price per mw comparison

I found this over at Laser pointer forums
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1183732376

while trying to figure out which high powered green laser i should go for when i can afford it, i wrote a C++ program to work out the price per mW of various models, to compare who was giving the best price. obviously, price isn't the only thing to consider when buying a powerful laser, but i felt it may be informative so i'm posting the output here, hoping someone else finds it useful Smiley

prices per mW are in US dollars and UK pounds, and these are prices and exchange rates as of the date of this post (6th July 2007). these are power levels as specified on the webpages, where possible i'm counting the lowest expected output, for example the Spyder II's specs say 200-300mW so i'm counting it as 200.

if people find this useful, i'll try update it every so often. also, these are just the portable laser companies i know of - if i've missed off your favourite company or whatever, please tell me, and i'll try add them Smiley

BFG Lasers
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|BFG (150) |$280.00 |$1.87 |£0.93
|BFG (150) shipping outside US/Canada |$299.99 |$2.00 |£1.00


Nova Lasers
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|X-15 only |$79.00 |$5.27 |£2.62
|X-15 with case, extras |$99.00 |$6.60 |£3.29
|X-25 only |$99.00 |$3.96 |£1.97
|X-25 with case, extras |$119.00 |$4.76 |£2.37
|X-45 only |$109.00 |$2.42 |£1.21
|X-45 with case, extras |$129.00 |$2.87 |£1.43
|X-65 only |$129.00 |$1.98 |£0.99
|X-65 with case, extras |$149.00 |$2.29 |£1.14
|X-85 only |$159.00 |$1.87 |£0.93
|X-85 with case, extras |$179.00 |$2.11 |£1.05
|X-105 only |$189.00 |$1.80 |£0.90
|X-105 with case, extras |$209.00 |$1.99 |£0.99
|X-125 only |$299.00 |$2.39 |£1.19
|X-125 with case, extras |$319.00 |$2.55 |£1.27


Dragon Lasers
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|Viper 15 |$99.99 |$6.67 |£3.32
|Viper 35 |$109.99 |$3.14 |£1.56
|Viper 55 |$129.99 |$2.36 |£1.18
|Viper 75 |$159.99 |$2.13 |£1.06
|Viper 95 |$209.99 |$2.21 |£1.10
|Viper 125 |$329.99 |$2.64 |£1.31
|Hulk 50-99 |$299.99 |$6.00 |£2.99
|Hulk 100-149 |$399.99 |$4.00 |£1.99
|Hulk 150-199 |$629.99 |$4.20 |£2.09
|Hulk 200-300 |$899.99 |$4.50 |£2.24


LucentOptics
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|EnVee 80 |$265.00 |$3.31 |£1.65
|EnVee 100 |$315.00 |$3.15 |£1.57


Wicked Lasers
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|Executive 15 |$99.99 |$6.67 |£3.32
|Executive 35 |$159.99 |$4.57 |£2.28
|Executive 55 |$209.99 |$3.82 |£1.90
|Executive 75 |$259.99 |$3.47 |£1.73
|Executive 95 |$369.99 |$3.89 |£1.94
|Executive 125 |$499.99 |$4.00 |£1.99
|Evolution 15 |$149.99 |$10.00 |£4.98
|Evolution 35 |$199.99 |$5.71 |£2.84
|Evolution 55 |$249.99 |$4.55 |£2.26
|Evolution 75 |$299.99 |$4.00 |£1.99
|Evolution 95 |$399.99 |$4.21 |£2.10
|Evolution 125 |$549.99 |$4.40 |£2.19
|Spyder II GX (200-300) |$1699.99 |$8.50 |£4.23


