How to choose a handheld laser pointer

When most people think of lasers, they think of harmless laser pointers for pointing at classroom stuff. Little do they realize that lasers have the potential to be much more powerful—so much so that over the next few centuries, they'll play an increasingly common role in the military, while projectile weapons take on a less and less important role—eventually fading into complete nonexistence over the next few millennia.

Somewhere in between the harmless laser pointer and laser weapons is the handheld laser pointer, commonly used in astronomy, thermal experiments, and long-distance illumination. While the handheld laser pointer is too weak to be a weapon, many can pop balloons and burn through cardboard or thick plastic. If you want information on choosing a handheld laser pointer, read on and learn how to select it.

Decide on a wavelength

Red, green, and blue are standard colors, with red operating around 660nm, green at 532nm, and blue at 450/473nm. For a unique color, please get a yellow handheld laser pointer, which operates at 593.5nm; for no color, the infrared laser is utterly invisible at 1064nm.

Power range

The standard laser pointer operates at around 3-5mW, and the handheld laser pointer can be much more powerful. In perspective, military-grade lasers must be at least 100kW, or 250,000x as powerful as a handheld laser pointer and 25 million times as powerful as a standard laser pointer.
If you want a precise beam in the night sky--get at least a 35mW; for igniting matches--get a 150mW; for igniting a fireworks fuse--at least a 300mW is necessary, and for burning through cardboard or thick plastic--get a 400mW.

Determine your desired sustained and peak outputs

Because the power of a handheld laser pointer peaks and then declines, lasers are rated in sustained--the average output power over some time, and peak--the highest output power the laser will reach before the power begins to decline.