My brother and I brought 2 "identical" 10mW laser pointers at the same time from the same vendor in the same order - as soon as we had them outside in the dark we realised his was slightly brighter than mine, even swapping batteries to eliminate any possible difference there revealed his beam to appear slightly brighter.
These pointers are sold, like any common electronic device, within certain tolerance levels. Some brands / units do occasionally seem MUCH brighter by comparison than others, which is hard to explain I grant. Perhaps occasionally they sell a 5 as a 10 or vice versa??
(Astro)Ron and I have sometimes compared his 5mW to my 10mW (when the fog rolls in and the serious viewing lapses) and his oftens seems a little brighter than mine. I do tend to mess around with mine at home a lot
and as a result my batteries now are rarely fresh. That may affect comparisons with Ron's laser, but not the initial tests with my brother's unit.
I DO know that mine took a very quick roll through some water in a bathtub once, this may have caused some internal issues, who knows?
I DO have my eye on a certain 130mW green laser available from certain places OS, that will truly be MUCH brighter!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
"there is no need to go any bigger" ...... says the man with the 16" scope.
We believe you Ron, we really do.
Cheers !!
