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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Fake or real Max output power?

Joined
Jul 28, 2013
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Hello, I've recently bought a laser in Egypt.
It costed around 10 bucks, pretty cheap, eh?

Well, It's basically a green powerful laser which on the laser itself says Max output power <200 mW
On the other side, in the box it's written that the max output power is <5 mW

I wanted to know how powerful is this laser actually is? Is there a way to test?

I am asking this because I reflected the green laser on an object almost same as a mirror and striked my eyes and hurt it for a few seconds, I don't see black dots or any blurr stuff like people usually say about a 200 mw laser hitting their eyes.
I am just abit paranoid and I think I see blurry stuff but I actually don't................Is anyone actually able to help me regarding this?

Thanks in advance.



Edit: I went to test it in several ways, first I tested it in the middle of the sky and the laser line was partially visible without hitting any obstacles, and could hit building pretty far away.
I tested it on a tissue and a piece of trash can bags, it didn't ignite nor heat it abit.
 
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Joined
May 14, 2013
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The only way to test it for sure is with a laser power meter and they are expensive but if it was only $10 then it isn't anywhere near 200mw but be careful even low power green lasers are incredibly bright.
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2013
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The only way to test it for sure is with a laser power meter and they are expensive but if it was only $10 then it isn't anywhere near 200mw but be careful even low power green lasers are incredibly bright.

Thanks for your fast reply.

Is there anyway I can test it naturally without the need of any devices?
 
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Jul 8, 2012
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Actually, often cheap lasers are overspec. They have a tendency to overdrive the cheap lasers to higher than they should be at so it could very well be 30mW up to sometimes as high as 80mW. The only way to actually test it is with a meter. Any other method would give you such a rough guess there wouldn't be any point to it.

If you live in the US I could meter the laser for you NP.

As for hitting yourself in the eyes well, I wouldn't suggest that with any output laser for any length of time. Headaches are usually a good indicator of over exposure to laser radiation such as looking at them for too long on a wall nearby. If you get hit in the eye with any laser and you are worried that there may have been damage the best possible thing you could do is to to an ophthalmologist.
 




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