Need purchase recommendation

[Doug S]

Go easy on me guys, this is not a subforum I visit. Perhaps this is the first time. I am looking for an inexpensive laser pointer preferably running on AA or AAA cells. I dont care about color or about anything else except the following: Output must be relatively stable [within a few % would be nice] over time spans of a few minutes. The one coincell keychain type pointer I've tested fails miserably in this regard.
Any recommendations? The cheaper the better.

 

[pseudonomen137]

Most of these lasers cannot be kept on for a few minutes, and you won't get stability within a few percent with any of them unfortunately. Stability is something you pay big bucks for on true lab modules. Considering your specs though, I would look into the Aries or Hercules lasers on Laserglow.com. The Aries will be cheaper, and even so you might find them out of your price range.

That is assuming you want a high power laser though. If you just want a <5mW IIIA, a leadlight from atlasnova.com should suit you well. Good luck!

 

[Doug S]

If you just want a <5mW IIIA, a leadlight from atlasnova.com should suit you well. Good luck!

Sub 5mW is fine. It is the stability that I'm after. I should add that I don't mind if I need to follow some protocol such as letting it run for say 10 seconds and then using it for the minute or so in which the stable output is desired.
It would be great if someone(s) with both a laser pointer to recommend and a lightmeter could do some quick tests to see what degree of stability I might reasonably be able to achieve. I would also be interested in stability over even a shorter time period, say 20 seconds.
TIA

 

[pseudonomen137]

The leadlights from atlasnova.com are very good and you won't be able to visually detect any power fluctuation. For measuring lasers, a regular light meter won't suffice, but a few of us have meters like the Coherent LaserCheck for that. The leadlight I just tried out seemed pretty stable, though considering these are green DPSS, I wouldn't dare hazard to guess an exact percent stability. Since the leadlights are well made with adequate heatsinking though, any fluctuations would bee too minor for you to really notice.

 

[ajohnson]

I second the atlasnova recommendation. Should be plenty stable & bright for your use.

 

[Doug S]

I looked at the atlasnova site but unfortunately it doesn't have a search function. A random sampling of their offerings did not turn up anything called a leadlight. Can anyone provide a specific link?
Also can anyone explain to me why a conventional light meter would not be suitable for determining output stability since this requires only a relative, not absolute, measure?

I second the atlasnova recommendation. Should be plenty stable & bright for your use.