Why choose Red vs Green?

Many people inquire as to what the differences are between the red and green units, and why one would want to choose either way. The industry standard has been red lasers since the 70’s with the green wavelength being more difficult to achieve. With the advent of solid state lasers, this has changed as great strides have been achieved in reducing the complexity, while increasing the lifetimes and robustness in more harsh environments.

So, why choose one color or the other? The ~635nm (nanometer) wavelength works great in all applications, and indeed over the years these applications have run the gamut. What makes the green unique is that it falls into a wavelength (520nm) range that is approx. 20-30% more visible to the human eye. In applications that have a very high ambient light, the green may make the difference between visible or not. Another issue is hue. Some surfaces such as certain species of wood, as well as some sheet goods or fabric have a reddish hue in which the red laser light will become somewhat lost. The contrast of the green will be of great benefit in these applications. Often times it is necessary to have several laser lines side by side and a contrasting specific marker line in required, such as a fence line on a ripsaw in which one contrasting color, typically a green unit, will serve to make that distinction.

Also, in circumstances where the operator has some level of colorblindness, one or the other may be more visible to them due to the disparate sensitivity to the red and green wavelengths.

If you have any other questions regarding this topic, or help deciding either way, please feel free to ask and we would be happy to assist.