> Did you really mean OUTPUT.
> That's a lot of light.
> That would probably be a 5 Watt input unit, no?

My existing sources are "golden dragons" from osram, 1A at 1.8V each, at 850nM

> With an LED that could be well into eye hazard area
> depending on the wavelength. What colour are you using? With
> a LASER it will certainly be hazardous.

Yup.

> Al commented on 'speckle' from a LASER, which can be an
> issue depending on application. Speckle, whose presence is a
> sure sign of the presence of coherent light, is interference
> troughs and crests occurring on a surface due to the surface
> texture causing slightly differing path lengths. If you have
> speckle it's a LASER source, if you don't have then it may
> be. "Proper" LASERS always produce speckle but diode LASERs
> may do it less as coherence is generally lower due to lack
> of a long 'collimating'* region.

Less speckle would be good for me.

> If you like the nice
> "furry" 'real LASER' effect then it may be a bonus. If you
> just want illumination then an LED will probably do as well.

Overall efficiency of watts in from the battery vs image produced is
what I'm trying to optimize.
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