Goggles?

I just bought my first laser that's above 5mw and in the first day of using it I have come to realize how stupid I would be not to buy a pair of goggles, because I like my eyes just how they are. I've seen a lot of people recommend the goggles on WickedLasers. com, but they've been sold out for a while. Will 590-650nm goggles still protect my eyes if my laser says that it's 660nm?

I made the error of posting in another thread that I might experiment with some Oakley sunglasses... lol, I got some nasty flak on that even though I did mention that I do have certified goggles. I was not suggesting someone rely on sunglasses there.... :

Anyways there are a few options. I've not seen much of anything good on the no-name Chinese made ones except a few members have given some praise on the ones from Dragon Lasers - iffy though as they are not certified that I am aware of. Most Chinese made goggles have not been praised.

Obviously you know what Wicked has. The only other 2 options I personally would suggest would be from OEM Laser Systems - one of the members here works there and they have nice certified goggles. The next option and where I got mine are from Laserglow - I have the sport goggles from them - excellent quality and certified but mine are not for reds. I think they do have them for reds though. The ones from Laserglow are actually made by Kentek who is big on medical laser products.

OEM Laser Systems is your best bet. The owner (?) of the site is on this forum, FrothyChimp. I'm sure he will be in this thread soon to explain why his are best for hobbyists and why you shouldn't buy from cheap sources and a whole lot more. Let me call him: FROOOOOOTHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

If you ask nice he might might even post a coupon code for the higher end models. I do reccomend the high end ones for the cool factor for sure. The basic ones are cheaper on price but you will look like a dork wearing them. ;D Albeit a safe dork.... hehe

Frothy's glasses are definitely legit, certified products. Buy them.

That said, I'm personally using some surplus BLPS goggles as protection, at the moment. Don't expect them to offer you the same kind of clear cut, trustworthy protection as Frothy's though.

Those all look like great goggles. But my biggest question is whether goggles with a range of 590-650nm will still protect my eyes against a 660nm laser?

^ i have the same question, there are a pair of dragonlaser goggles that protect against bluray and 590-650nm, would that be suffiecient for reds?
most reds are supposed to be 650nm unless i'm mistaken.

And i know that OEM's solutions are the best around, but please try to answer my question.

I'll answer yours but you answer mine. Why not buy a proper pair of goggles instead of going the cheapo route?



This visual chart might help you.

First it depends on what the mW of the laser is. Next it depends on the type of diode used a few reds go higher. Ask the maker what the nm of the laser is. Beyond that I wouldn't trust these companies when no real information is provided. Better than nothing I guess.

Ok let me make this more clear. I have a 660nm 200mw red laser. I'm wondering whether the wickedlasers. com goggles, which say they protect from 630-650nm, will protect me from a 660nm laser. These goggles look the best but I don't want to buy them if the extra 10nm that my laser operates at will make the goggles useless for me. I'm really trying not to go the cheap route and I've read that the wickedlasers goggles are good.

When you look at the oemlasersystems.com website for goggles->specifications, you see a transmission curve (actually the negative decadic logarithm of the transmission). The higher the line above the x-axis, the better the protection.

One of the best (and most expensive) models for hobbyists is the ML7. You can see from the curve that it blocks blurays at 405nm essentially completely (OD>6 i.e. reduction factor 1:1 Million), that it blocks DPSS green at 532nm (Peak reaching up to OD 3 = 1:1000), and that IR above 800nm is also very well blocked (1:10000). So, how about red? A 635nm orange-red is blocked by a factor of 30 or better (OD>1.5). These tend to be low-power, so it's ok. And your 300mW LPC-815 burner at 660nm (or possibly a bit more)? Well, it's just outside the range, you can expect a protection of about OD 1..1.5 for that one, so effectively the power is reduced to 10..30mW. Not good, but you have a real chance to blink and look away before you're getting permanent eye damage.

So, a statement like "these goggles will protect from 630-650nm" misses a vital information: what exactly does "protect" mean? What is the minimum optical density (OD) in that region? If it's 1.0, don't count on them to help you at 660nm. If it's 1.5, they may make a crucial difference, but aren't optimal. If it's 2.0, then they will most likely be good enough at 660nm (it depens on how steep the curve is, but generally the cheaper the goggles, the shallower the hills and valleys are going to be).

mackjr said:

Ok let me make this more clear.  I have a 660nm 200mw red laser.  I'm wondering whether the wickedlasers. com goggles, which say they protect from 630-650nm, will protect me from a 660nm laser.   These goggles look the best but I don't want to buy them if the extra 10nm that my laser operates at will make the goggles useless for me.  I'm really trying not to go the cheap route and I've read that the wickedlasers goggles are good.  

Click to expand...

Sorry I missed your sincerity about this. I noticed the other posters going on about the usual cheap junk goggles and ideas. OEMs are slightly more expensive but are the only ones proven to work. The price is around $55 to $75. OEM laser systems is the only company that sells FDA certified goggles to the public. What that means is proof they actually work. http://store.oemlasersystems.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8_10_18

Ask the main builders/experts on lasers here and ask them what goggles they recommend. I can tell you OEM is it.

FrothyChimp works for OEM and is the person you should ask. Just send him a PM, he responds pretty quick. Tell him about the laser you are you using and he'll direct you to a proper pair. Forum members get a discount so be sure to mention that. Nice to see someone new here for once that wants their eyesight to be safe!  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I agree that OEM Laser Systems is an excellent choice and they have a respected member here on the forums but they are not the only company that sells quality goggles. I do however prefer to support our forum members though. Aside from that Kentek Laser Safety Products has been around a long time as well and has an incredibly diverse (and somewhat overwhelming selection) of safety goggles. kenteklaserstore dot com - I think you would want to look under polymeric > alignment filters. An OD 1.5 on a particular wavelength I want to be protected from does not make me feel super secure. Just a personal preference though - I personally want OD 4 or higher. If the specifications for one you want cut off at 650nm and you need protection from 660nm, I would not trust it myself. There are many that cut off at 400 - so close to the typical 405 of bluray, but not close enough. As already mentioned though - you have to weigh several variables such as VLT. Ideally you want high VLT and high OD but things can gets expensive fast.... Like I mentioned earlier I got mine from Laserglow - the ones they sell are from kentek but a good bit less expensive. I'd call either OEM or one of the other places and see if they can reccomend something in your budget, style, and comfort level for safety.

I guess I missed this thread. Frankly guys, I don't really care if you buy from me or not. The point of my posts is simply when you purchase safety eye wear purchase certified eye wear. We provide two sets of glasses for hobbyists specifically. We wouldn't be doing that if it were not for me. I saw a need for certified eye wear and tried to provide it. We certainly are not filling the bank account on those two particular glasses that's for sure. It was done to help provide quality, certified eye wear to those who would otherwise do without due to price. Now Kentek is fine, Glendale is fine, we are fine, and there are others but the very point of all of this is the certified protection.

To answer the question about 660nm. If the glasses are protective to 650nm then they are not protective to 660nm. The problem is there is no response curve for those glasses so you cannot even be sure about what they protect against and since there is no third party certification you cannot be sure their statement about protection is accurate. That's the whole idea of certification.

Certified glasses are certified for specific wavelengths only. The curves may extend outside those certified areas but no responsible person will tell you they will protect you outside the certified wavelengths. Purchasing based on a hunch that it will protect is at your own risk.

Thank you all. The goggles that look best for me are the 630-650nm hobby goggles from OEM because according to the nice and helpful chart there's a more than 1od protection for 660nm

You guys have all been really helpful im glad to be a part of this forum.

How many of you people here are using goggles?
I am about to buy 100mW green laser, an I was wondering should I buy goggles......of course that I will not point it to my eye or somebody else's, but you never no, it can reflect of something shiny and hit my eye or somebody near.
What do you think, I see that all of you say that you have them , but are you using them when you are playing with your laser?

I know that risk is much bigger if you use laser in closed places (rooms, houses....), and that you are almost safe if you are outside.....

If you look at the types of lasers I have it's very dangerous to use them without goggles. The green will make you shield you eyes automatically. The others offer false security, they may not be bright but even having them on will effect the eye if you look at them.

I have a pair of goggles for reds that makes it safe, it's great because you can look closely at the dot and there are no worries about any mishaps 300mw laser too.

I've had to shelf my lasers two until my goggles get here as you need different types depending on the color (wavelength) of the laser.

You'll need goggles. I think the chance of a refection is dangerous or some kind of accident. You'd have to ask someone who has more experience for a detailed answer.

I was unaware of the other companies my mistake. They look to based more on medical supply however, and the cost is quite steep instersting product selection though.

In my opinion contact OEM or ask FrothyChimp he is a little intimidating when it comes to these kinds of posts but I think it's many because this has been coming up for years and get's old. I'm sick of them already and I've been here about a month and a half.