Pointer to operate under freezing conditions

Hey.
My dog really likes to chase the red dot, but all the cheap lasers I bought for 3$ can't operate more than a few minutes outdoors. I did a little research, and I assume it's because it's often fairly cold here. So, a couple of questions:

1. Are there pointers I can buy that will be stable, say, under -15C ? I read that red ones has the lowest working temperatures, but the best I could find was -5C.
2. If not, will a better quality laser last longer in the cold than its cheap chinese counterpart of the same type/wavelength/power?

Any general words of wisdom or "buy this dummy" are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

For low temperature operation, you want to stay away from 532nm green pointers. The crystals used to make the green light are temperature sensitive.

Your cheap drugstore type laser pointers just use a laser diode directly. The diode will work well into subzero temperatures but the problem is most battery chemistry will be affected by low temperatures.

My suggestion: stay away from anything that uses button batteries. The tiny cells are strained as they are running the laser normally, when it gets cold they can't produce enough current.

A basic 5mW red pointer that runs on 2x AA or larger batteries should still work pretty well at 0F.

So it's more of a problem with batteries than the laser machinery itself? Interesting.
I did try 2xAA red laser once (didn't work, was very dimm) but may be it was my luck and the pointer itself was broken.
Thanks, I'm going to try that as soon as I get my hands on another one.

if you want a red pointer you should buy one from laserbtb they sell some cheap ones that should work decent in colder enivronments, those on ebay are garbage usually.

Basically anything using a direct diode and decent batteries should be able to handle it fine. I'd stick with low power red though to avoid giving the dog eye damage.

Thanks for explanation guys and/or girls.
I end up ordering a couple of low power red pointers from laserbtb, hope it'll help.

H2R said:

Thanks for explanation guys and/or girls.
I end up ordering a couple of low power red pointers from laserbtb, hope it'll help.

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as a fun experiment see if you can notice a color shift between using them indoors and using them outdoors. they will become more orange as they get colder.

Use a laser that takes lithium batteries(CR123A, or lithium AA/AAA) and you should be good down to -20 or so.

These days any $3 red pointer will be plkenty bright- your eyes need brighter but your dog does NOT- Keeping the power down makes for less danger fore your best friend.


One important question tho... I hope your dog is NOT one of those ( not a high % at all)
That becomes obsessed with the dot- its not an easy thing to un-do -- for some its impossible- early signs are seeing the dog go after any bight lights- reflections etc- IF not your pooch is fine with 'chase tjhe dot'
Hope you are also doing walks on leash-

just see what Ceasar Milan has to say about both--

BTW afaik cats do not get obsessive about laserdot.

my green pens refuse to lase when very cold- warmed in armpit works-oor a chemical hand warmer works for hours...

Those reds IIRC can run non stop til the batteries are dead w/o harm if not-- $3
is not much-

do NOT use any 405 with pets-OR kids--- worst one of all..

hak

hakzaw1 said:

One important question tho... I hope your dog is NOT one of those ( not a high % at all)
That becomes obsessed with the dot- its not an easy thing to un-do -- for some its impossible- early signs are seeing the dog go after any bight lights- reflections etc- IF not your pooch is fine with 'chase tjhe dot'
Hope you are also doing walks on leash-

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Yeah, I know the type. I was a little worried about that but his behavior haven't changed, so I think we're alright.
My dog is a hound and needs a lot of physical activity, laser pointer is like the only thing that can wear him down for a bit.

hakzaw1 said:

BTW afaik cats do not get obsessive about laserdot.

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I think it's a character thing. I had a cat who was pretty obsessed and wouldn't do anything but wait and look for a dot, so we had to stop.

Rifter said:

Use a laser that takes lithium batteries(CR123A, or lithium AA/AAA) and you should be good down to -20 or so.

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Will do, thanks.

yeah your pooch looks to NOT be THAT type
My neighbor got a green pointer from me- he has 7 dogs- all but one is a dachhound
(another hunting breed)
the alpha dog ( mom or aunt to the others) is def in charge and is thwe only one there that is not spot obsessed- this happend AFAIK the very fiirst time 'Bubb;es' saw a laser and it has been 3 years now with NO lasers and she still is constsntly looking for the dot- ANY shiny refelctilon sets here off and jsut me being 'assocaiated' with lasers (in her mind)she begins the 'hunt' when I come to visit and will not stop hunting until I am gone or even the NEXT day--

But she is extremely obsesses also with her owner who must even allow he into the bathroom when he showers etc- she goes EVERYDAY with Tom to work ( he owns two ice cream trucks) on a few occcasions poeple have come into stores looking for Tom as his dog goes nuts being left in the car ETC
once someone called the police

ATM I do not think any fix will work partially because the owner does not want to admit/believe her obsessions- dont know what Tom will do should he ever go into the hospital or some other thing that keeps Bubbles away from him-- she sleeps in thier bed and I thinnk the reason none of the others go for the laserdot is because she 'told' them its all hers. (alpha female)

Something I saw also with a frisbee dog and another dog in the same houshold- once Neal was gone (after 2+ years together) the other dog THEN became a frisbee dog big time she was just waiting for Neal to go. In fact she was many times better at frisbee than Neal ever was after a very short time..
Once the frisbee landed on the roof- a ladder was already leaning against the house-- when we came back outside she had the frisbee---WTW??
so we had to throw it back up there to see her slowly climb that ladder ---however coming back down was more like crash and burn...lol that however never stopped her from getting her frisbee back we saw her climb trees to get it and also would climb most trees if there was a squirrel up there or EVEN if we just told here there was a squirrel in the tree-

I miss my dog--sad :-(