About a month or so ago I made a thread on DIY high powered handheld lasers which didn't really get much traction, but I just wanted to follow up. Now, there are two major things which are unfortunately going to bar hobbyists from obtaining these handheld units:
>Coronavirus panic is going to delay (or stop entirely) shipments. Most already assembled lasers come from China, which is a big no-go at the moment.
>Availability of high powered, unused single diodes is going to dry up soon. Manufacturers like Osram and Nichia are slowing down production on single diodes and are starting to focus on making multi-die arrays. However, they can still be used. Styropyro's new laser uses a 95W array and it's stunning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6FbUiiwutQ

Pic related is a Nichia NDG7475 focused to infinity at ~75 ft. The divergence is pretty good compared to the blue diodes out there, but as a multimode diode it still makes a rectangular spot shape. Hopefully this spat of manufacturing arrays is short-lived and we'll see some 5W+ green 520nm diodes being made. That Nichia at just 1W is currently the brightest single diode in the world, so I'm curious to see what the future brings.