Can cheaper lasers handle short distances?

> Among the various issues the company says it has addressed are: ...Infant mortality

Huh?

In case you're not just stirring up controversy: thats the fairly standard (if unfortunate) term for failures within a short time of being placed into service.

Time scale varies with context. But, its why you have places that "burn in" new computer equipment for days/weeks.

If you think that's unfortunate, we used to call it "crib death".