Long Range Lasers

hakzaw1- "I fail to understand why you think a useful star pointing laser needs to be under 5mW." I never mentioned anything about this. All laser pointers are useful in some way or another, the reason I am selling the <5mW is the fact that they are less dangerous. Lasers that emit between 5mW and 500mW output power are in Class IIIb or IEC Class 3B. Class IIIb lasers cannot legally be promoted as laser pointers or demonstration laser products. Product labels and user instructions must describe the hazard classification of the product and its output characteristics. With any laser product, the potential for injury depends both on the product itself and how the product is used. Higher powered Class IIIb or IEC Class 3B lasers are dangerous and can cause either temporary visual effects or an eye injury. Class IIIb products must also have a key switch and connector for remote interlock. The products are also required to have identifying and certifying labels and instructions for safe use. It gets expensive to add all the extras. I am providing a cheap reliable laser pointer. I am not here to insult anybody's intelligence, but I call people out when it is necessary. Lol thanks for the Rep points bro... Also still can't figure out how to delete the other post, I haven't double posted since so no worries. I have tested a few of the lasers and they run continuously for a little over a half hour. There is no laser out there that should be shined at any manned aircraft, no matter the output. A 5mW can easily blind pilots I understand that. My father is a pilot so nobody understands this better than myself.

Loving the rep points lol,
Long Range Lasers

cited- Important Information for Laser Pointer Manufacturers

Again, the edit button is your friend. Even if you make a second post on accident, you can copy, delete post, then paste while editing your prior post. The point is you don't even know what power lasers you are selling and the pointers you are selling are all over the internet. Most are much less than your target market. You might just want to refrain from posting on this site and sell on -bay. Also, most of your questions could be answered by a 5 second Google search, not to mention the LPF search function...
-Shane

HitShane said:

The point is you don't even know what power lasers you are selling and the pointers you are selling are all over the internet.

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Given that those types of NewWish-style lasers nearly all are over spec, and he's just taking his Chinese manufacturers at their word, the claim that these lasers he's selling are Class 3a is about as credible as any laser site.

But of course there's the "hand testing" which means... what? Pushing the button to see if it turns on? That's a meaningless test.

This whole site is a joke until some meaningful data and testing is performed. It shouldn't even be up at this point with this kind of false information being pushed.

I fail to understand why you think a useful star pointing laser needs to be under 5mW.
Even a 5mW is a federal offence to intentionally lase any aircraft- which I have no doubt that the astronomy geeks know all about & have no intention to do that.

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As an astronomy nut, I will answer that one, as the OP seems not capable doing that. There are off course the 5mW FDA rules, but these apply only to USA people. Main reason all others also use max 5mW green lasers has to do with night vision and dark adaptation of the eye. Pupillary dilation is a 3 phase process, of witch only the first phase takes about 20 minutes. Fully dark adaptation takes up to about 2 hours.

Long story short, if your laser is >5mW green, even looking along the beam will destroy the slowly built up night vision in milliseconds. You must know, the astro-nut that is serious with the hobby often drives off to remote places far away from artificial light sources. Most astro geeks, under such conditions, would say that a 5mW green is on the bright side. On a true dark sky location, one would prefer 2-3mW at most. Simple rule of fist is that when you can perceive the color of the beam, it is too bright and thus ruining your night vision.

The further you allow your eyes to adapt to darkness, the more you will see in the dark, hence trough the telescope. Galaxies or nebulae that look like dim faint smudges to the unadapted eye are wonderfully extended and detailed sky objects to the fully adapted eye under dark sky conditions. Also, you may now understand why using a 50mW green laser for star pointing is totally insane. A 50mw green will hurt to the adapted eye when looking ALONG the beam.

As to your other question :

when used for star pointing, about how long are these laser kept running?

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The laser is mounted on the telescope by a bracket. The bracket allows the operator to align the laser with the telescope's field of view by setting screws, so that when you move the scope with the laser on, you can direct it to the desired part of the sky. The end of the beam is where your telescope is pointed at. You can fine-tune this operation by using a binocular with one hand and manipulate the telescope with the other hand. Once the laser is on the exact spot in the sky, e.g. an area with a nebula within, the nebula will also be visible through the eyepiece. Then you turn the laser off. Experienced users well known with the sky typically have their laser on for about 10-15 seconds. After that there is the time of observing the target (several minutes up to...), and after that the procedure starts again to find a new target.

Originally Posted by HitShane View Post
The point is you don't even know what power lasers you are selling and the pointers you are selling are all over the internet.

Click to expand...

Given that those types of NewWish-style lasers nearly all are over spec, and he's just taking his Chinese manufacturers at their word, the claim that these lasers he's selling are Class 3a is about as credible as any laser site.

But of course there's the "hand testing" which means... what? Pushing the button to see if it turns on? That's a meaningless test.

This whole site is a joke until some meaningful data and testing is performed. It shouldn't even be up at this point with this kind of false information being pushed.

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I understand what you are saying. There should be a guarantee that his products are indeed max 5mW if he wants to walk the astronomy market (see my above post). I'm not sure if that involves a testing certificate. Big players on the astronomy laser market like Celestron, Meade and Z-Bolt do not offer their lasers with a testing certificate either. All they do is state that theirs are 1-5mW. Must say I've never seen one OVER 5mW. Seen LOTS that are actually under 5mW. But hey, that's a strange thing : in astronomy, less laser is actually more (see also above).

Is that worth $20? I don't know. After all, it's not up to him to decide if his business is here to stay. It's the customer. Over here, we say that "the price is what the fool wants to pay for it"

i withdraw my comments because beer turned me trollways.
still dont think country of origin should cause sneering at untested kit.

still don't think country of origin should cause sneering at untested kit

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In a way I'm with you. In another way I understand Bionic Badger, HitShane and others in their statement that at least some quality control wouldn't hurt the market. Lasers are dangerous items in the hands of the not so well educated ones.

beer turned me trollways

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In that case, better stay away from Belgian beer! ;-) Anyway, that's what weekends are for.

drspastic said:

i withdraw my comments because beer turned me trollways.
still dont think country of origin should cause sneering at untested kit.

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My statements should be taken in context with the particular laser he's selling: an ordinary NewWish-style laser pointer from some unknown supplier out of China. If he were selling some lasers sourced by CNI or Lasever, or some other known, reputable company, maybe I'd take those manufacturers at their word.

Oh sure, maybe the OP has found some supplier out of China that provides green laser modules in tight tolerances... and for some reason happens to package them in the most ordinary, mass-produced green laser pointer host in existence. However, I'm skeptical. I'm thinking that they're going to be like every other $5 green "5mW" laser pointer out on eBay -- and the OP has done nothing to prove otherwise.

Taking these suppliers at their word is naive at best. Many suppliers are there just to make a quick buck supplying whatever they can find. I've had identically spec'ed modules from the same supplier -- from the same order -- have different PCB designs and components. For most intents and purposes most of these suppliers don't need to be concerned with such things as regulating output down to 5mW because most customers simply don't care. Regulating to 5mW and below is a special case, one that I'm skeptical those suppliers will even take time to ensure for all modules.

The final problem is that, even if the supplier comes through, there's no outside verification that the supplier's claims are true. No meter, no testing (that "hand testing" is a complete joke), no info on the method used to regulate output (feedback? plain ol' pot mod?), etc.

So what is the end result? A website selling overpriced green laser pointer via eBay ads with a lot of unverified marketing babble. If I'm going to drop $20, I'd rather put that towards some well known company's product, or one with testing data, or hell, even a site that is selling a laser in a better pointer host.

i thought this thread would have died by now but i keep getting it in my news feed!!!!

you know we can't let him off so easy. he should be glad that TJ is no longer around- then he would know what real trolling was like..

yeah i know but still

Regulating to 5mW and below is a special case, one that I'm skeptical those suppliers will even take time to ensure for all modules.

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They don't. There's just a raw 'best of the bunch' division in >5mW and <5mW at the modules manufacturer. I think those <5mW are reserved for the astronomy market. Those >5mW go anywhere else. And yes these over 5mW can also be used for star pointing (as you can also use a 3W 445 nm for that) but there is little use in that for the serious astro nut for the obvious reason I posted before. Every seriously meaning astro nut that orders an El Cheapo greenie off the Bay and find it is overspecked will quickly decide not to use it any more -or use it for other puposes. And off course, the ultimate decision will be not to order at that supplier again.

SELEM 2011 Casey Stack laser safety class- i got one for asking a good question- its a true 5mW all my LPMs confirm 4.99mW
these are the best you can buy and run more than $100


BTW- An old trucker told me this- to keep your night vision from getting ruined by a bright light just close one eye- after the light is gone you will still be close to where you were.

I sold a portable voting 'booth' to an stargazer group- they keep their laptop on it as the sides & front keep the monitor from the eyes of those in front or beside- has place to plug into mains and two for power.
25$ Folds up into a suitcase looking container..