Looking at a 1-1.5 W 445

If I'm just shining the 445 on my walls real quick, even going fast, if I do it for even a few seconds there is a blue haze. Now, if I was only shining it for a few seconds, the blue haze goes away in a matter of seconds, but the fact that even after a few seconds of use I get it, tells me not to look at the dot from up close indoors or outdoors without glasses, or for any prolonged amount of time.

I was shining it on a tree in broad daylight and the dot didn't look as bright, but the blue haze still happened. And I'm not talking 2" in front of me, more like 4-6'.

Maybe my eyes just suck (or are super awesome) but I don't get any aversion to bright lights, nor do I get any "blue haze". It may be because my vision isn't good and my glasses do not fully correct for it (wouldn't be capable of focusing the light as well as normal).

Wolfman29 said:

Maybe my eyes just suck (or are super awesome) but I don't get any aversion to bright lights, nor do I get any "blue haze". It may be because my vision isn't good and my glasses do not fully correct for it (wouldn't be capable of focusing the light as well as normal).

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Glasses do give you some protection against blue light. Most safety glasses, and eye glasses I've tried block a huge amount of 405nm. I dont think it would be too much of a stretch that they may block some of 445nm too.

It's very faint wolfman, and apparently you are a superhuman who doesn't notice light intensities...

Well, my glasses are also a compromise between near and far distances (I can't see far distances perfectly nor can I see close distances perfectly because I wanted decent of both), so maybe that also contributes.

Just saying I can recognize when something is bright or not. You may want to have that checked out

I probably should

The thing is that for interior, it is very dangerous as often you are playing/horsing around to burn stuff....quite often dealing with unknown + differing surfaces. In a professional/lab setting, you are working under very controlled repeatable environments. You know, some laminates are quite reflective.

You can even get eye damage from a HID or a high powered LED with very high surface brightness if you stare at it long enough. The thing is also that it may not seem that bright with a small spot (with a focusable laser - i mean usually for indoors you are trying to burn things so you will focus it somewhat). Our eyes will focus it to be an even smaller spot.
445 and esp 405s don't seem that bright anyway but the energy is there, plus the blue light hazard thingy, your retinas are really taking a big risk. Perhaps with 1 small little hole in the retina you won't notice it immediately, but play with it long enough, by the time you noticed "hey, something's changed", its too late. Besides the damage does not manifest it immediately as in within seconds or minutes.

Wolfman29 said:

Looking at the dot and beam are FINE. The only dangerous thing is looking at the dot UP close, from a reflective surface, and directly.

If it is a diffuse reflection, looking at the dot is perfectly alright (provided you are within a reasonable distance for it to spread out), and looking at the beam has never injured anyone.

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"Far" distances are never safe as long as we are talking about indoors, unless you are shining it in the palace of the Sultan of Brunei or something (ie BIG BIG BIG). :san: With far distances of say 10-20m, you usually do not know what surface are you hitting. You can easily hit a small vertical slice of decorative grey tinted mirror while swinging across horizontally, and before you know it one of your eyes are gone. Every week we have 2 guys hitting the lottery here locally. Treat it as if it were a firearm, even you know its not loaded, every time you need to bring it out, you need to "check clear", never assume.

Play with this, you will know how dangerous stuff a 1W+ laser is. Take divergence to be 1.5 mRad. 1.3W, 3mm exit, 1.5mRad, NOHD distance is some 350m. That means you can literally blind someone at the other end of the block trying to hit a reflective traffic sign.....probably you can barely make that person out if he is standing still.
http://www.safelasers.org/tool_hazard.php

Looking at the beam is perfectly safe, but try to avoid looking at the dot from an unreasonably close distance for extended periods of time. Especially if it's bouncing off a glossy or light surface.

In addition to my earlier comments, i guess if you throw in people in the vicinity the variables become too many to control. Relflections may not hit ya but may hit others. So try not to use when someone else is in the room, however big your room might be.

Yeah, I got you. I have a decently sized home (two stories, like 2100 sq. ft.) and I shine it around in the dark at my ceiling at night all the time (when no one else is awake). My ceiling downstairs is the same height as the ceiling upstairs, so it's probably a good 8-10m away. But even at 2m, on a diffusing surface (I *always* check what I am pointing at), it should be perfectly safe, no?

2m, very diffused surface or if you are trying to pop a balloon and you mentioned you always shine around in the dark ie pupils dilated.....there is still a very minimal risk. (1) Some balloons have very smooth/almost shiny surfaces, you focus it to a small dot. 2-3m takes quite a number of seconds to pop for some colours like green, you might be trying to concentrate on the really focused laser spot. You know our field of vision is pretty narrow and the retina portion which is often used is really a very small spot. The damage is actually accumulative at that pretty small region on the retina, pop enough dark balloons at 0.5m to even 5m and it will happen one fine day. The keyword is always really focused spot with very high surface brightness, it may not seem to be that bright if you look at the amount of light falling on surfaces 2m away, but check it out with a small magnifying glass and focus the reflected laser light on a so-called diffused surface, that light can be refocused down to a very very small dot with very high brightness and it will fall on your retina.
In fact flashaholics would tell you not to stare at a XR-E R2 LED at 2m for long periods of time in a dark room. Pop enough balloons at 2-3m in the dark without glasses, and you might just get some visual damage.

Its usually safe most cases, but like i said in the firearms cases, why assume and take whatever 0.001% risk? Same goes for rear seatbelts in cars, the risk of death is still there even if one drives at only 50mph on a country road. (eg unexpected animal dashes across and you swerve). The point about safety glasses is to make it a habit, so that the screw-ups are covered. (ie new surface on a brand of black balloons which are far shinier and you are trying out for the first time @ 2m, but you thought that its same as the old brand)

I don't pop balloons, but that's just me

WOW~~
hmm , sorry , i notice you just want to look at the beam , i think it is OK , but it is still dangerous , take care !

Diffused light will cook your eyes , trust me mine are toast !!