Anyone Lose a Laser And Feels Bad For The Person Who Finds It?

About a month ago I lost my 500mw green laser with the battery in it fully charged somewhere in the big city, most likely on the road.
It sucked for one because it wasn't cheap and none the less I'm now without a cool toy.

But as I got to thinking I thought to myself what if someone found it? It has no warning labels on it and a obvious big green button on the back to activate it.
A "normal" person would have zero clue what was about to happen when they pressed that green button.
I can only imagine how badly they torched their own eyes or someone elses upon igniting it.

Anyone else have a similar instance happen to them or thought about it?

That hasn't happen to me, but I'd probably feel even worse for anyone else that may be subjected to some idiot with a high-powered laser. Let's hope it went to a good home, and by good, I mean someone who appreciates what he found and what it can do.

I lost two loc builds over the past couple of years unfortunately. One was without a battery, but the other one was with battery, and so working. My sincere hope is that it was damaged to the point where it no longer worked, or that it was not found (it was very small) . If it was, the battery was run at least a bit run down.

I think in general people are smart enough not to point a laser into their own eyes, but I am really disturbed by the number of people who first thing they do upon seeing a laser, is shine it at someone's head.

This is a good topic, and a fear I had once when I lost a 445 1W+ pen
in the car. It slipped out of my pocket, but had no idea where. Prior to finding
it, all I could think of was some poor kid finding it, and losing his eyesight in turn.

For those who tend to 'lose' things, I would recommend that you carry it
with the battery in your other pocket. An incident where somebody receives
severe eye damage, would be equal to an idiot shining at a plane or person.

Both can push toward a ban of such items, and all it will take is a widely reported
incident where a kid suffers from 'responsible hobbyist's' neglect..

If lost there is nothing that can be done, as they are not lost with goggles,im sure.

madmacmo said:

Hey a simple cost effective means to avoid such anxiety in the future should this unfortunate event occur again is to obtain an inexpensive laser warning label from NickD070
He has other styles to choose from, as well as providing full custom design services.

Click to expand...

I like mine to have a clean look. I took the warning label off it actually. Again though a normal person might just not look into it. Bounce back on a wall or off a shiny object could still do serious damage to them or others. No matter how scary of a label you put on it. That just makes it more alluring to play with.

JLSE said:

This is a good topic, and a fear I had once when I lost a 445 1W+ pen
in the car. It slipped out of my pocket, but had no idea where. Prior to finding
it, all I could think of was some poor kid finding it, and losing his eyesight in turn.

For those who tend to 'lose' things, I would recommend that you carry it
with the battery in your other pocket. An incident where somebody receives
severe eye damage, would be equal to an idiot shining at a plane or person.

Both can push toward a ban of such items, and all it will take is a widely reported
incident where a kid suffers from 'responsible hobbyist's' neglect..

Click to expand...

I would highly suggest no one put a loose battery in their pocket do to the horror stories I've heard of them making small fires do to coin/key/etc contact in pockets.

InfinitusEquitas said:

I lost two loc builds over the past couple of years unfortunately. One was without a battery, but the other one was with battery, and so working. My sincere hope is that it was damaged to the point where it no longer worked, or that it was not found (it was very small) . If it was, the battery was run at least a bit run down.

I think in general people are smart enough not to point a laser into their own eyes, but I am really disturbed by the number of people who first thing they do upon seeing a laser, is shine it at someone's head.

Click to expand...

I think a lot of people here are accustomed to "laser common sense" but how many people are going to know what a big laser looks like? It could be a flash light or really anything. They most likely have zero clue how powerful it is even if they knew it was a laser.
I've had many times where I've been screwing around with my laser on top of a parking garage or on the beach and someone goes "let me try." Last time I let someone try after explaining a bit about laser safety they shined it at a palm leaf almost right away by accident and caught a nasty reflection. Face Palm moment right there.

Digital said:

I would highly suggest no one put a loose battery in their pocket do to the horror stories I've heard of them making small fires do to coin/key/etc contact in pockets.

Click to expand...

Yes, how inconvenient

All my pointers are relatively low power, if I ever got 445 or other high powered one I think I would get it engraved with a warning about how dangerous it is. It would probably make it look more impressive that way too

But for 500mw Green, you should have a key lock at the back of the laser? I think most of them have a lock at the back?

Well, it depends on what kind you buy. Many don't have that keylock feature.

I remember attaching the "dongle" for one of my lasers to my watch, so that if it got disconnected or lost it could not turn on.

Bionic-Badger said:

Well, it depends on what kind you buy. Many don't have that keylock feature.

I remember attaching the "dongle" for one of my lasers to my watch, so that if it got disconnected or lost it could not turn on.

Click to expand...

Dongle? like a ... bluetooh thing?

I am working with someone and try to get a mould that can flash and at the same time adjust brightness. Hope it will turn out good.

The biggest problem that I can see with someone finding a "lost" laser is that when they discover it is a laser, presuming it isn't done so with harm, that they won't appreciate how dangerous it is because the power is unknown.
Consider an example of finding a 1W 445 after it has been sitting in the elements for a couple of weeks. The battery could be run down quite a bit and the output may only be just enough to produce a beam. So they play with it a bit and learn a little bit about how strong it is before it stops working.
Then they figure out how to recharge it or they replace the batteries with new fully charged ones !
Suddenly they are holding a near weapons grade device with the false "knowledge" of how strong it is and what it is capable of doing.

That is the most dangerous situation I worry about.
A classic example of : " Having a little knowledge being a very dangerous thing."
Perhaps an idea to always mark your home builds with the power ratings, even if written inside the unit where the batteries go or something like that.
Outer safety "laser" warnings are always a good idea. (and legally required in most countries)
Why not add a key-tag sort of label on a small chain to your polished and super clean looking unit. Would give a place to mark the rating, include safety label and maybe even an online contact address if you lose it.
Throw batteries in a small plastic case that it clips to and you have it all easy to carry in one place in a safe and RESPONSIBLE manner.
:thinking:

I expect a person who fires up one of those lasers will note just how bright the dot is, except maybe one of those 405nm lasers--though they can get pretty bright at higher powers. Then of course with people thinking about burning lasers the person might try putting his hand in front and feel the burn. That might "help" with the appreciation.

The laser class stickers probably won't do much for people. Virtually all laser pointers have them anyway, so they'll just get ignored like a EULA for a game.

madmacmo said:

[Credit to NickD070 for artwork and layout design]

Click to expand...

It's a nice design, but it's been my experience with kids, and idiots that telling them NOT to do something is often the best way to actually get them to do it. :undecided:

How can someone lose a laser ?

I cherrish them as if they were my kids

sm.

knocks on wood: hope it never happens to me!

Its something that can happen to anyone, you could even simply lose luggage with the laser inside and it could end up on a dump pile where someone innocent may pick it up.

I suppose it would be best to remove the batteries from powerful lasers whenever you carry them around and not using them. That way, if they fall out of your pocket or something, someone can't just pick it up, look down the barrel and press the button.

If you laser is powered by lithium ion cells (18650s or something) its not very likely some random person would have a suitable battery at hand to give it a go either.

One problem is that people are more stupid that you would think. Many people will power on a flashlight pointing it straight at their face to see if it works. This wasn't really that dangerous until the multiwatt led flashlights came a long, but with a laser its certainly a very bad idea.

I doubt warning stickers will deter many people either... everything comes them, up to the point stating a butchers knive is sharp and should not be used to clip your toenails.