Diode lasers are a lot more difficult to use than CO2. The wavelength of operation is such that CO2 sees almost everything as opaque whereas the diode sees many colors and materials as transparent.
I have tried both and finally added a CO2 head to my existing router. If you wish you can find more details of what I did here http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/files/27.htm and here http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/files/18.htm
Tweakie.