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- Dec 10, 2013
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Hi all,
The "goofy goggle" review.
Another review hot off the press - I got these earlier this week and have done some non-destructive testing so here's my verdict.
They came in the above box, filled with those inflated green padding bags, and are offered with a free case (right). They took around a month to get here from the day I placed the order, which included time to produce the goggles as they apparently had to be custom cut for my order (I'm guessing style 60 isn't overly popular).
I bought them from cascadelaser.com which took a fair bit of searching - while many sites offer ARG goggles, not all offer them in style 60 and even fewer it seems actually let you buy the product without phoning (I didn't fancy steep international calling charges). Cost was $100 and an additional $51 for postage, then about that again in customs and clearance fees. Parcels sent to the UK via USPS are picked up by ParcelForce worldwide for anything larger than fat envelopes or small boxes, they then effectively hold your parcel to ransom until you pay them a release fee (on top of the customs fee) for the privilege. Still, $200 or so dollars lighter (~£130) they were finally in my grubby hands and seem to be worth every penny.
Anyway, this isn't a USPS review so off we pop.
I'll put the video review I did here first which outlines most of what I say here - but if you don't want to watch that just read down:
From what I can gather these are the same thing as "Lasershields" and the lenses appear to do their job very well.
Compared to an Eagle Pair, these are humongous. The lenses don't say much on them except for the wavelength covered, effectiveness level and their VLT. I believe they were custom cut for this frame on request which might be why they don't say more, such as ARG or give a certification spec. I'm confident they're not fake (or if they are, they're an exceedingly good fake) as their performance is stellar.
Not got an LPM, but I wouldn't destructively test these anyway - instead I did my usual test of shining the laser onto a bright surface and observing the image through them. When shined at a CD the goggles also cut the light out so incredibly well that you wouldn't even know the laser was hitting them. In comparison, my Eagle Pair "flash" and flicker when a laser hits them, granted it may be the IR blocking coating so in fairness not really a good comparison. Anyway, on with the pictures:
~100mW of 532 without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
~1600mW of 445 without goggle (left) and with goggle (right)
unknown power of 405 (beam visible fairly easily in dark room) without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
~80mW of 650 without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
unknown power of 593.5 (varies wildly and I don't have power graph) without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
Protection is not offered for the red or yellow wavelengths, but we expect that - I just show them for reference. According to the chart for ARG here, there is a very small amount (OD <0.5) of protection from about 570nm to 605nm, potentially making them safe to use with very low powered yellows (but we're talking already eye safe units here, realistically):
The light that is seen from the 405, 445 and 532nm lasers is fluorescence in the spectrum that is allowed to pass the goggles. No discernible amount of the actual laser light is passed. If the dots of the lasers resembled their actual colour I would be very concerned!
One thing to bear in mind, is these DO NOT protect against IR emissions from DPSS lasers. Even IR filtered DPSSLs may still emit small amounts of IR, some of mine certainly have a visible red glow at the aperture (no, I did not stare into the laser) and I know for a fact that one of my greens emits a dangerous amount of IR, so BE CAREFUL when using such goggles with DPSSLs that are known to leak IR. The lack of IR filtering is one of the reasons these have such a good VLT with such strong filtering, the assumption most likely being a person wearing lab grade goggles is using lab grade lasers which aren't un filtered hunks of crap :na:
All in all I feel these are fully worth what I paid, although I know they can be had for slightly cheaper. They fit around the face for maximum safety and although they aren't the most comfortable thing I've ever worn, the peace of mind is a nice thing to have. NOTE: the flashes you see in the video at the edges of the goggle are the laser light reflecting from the edges of the goggle where the polycarbonate meets the frame. Laser light is NOT entering the eye area.
:thanks:
The "goofy goggle" review.
Another review hot off the press - I got these earlier this week and have done some non-destructive testing so here's my verdict.
They came in the above box, filled with those inflated green padding bags, and are offered with a free case (right). They took around a month to get here from the day I placed the order, which included time to produce the goggles as they apparently had to be custom cut for my order (I'm guessing style 60 isn't overly popular).
I bought them from cascadelaser.com which took a fair bit of searching - while many sites offer ARG goggles, not all offer them in style 60 and even fewer it seems actually let you buy the product without phoning (I didn't fancy steep international calling charges). Cost was $100 and an additional $51 for postage, then about that again in customs and clearance fees. Parcels sent to the UK via USPS are picked up by ParcelForce worldwide for anything larger than fat envelopes or small boxes, they then effectively hold your parcel to ransom until you pay them a release fee (on top of the customs fee) for the privilege. Still, $200 or so dollars lighter (~£130) they were finally in my grubby hands and seem to be worth every penny.
Anyway, this isn't a USPS review so off we pop.
I'll put the video review I did here first which outlines most of what I say here - but if you don't want to watch that just read down:
From what I can gather these are the same thing as "Lasershields" and the lenses appear to do their job very well.
Compared to an Eagle Pair, these are humongous. The lenses don't say much on them except for the wavelength covered, effectiveness level and their VLT. I believe they were custom cut for this frame on request which might be why they don't say more, such as ARG or give a certification spec. I'm confident they're not fake (or if they are, they're an exceedingly good fake) as their performance is stellar.
Not got an LPM, but I wouldn't destructively test these anyway - instead I did my usual test of shining the laser onto a bright surface and observing the image through them. When shined at a CD the goggles also cut the light out so incredibly well that you wouldn't even know the laser was hitting them. In comparison, my Eagle Pair "flash" and flicker when a laser hits them, granted it may be the IR blocking coating so in fairness not really a good comparison. Anyway, on with the pictures:
~100mW of 532 without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
~1600mW of 445 without goggle (left) and with goggle (right)
unknown power of 405 (beam visible fairly easily in dark room) without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
~80mW of 650 without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
unknown power of 593.5 (varies wildly and I don't have power graph) without goggle (left) with goggle (right)
Protection is not offered for the red or yellow wavelengths, but we expect that - I just show them for reference. According to the chart for ARG here, there is a very small amount (OD <0.5) of protection from about 570nm to 605nm, potentially making them safe to use with very low powered yellows (but we're talking already eye safe units here, realistically):
The light that is seen from the 405, 445 and 532nm lasers is fluorescence in the spectrum that is allowed to pass the goggles. No discernible amount of the actual laser light is passed. If the dots of the lasers resembled their actual colour I would be very concerned!
One thing to bear in mind, is these DO NOT protect against IR emissions from DPSS lasers. Even IR filtered DPSSLs may still emit small amounts of IR, some of mine certainly have a visible red glow at the aperture (no, I did not stare into the laser) and I know for a fact that one of my greens emits a dangerous amount of IR, so BE CAREFUL when using such goggles with DPSSLs that are known to leak IR. The lack of IR filtering is one of the reasons these have such a good VLT with such strong filtering, the assumption most likely being a person wearing lab grade goggles is using lab grade lasers which aren't un filtered hunks of crap :na:
All in all I feel these are fully worth what I paid, although I know they can be had for slightly cheaper. They fit around the face for maximum safety and although they aren't the most comfortable thing I've ever worn, the peace of mind is a nice thing to have. NOTE: the flashes you see in the video at the edges of the goggle are the laser light reflecting from the edges of the goggle where the polycarbonate meets the frame. Laser light is NOT entering the eye area.
:thanks:
Last edited:
