laser illuminators and cobra 350mW ir led illuminator

[Guest luckyjohn99]

can anyone tell me what the difference is between laser illuminators and cobra 350mW ir led illuminator which is the better laser or led...john

[PeteL]

can anyone tell me what the difference is between laser illuminators and cobra 350mW ir led illuminator which is the better laser or led...john

 

Hi 99,

They are two different animals.

A laser emits a thin beam of light of a very narrow band of wavelength in the visible range, (usually red) and you can see it with the naked eye in the form of a dot.

On the other hand, an IR illuminator is very much like a normal torch in the shape of the beam except that the beam is in the infra-red range ie not visible to our eyes only to sensors which can detect infra-red, eg NV scopes.

 

If you have a rifle fitted with a laser (they are available) you can shoot by putting the dot on the target and pulling the trigger. The range would be short because you may not be able to see the dot at a distance.

OTOH, with an IR illuminator you will see nothing in the dark and would need an NV scope

 

Hope that helps, I've no experience in this field so don't ask me anything technical, my understanding has been obtained from various sources inc Internet!

Peter

[Chunk]

PeteL is nearly there: the laser illuminators are lasers that you can widen or narrow the dot so that it can be used to iluminate the target rather than provide a pinpoint dot. The more narrow the beam the further you can see.

Dont quite know how the technology works but compared to a normal ir led illuminator the lasers are leaps and bounds ahead. The clarity out to a hundred yards plus is pretty amazing.

Its difficult to describe what can be seen but if you get the opportunity to compare then the differences will be apparent.

 

Price is a biggie. My Yukon ir cost 80 quid, but my laser was £120 and that was cheap. The money was well worth it, especially as winter is fast aproaching and i break out my rem 597 and fit NV to it.

[CliveWard]

PeteL is nearly there: the laser illuminators are lasers that you can widen or narrow the dot so that it can be used to iluminate the target rather than provide a pinpoint dot. The more narrow the beam the further you can see.

Dont quite know how the technology works but compared to a normal ir led illuminator the lasers are leaps and bounds ahead. The clarity out to a hundred yards plus is pretty amazing.

Its difficult to describe what can be seen but if you get the opportunity to compare then the differences will be apparent.

 

Price is a biggie. My Yukon ir cost 80 quid, but my laser was £120 and that was cheap. The money was well worth it, especially as winter is fast aproaching and i break out my rem 597 and fit NV to it.

 

Hi Chunk,

 

The laser ir is far more efficient because it has a narrower bandwidth of light frequency but more importantly it is coherent light which means it is all in the same phase. With an LED illuminator there is great deal of phase cancellation. So a laser illuminator will always be more powerful than an LED, regardless of the nonsense 350 & 450mW ratings that are applied to some LED illuminators.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

Clive

[Chunk]

Hi Clive. Thought someone more knowledgeable would give a better explanation.

 

Good to see you on the forum.

 

Cheers Andy.