Laserglow
|Laser model |Price |$ per mW |£ per mW
|Aries-20 |$199.00 |$9.95 |£4.95
|Aries-35 |$239.00 |$6.83 |£3.40
|Aries-50 |$289.00 |$5.78 |£2.88
|Aries-75 |$299.00 |$3.99 |£1.98
|Aries-100 |$489.00 |$4.89 |£2.43
|Aries-125 |$589.00 |$4.71 |£2.35
|Aries-150 |$599.00 |$3.99 |£1.99
|Aries-175 |$789.00 |$4.51 |£2.24
|Aries-200 |$889.00 |$4.45 |£2.21
|Aries-225 |$989.00 |$4.40 |£2.19
|Hercules-250 |$989.00 |$3.96 |£1.97
|Hercules-275 |$1189.00 |$4.32 |£2.15
|Hercules-300 |$1389.00 |$4.63 |£2.30
|Hercules-325 |$1789.00 |$5.50 |£2.74
|Hercules-350 |$1889.00 |$5.40 |£2.69
|Hercules-375 |$2589.00 |$6.90 |£3.44
|Hercules-400 |$2989.00 |$7.47 |£3.72

Cool, nice thread. Useful for checking prices of a whole lot of lasers.
Good Job.

Optotronics is missing...

I'm going to add this thread to the list of sticky threads.

what about dealextreme, and kaidomain's.

cool!

+1 on Optotronics, the RPL is a great laser

Cool post, thanks for sharing your work. :thumbsup: Maybe it could be updated with some of the other popular lasers mentioned. The price per mw comparison is a great start with so many good lasers out there.

It gets overwhelming trying to decide. I did the same thing in Excel before making my purchase months ago but I also included columns for beam divergence, duty time, warranty and other design aspects like battery size/type (rechargeable). Buying the best cost per mw module doesn't guarantee the best beam and also consider how much it will cost to maintain the beam (lasers eat batteries).

This is a great thread. Very informative. I wish I would have found this while I was shopping for my first laser (waiting for delivery!).

I try to research any and everything I can before jumping into a hobby. It's spillover from my automotive addictions (I have every mod for a car planned and researched before I even buy the car). So along the lines remember I am a total noob for lasers, though it has been a passionate interest of mine since childhood... take the next part with a grain of salt...

I think it would be important to consider the "area under the curve" for these various brands of lasers. Not many vendors offer this data. Some offer min, avg, and max. Which is helpful. Only Wicked offers mW over time data (eg. the Elite 150+).

From my readings and research, reading reviews and experiences, and watching tons and tons of videos, I've come to the conclusion that, like hp in cars, some mfr's post metrics based on some level of data interpretation.

Just seeing the single mW metric doesn't tell the entire story. When weighing a ratio such as price/mW, one should also consider that a mW catalog rating could be a max, a min, or an avg. The diode may be able to produce the max, avg, or min for different amounts of time. There are many many variables to consider. And like an automotive dyno graph (hp and torque) the area under the curve (in this case mW across time, and mW across distance) tells the story we all really need to know.

Eg., how long is the rated mW produced, and does it occur at the end of a 30 sec duration, or at the beginning where it then drops off further? And how much is the variation from beginning to end? How much variation over distance?

I would gladly give up my nights to test every brand, every model, with some good equipment, across all of these conditions and more. Logging as many data points as possible. Unfortunately I could never fund something like that. But how fun would it be to run all these tests?

Of course, no laser is created equally. So the test results would have to be seen as simply a benchmark. But still, it would be so valuable to know how lasers perform from different mfrs. Is WL pricier because it can hold higher-than-rated output for longer periods as compared to other brands? Do Opto and Dragon perform differently across similarly rated models over time and distance? One could get lost and giddy with the permutations of analysis that could be made.

Anyway, that is my contribution to the "ponderance of comparing lasers". I think price/mW is a GREAT start. A very solid metric.

And kudos to Wicked for posting metrics like this on a few of their models. It is why I decided to go with Wicked when I made my decision to buy. Granted, the results sourced from the mfr... but I appreciated their providing a scale upon which to base the rated output and interpret the capabilities for myself.




Anyone know of sub-$200 mW testing equipment that is reliable and accurate? I can't find one. At the very least I would love to run my own unit through all of these conditions, and report back. I just can't find decent measuring equipment (eg. Coherent) that is under $500.