how hard they are.
Last time I looked into this was a year ago and the current projects focused on Changchun lasers. The link I had saved with instructions on the Changchun mod is no longer there.
Thanks
PS I "sort of" fixed the laser I dropped...

Vital Spirit

They sell both the changchun and the leadlight, but you honestly want the leadlight. They sell on ebay, but i think they have an asterisk in their ebay name so it can be tricky to find.

see their ebay auction here. Are you in the states? if not, i'm pretty sure that last time i asked them about their shipping rate, the $10 included anywhere in the world, not just in the US. So you can save yourself over $10 by buying from ebay. Its the cheapest buy it now price.

Nearly all the mods now are geared towards leadights. LaserModifier has posted a good thread on the leadlight mod, there are a few others about too. if you can't find anymore in the "laser" section here, look in the custom/modlights forum, and also back in the headlamps /luminescents/ hybrids section. I think a lot of info was left back in there when they give us our own forum.

Goodluck!

Ok thanks for the pointer (no pun intended). It seems like they charge $67 no matter what ($57.90+$10 on ebay or $66.93 [member price] with free USPS Priority shipping from their site). I'm in the US so it doesn't much matter which way I get it.

There's an active thread right now started by LaserModifier, and that looks pretty simple to follow. I wonder if my older green lasers also had a pot on them?
Seems like the 2nd stage of his mod is just careful alignment of the diode in the heatsink. Youd' think they'd do this as a manufacturing step and save money by making a lower-output diode (considering that labor is cheap in China).

So the Wickedlasers, Atlasnova, etc are all just leadlight pointers with both mods done and charging 3X the price?

From what chris has told me its not just a pot mod. The thing. arnold sdoesn't mod his at all. What you pay for is a garaunteed output, with a warranty. anypointer you open voids the warranty. if something happens with their pointers within 3 months of your purchase, they will replace/refund.

Strange that (1) Chris would have to do something beyond a pot mod+realignment to get the same power output you could with a pot mod and (2) that Arnold somehow gets lasers that are way over spec and can offer 20mW units without doing a thing to them. Doesn't the label stating "<5mW" mean anything? You would think that to preserve the FDA certification, they'd at least make sure that everything coming out if the factory is NO MORE than 5mW...

Its all to do with the qaulity of the MCA. better qaulity better power. I think that with arnolds, the pot may have gottenn shaken about in transit, turing it up. but they glue them now so that doesn't happen. So... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif

Hmmmm sounds kind of fishy.
Anyway it seems my choices are to spend about $60 on a Leadlight and modify it myself to about 20-30mW, or spend about $200 on a 20-30mW (wicked, etc).
Since $200 is my pricepoint, I wish there was a higher powered unmodified lab laser I could start with (in other words, get 20 or so MW out of a properly heatsinked laser with a good regulated power supply).
Is there?

Not really.

[ QUOTE ]
photonic said:
Hmmmm sounds kind of fishy.
Anyway it seems my choices are to spend about $60 on a Leadlight and modify it myself to about 20-30mW, or spend about $200 on a 20-30mW (wicked, etc).
Since $200 is my pricepoint, I wish there was a higher powered unmodified lab laser I could start with (in other words, get 20 or so MW out of a properly heatsinked laser with a good regulated power supply).
Is there?

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are expecting the qualities of a lab laser in a laser pointer you are going to be disappointed whatever you buy and whoever you buy from. A lab laser has a sufficient amount of negative feedback to compensate for the continual short and long term noise caused by many factors. To be able to do this at an output of 20mW you would need to start with an open loop output of at least 40mW. In any case, please don't buy anything from me. I have enough trouble keeping a lid on my own paranoia. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

It is the luck of the draw with the Leadlights...one of the 5mw I bought from Bert arrived 25mw amd with the pot turned out at 40mw - thats an extreme for $69 - /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was very lucky to get that... shame the MCA is burnt now after putting in a 300mw diode /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Advice to everyone if you have 40mw - don't try to improve on that - you'll only knack it.

Hi Arnold
That's precisely my point, instead of spending $200 ($197 to be exact) on a laser pointer that's been tweaked up to get 20 or 30 mW, why not spend around $200 on a lab spec unit that's of better quality (unless they can't be modified for the same 20-30mW output).
PS I'm not saying you are fishy, but are you really selling 'lasers that were never opened up but their pots got turned in shipment and now they are 10-20mW"? I was thinking that DaFiend just got it wrong...

DaFiend is a very accurate type of bloke, he just hates my shipping charges. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinser2.gif

Arnold, you have a pretty good memory. i haven't mentioned that in ages! Regardless, i am about to purchase 2 more red laser pointers from you. 1 x 635nm & 1 x 650nm. but i think Alvine didn't read my email properly. she said $8 for shipping to Australia........ i've emailed back just to confirm. I'm over the whole shipping thing now, it was really not the CPF thing to make such a big deal out of it. Its your business!
Cheers! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

alvine confirmed. Sweet! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

It is $8 for the reds. They just go by air letter post. There is no way I can prove whether or not someone has received an item when I ship this way but it is economical. If someone claims they did not receive it I just ship again. This happens only rarely with the reds as they are usually teachers and so on who buy them. The greens sometime attract a different element who take the opportunity to get a two-for-one buy claiming non-receipt. Ebay and Paypal seem to encourage this by their polices. That is why I only ship greens by registered air post and it costs more. Many of the best of the eBay sellers have struggled with this problem and decided to just stop selling internationally. As a strictly business decision it probably doesn't compute, but when you get the sense that you are being ripped off it takes the fun out of this. Most people are basically good, but not all. Some Mother's do have'em.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/au.gif

Makes sense arnold. when i previously made statements re: your shipping charges, i don't think that it was ever mentioned that its was via registered post. Any way. Pointers purchased as of 10 min ago...... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif

I received my most recent order yesterday and it arrived in perfect shape as usual. Thank you, Arnold and Alvine!
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif

Do you know if Atlas Nova sells the older Leadlights or the newer ones with the feedback circuit that I read are harder to modify (though I don't know why?)