My daughter saw my Beta green laser, and I knew that I'd have a hard time keeping it to myself, so I went in search of a lower-cost "loaner", for her occassional non-astronomical uses- and to satisfy my curiosity. ;) I had a few bucks in my PayPal account, so I bought one made by Lightvision Technologies of Taiwan. Rated at <5mw, class IIIa (same as the Beta and Z-Bolt high-end models) but not stated as optimized to deliver close to a true 5mw output. Constant duty cycle. The price was attractive at $41.99 + shipping from Computer Geeks of Oceanside, CA. www.geeks.com. I actually bought it from their eBay store, using "Buy It Now". It arrived in 5 days via FedEx. Well-built, shiny chrome-plated brass housing with pocket clip, it's about 10mm longer than the Beta unit, at 152mm (6"). Same diameter, 12.7mm (1/2"). It also has a small green indicator above the switch that lights-up when the laser is on. I can see a glass lens for beam focus optimization, non-adjustable, like the Beta unit. It uses 2 AAA cells, included, and comes in a metal, clamshell case with cut-foam tray. No lid padding. First impression: Nowhere near as bright as the Beta pointer, an estimate is about one-third as bright. The beam is only dimly visible in a dark room. This one has a beam about as bright as one I saw being used at the Wallop Watch out at SPOC this past summer. Visible, but not stand-out-obvious. It actually might be preferable at a dark-sky star-party, especially if others are imaging nearby. Visibility increases as one approaches the beam axis, and falls-off as you get farther away from the beam. I think this unit clearly demonstrates the visible difference between units optimized near the 5mw legal limit for class IIIa, and those non-optimized units closer to 3mw. This isn't a "star-pointer" for the suburbs. But, under reasonably dark skies, it is usable, and the price is attractive, especially for beginners or those on a budget. And my daughter can't seem to put it down- mission accomplished. The Beta pointer is unmolested. __________________________________ Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click. http://farechase.yahoo.com