Cheap safety glasses

tsteele93 said:

Bluefan,

These glasses are $8, test a pair if you like. I am...

I believe that there are a lot of folks here using no goggles (but saying they are) or maybe they are using their $5 "beginner glasses" that came with their laser and assuming since they came from the laser supplier that they must be good.

I don't believe that everyone here owns several sets of $40 safety goggles for themselves and family/friends to use when they show off their lasers. In a perfect world, that might be the case. But in the real world, someone who is stressing over spending $40 for a 50mW laser isn't dropping another $100-$200 for several sets of safety goggles.

I'm not even sure that there is a difference in the UVEX and the $40 goggles. If you look at the specs on them both, they look almost, if not, identical.

Why is it unrealistic to believe that two different vendors might offer virtually identical products at different price points? It happens all the time.

ts

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I will do a very thorough review of different glasses, including damage testing. A LOT of people have decent glasses, but even if they didn't that doesn't make it the right thing to do. Most people have one pair or a second for demonstration and just don't have more people in the room than they have glasses when there is a laser on. That simple.

For the EN207 certification (besides the 10second/100pulses) glasses would have to conform to this:
- no Q-Switch-Effect
- low dioptrical effects
- quality of materials and surface
- low stray light < 0,5 cd/m²lx
- no secondary radiation
- UV-resistance
- thermal resistance
- field of vision >40°
- shatter resistance
This isn't a simple list but just the table of content for al the standards. EVERY real laser safety eyewear manufactor can trace every single filter back to the batch of materials that are supplied to them. EVERY standard is CONTINUOUSLY verified by measurements by testing samples. Strict quality control is needed to guarantee other glasses will perfom the same.

THAT is what Uvex does and every chinese supplier completely ignores. THIS is the difference between actual guaranteed safety and no guarantees, which is not what safety is about. This also is why no vendor can provide safety for just $8, don't believe the fairy tale that everything can be made cheap. You get what you pay for. My eyes are priceless, so I don't mind spending a lot when it comes to their safety. Nobody should of they picked the wrong hobby (and by hobby I mean the experimenting, burning and not the star-pointing-only folks).

I wouldn't have cheap chinese safety belts in my car that nobody ever tested or even designed properly for the task. This is the same principle although you only damage your eyes.

http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S1933X-Eyewear-SCT-Orange-Anti-Fog/dp/B000USRG90/ref=cm_cmu_pg__header

So I ran some tests tonight, here is what I've found...

I have a 532nm from Cajunlasers.com that consistently tests at 63mW. Shooting through the glasses I got 5mW.

I just got a 400mW 532nm from Cajunlasers.com that has tested at 285mW on my LaserBee A. It takes a while to get to that peak. Shooting through the UVEX goggles I got 25mW. I suspect that if I had given it more time I might have peaked at 27-28mW.

So you are seeing 9-10% of green.

Next I got my survival lasers, 1,238mW 445nm.

I got zero. Nothing I did would show up on the meter. I darn near melted a hole in one set of glasses trying to get a dot on the meter, but it just didn't register. Make of that what you will. I feel comfortable wearing them with blue and green lasers.

YMMV,

ts

1,238mW of 445nm & you got nothing on the LPM, Nice.
Thank you for sharing this. :beer: Hopefully others will try these as will (LPMing them to be sure).

tsteele93 said:

So you are seeing 9-10% of green.

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Just want to mention again that the reading for your 532nm lasers may very likely be IR. It could be blocking (nearly) all 532nm. :san: Link to IR filters in post #8.
I don't see any mention of an IR filter in CajunLasers' greens. Since an IR filter is a nice selling point they would mention it if they had it.

I didn't even think about ir. doh, that could be the case. To be honest, the biggest flaw I find in these glasses is that they dim the laser SO much that it almost sucks the fun out of it. Indoors they are a must, but outdoors I tend to wear them on top of my head a lot.

ts

They appear to be even cheaper on this website... I did not verify their shipping charges; but the glasses themselves are cheaper.

Sperian - Uvex: S1933X: Skyper, Color: Black, Lenses: SCT Orange, XTR-Uvex Skyper® Safety Eyewear-Vorpahl Fire and Safety - Specializing in Ergodyne Low Priced Hi Visibility Vests and Foul Weather Gear

Unless you have a LPM or get a member to LPM them first I wouldn't recommend these now. They need to be established as consistent with others getting the same result.
Really no un-certified goggles should truly be trusted unless your pair has been tested. This would also apply to eagle pair, o-like, dragon lasers, anything but OEM (or other known certified goggles).

Well, they are cheap enough that hopefully other members with LPM's will test them. I feel very comfortable using them in the fashion that I do, which is as protection for accidental exposure. I don't stare at the laser or dot on a light surface, I'm usually just shooting outside.

ts

I would also like to hear about these safety glasses. Currently looking at DragonLasers safety glasses but would rather wait and see where this goes.

It'll go where it always goes: uncertified glasses can't guarantee protection, which is what safety is about: guarantees. WHen I have time I plan to done some major testing myself.

Most of the glasses being used come from questionable Chinese laser storefronts that have no certification either, or forged certs and cost 4-5 times as much as these inexpensive, well documented glasses.

I've put a 1.25 mW survival laser through these things and even though the plastic started to melt, I couldnt get a reading on a laser bee a on the other side.

A 65mW green read 5mW on the other side and that may have been IR.

A 285+ mW showed 25mW on the other side...

They cost $8. Test some...

ts

A reduction from 285mW to 25mW is NOT good enough not by a long shot.


But hey, they're your eyes, blow up 'yer retinas if that's what makes you happy.

Sigurthr said:

A reduction from 285mW to 25mW is NOT good enough not by a long shot.


But hey, they're your eyes, blow up 'yer retinas if that's what makes you happy.

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That 25mW is very lickely just IR.

X FLY said:

That 25mW is very lickely just IR.

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Exactly, the specs are available on these glasses.

I am ordering ir filters to check that.

ts

What level of IR is damaging?

Glenn

GAtkins said:

What level of IR is damaging?

Glenn

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afaik IR by itself isn't any more damaging than lets say green meaning 5mW is considered as safe for accidental exposures of 0.25s or less but what makes it more dangerous than visible light is that its invisible so your eyes can't adjust to it properly (your pupils won't shrink) and ofcourse that you can't see it and won't know you are exposed to it before its too late

25mW of IR is just as damaging as 25mW of any visible wavelength (ignoring the higher absorbance of lower wavelengths by flesh).