Laser pointer needs to be preheated before pointing if the room
temperature is lower than 25 degrees C. Usually you can hold the
laser in hands tightly about 30 seconds before pointing. The low
temperature might cause unstable and lower power pointing in
operation.

My condo is unheated, and is currently around 60 degrees F. (It has been as
low as the high 40s during this winter.) All the laser-optical devices in my
condo work properly -- including the DVD players in my computers, the DVD
player in my bedroom, the BD player in the living room, and even a 25-year-old
LV player.

The idea that a semiconductor laser has to be at a minimum temperature to work
strikes me as decidedly odd. I'd expect the pointer to work if it were dropped
in liquid nitrogen (at least until the battery froze).