The power of a laser is measured in watts and milliwatts. The minimum power required for a laser beam to be visible in darkness of an average-sized hotel ballroom is between 500mW and 1W. Prolight as a minimum power uses 1W lasers. Lasers with 5 to 20W of power are typical for indoor usage and for outdoor projections lasers of 10 to 25W of power are used.

Wattage alone does not determine the visibility of laser beams. Visibility depends on laser beam’s quality. It is not uncommon to see cheap, high-powered lasers having a lesser visibility than expensive but much weaker lasers. Therefore, event organizers should not be fooled by the laser’s high power. Regardless of power, low quality lasers, especially if they have bad optics will yield low visibility beams.

And now something about color visibility. A 1W green laser beam is as bright as a 3W red beam, since the eye sees green light better than red. For that reason, when deciding how much laser power to use for a laser show there are many factors that we have to consider. With green being the most visible color, when using green lasers you can choose those of less power thus lowering your rental cost. Ambient light should be reduced as much as possible so that the lasers don’t need extra power to punch through it. Beam visibility can be improved by using a fog machine. If you can’t use „haze“, you’ll need a more powerful laser. For bigger laser show projection areas you’ll need a more powerful laser.
Prolight’s team of experts are at the client’s disposal right from the event planning period to help them choose more easily the right laser system that will fulfill their every need and desire.