Why are laser prices so varied? I see $80 for a 5W laser diode, then right under than $55K for a 5W laser.
Then I go on laser websites and they advertise 50W for $300???
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I would assume it's a combination of different qualities, and "real" vs broken listings. I don't know about other retailers or other countries, but here if you search for something obscure, you will likely come across listings for things with obviously nonsense prices chosen seemingly at random. You'll also find this on any page for a more common item - there will be a few legit sellers and then some random sketchy ones with totally insane prices.
That and different colours are different too.
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@Ryan_Vickers Oh, thank you
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If you are planning to buy a laser I'd strongly suggest learning all the necessary safety information first. They can pose a risk to many things around you, most significantly, your eyes. The more powerful a beam is the more dangerous obviously, as it can cause damage more quickly, and even indirect observations (just seeing the dot or even just the beam through the air reflected in dust) may be damaging. Some other important considerations that are not intuitive include but are not limited to:
- Green lasers are not really green, they are made by using an IR laser and then frequency shifting it. Good quality ones have a filter to remove any unconverted IR, but poor quality ones will not, and this is bad because it is just as dangerous as lasers you can see, except you can't even see it.
- Building on that point, unexpected refractions or reflections can take the beam in directions you did not anticipate or plan for. Remember that different wavelengths (colours) may take different paths.
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@Ryan_Vickers I couldn't really find any out any concise source on this stuff, thanks for the help
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This guy has a lot of interesting experiments and good knowledge
