Geezer
0
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
- Messages
- 6
- Points
- 0
I think I’m considerably older than most of you -- I’m 79. I had college physics in 1951-52 and I studied optics a bit more when I started wearing eyeglasses in 1972. So... whatever education I had in optics is largely outdated and I’ve had no training in lasers whatever.
A friend of mine, a retired federal agent, got a law enforcement quality Daser Guardian last summer which got me interested in the use of lasers as non-lethal weapons.
I set out to learn more about lasers. I started lurking here about three months ago. I’d never owned a laser before so I decided to start with a simple cheap green laser pointer. I bought one said to be 5mW on eBay for about seven dollars. Then I bought a second one also said to be 5mW on Amazon for about eight dollars that has a removable star cap. I bought some green laser safety goggles. Finally last week I picked up a 5mW red laser pointer on sale for $1.98.
I read about both underspec and overspec lasers here, especially the cheap Chinese models and I wondered just what power my three cheap ones were. My son has a friend who teaches college physics with access to a professional laser power meter. His friend agreed to test mine and today I got back my lasers and the results.
MiracleBeam Red Laser 5 mW - tested 1.5 mW
(“World’s Most Powerful Handheld Red Laser”)
New High Bright Green Laser Pointer Pen 5mW - tested 17.2 mW
(EBay -- dantegoods)
QQ-Tech 5 mW Green 2in1 w/ Constellation Cap - tested 28.2 mW
(Amazon.com -- QQ-Tech)
The red is less than I expected but I thought the green ones were overspec, in fact one of the reviews for the one from Amazon said it was 30 mW. I’m concerned about false power advertisements since some young children are using these as toys. I suspect there are a lot of half-blind dogs and cats out there now.
I doubt I’ll ever try to build my own laser since my eyesight isn’t that great and my hands are too shaky for fine soldering. I’ve learned enough about lasers to think that the police model Daser isn’t all that safe since it’s 250 mW. It does have a very wide beam, and it’s supposed to be focused to a one meter dot at various ranges. I think I’ll use other options for non-lethal self-defense weapons.
I don’t know where I’m going next with lasers.
A friend of mine, a retired federal agent, got a law enforcement quality Daser Guardian last summer which got me interested in the use of lasers as non-lethal weapons.
I set out to learn more about lasers. I started lurking here about three months ago. I’d never owned a laser before so I decided to start with a simple cheap green laser pointer. I bought one said to be 5mW on eBay for about seven dollars. Then I bought a second one also said to be 5mW on Amazon for about eight dollars that has a removable star cap. I bought some green laser safety goggles. Finally last week I picked up a 5mW red laser pointer on sale for $1.98.
I read about both underspec and overspec lasers here, especially the cheap Chinese models and I wondered just what power my three cheap ones were. My son has a friend who teaches college physics with access to a professional laser power meter. His friend agreed to test mine and today I got back my lasers and the results.
MiracleBeam Red Laser 5 mW - tested 1.5 mW
(“World’s Most Powerful Handheld Red Laser”)
New High Bright Green Laser Pointer Pen 5mW - tested 17.2 mW
(EBay -- dantegoods)
QQ-Tech 5 mW Green 2in1 w/ Constellation Cap - tested 28.2 mW
(Amazon.com -- QQ-Tech)
The red is less than I expected but I thought the green ones were overspec, in fact one of the reviews for the one from Amazon said it was 30 mW. I’m concerned about false power advertisements since some young children are using these as toys. I suspect there are a lot of half-blind dogs and cats out there now.
I doubt I’ll ever try to build my own laser since my eyesight isn’t that great and my hands are too shaky for fine soldering. I’ve learned enough about lasers to think that the police model Daser isn’t all that safe since it’s 250 mW. It does have a very wide beam, and it’s supposed to be focused to a one meter dot at various ranges. I think I’ll use other options for non-lethal self-defense weapons.
I don’t know where I’m going next with lasers.
