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Birthday - Laserpointer

TrudleR

TrudleR

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Hello Community,

my birthday is coming, and I tell my mother that i want to have a laserpointer. But it can not be too expensive.

I want a colour whitch is good visible in the night (Not Green/Red -> I always got the red Dilda and the green laserpen).

Can you give me a "list", whitch colour is the best to whitch is the badest?
Or du you know anything good-night-visible/cheap laserpointer?

I'm sorry for my bad english, I'm looking forward that it would be better about the time.

Greez
Trudler
 





Trevor

Trevor

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Milliwatt for milliwatt, green is going to be easiest to see. Our eyes see in the neighborhood of 555nm the best, and a green pointer lands at 532nm.

But since you don't want green, I'm not sure what to tell you. Red and violet are also in the most affordable category, but they're only a tiny percentage as visible as green. A 594.3nm yellow (still fairly visible, but less than green) is *very* expensive, as is 473nm blue. Those are both hundreds (or more) of US dollars.

Are the lasers you own 5mW or below? If not, is the person buying this 'gift' (mother) aware of the dangers related to lasers?

-Trevor
 
laserlands

laserlands

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true blue laser is very expensive. you may not like to spend so much money on it. i suggest violet/blue too. but it less visible than green one. so a over 50mw violet may be a choice for you. there are sliver adjustable laser pointer pens available
 
Chicxulub

Chicxulub

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For nighttime use, 473 blue is your best bet for visibility, especially if you don't want green. Scotopic vision ("night" vision) has it's peak sensitivity at 505 nm, which puts 473nm blue 32nm away from the peak, and 532 green just 27nm away from the peak. In other words, at night, mw for mw, blue and green tend to be fairly close in visible output.

The only real concern you may have because you're asking your mom for this laser is the cost. A half decent 473nm blue will cost you at a minimum $300.

I would recommend for someone in your situation to go with 405nm violet. A violet is rather dramatically visible at night, the dot will change colors when it's shined on a fluorescent surface, it will charge glow in the dark items, it will light up the while room with a blacklight effect and has just about the most visible beam, mw for mw, of any wavelength. Best of all, you can get one of these with a decent output for about $30.

So, in conclusion, in your shoes, I would go with 405nm violet. It may not be the most visible wavelength at night, but it does have many charms and will be brighter than you expect, and has the very, very useful aspect of being an order of magnitude cheaper than 473nm blue.


edit- if you just want just a laser pointer, 15 or so mw will be fine. My 15mw violet has a visible beam, lights up a whole room, can pop balloons with a lens, and when you're looking at it with night-adapted eyes, it's not as visible as a 5mw green, but it's comparable. When you're looking at it with light-adapted eyes though, the 405nm violet is very, very dim when compared to 5mw green.
 
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E

ElektroFreak

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If cost is not an issue, a yellow 593.5 or 589nm laser pointer would give max visibility. 473nm isn't bad, but yellow is closer to the peak human vision sensitivity at 555nm.
 
TrudleR

TrudleR

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Yellow would be nice...

A Blue Laser i bought yesterday :D (from Laserlands :p) 5mw, but in YouTube, you see the Trick who makes "5mw to 100mw", by turning the screw on the driver (I know this feature before, but it can damage the Laser(diod?)).

A yellow Laser pointer is difficult to find, I will now search the forum, but when you know one cheap/good I would be glad (only criterion: must be good visible at night) :p

@twhite828: No, my 2 other Lasers are both "200mW" titled, practical it is less.

Greez and thanks for the fast answers!!
Trudler
 
Chicxulub

Chicxulub

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ElektroFreak said:
If cost is not an issue, a yellow 593.5 or 589nm laser pointer would give max visibility. 473nm isn't bad, but yellow is closer to the peak human vision sensitivity at 555nm.
Click to expand...

He specifically asked about visibility at night. Photopic vision is 555nm yes, but scotopic is 505nm. 473nm is considerably more visible under scotopic conditions than ~590nm and ~590nm is considerably more visible under photopic conditions.

TrudleR said:
Yellow would be nice...

A Blue Laser i bought yesterday :D (from Laserlands :p) 5mw, but in YouTube, you see the Trick who makes "5mw to 100mw", by turning the screw on the driver (I know this feature before, but it can damage the Laser(diod?)).
Click to expand...

Don't pot mod a blue laser. You've got about a 98% chance of cooking the driver or the diode or the crystals and ruining your laser. If you do that, you'll have yourself a $300 paperweight, and it'll suck at that too because they're not very heavy.

All of that is assuming of course you can actually get the module out of the host. Odds are very good that in attempting to remove the module, you're going to destroy the host and probably damage or destroy the driver.

Please, don't risk destroying your laser.
 
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Nefarious

Nefarious

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quadcam said:
Don't pot mod a blue laser. You've got about a 98% chance of cooking the driver or the diode or the crystals and ruining your laser. If you do that, you'll have yourself a $300 paperweight, and it'll suck at that too because they're not very heavy.

All of that is assuming of course you can actually get the module out of the host. Odds are very good that in attempting to remove the module, you're going to destroy the host and probably damage or destroy the driver.

Please, don't risk destroying your laser.
Click to expand...

I believe he's referring to a 405nm laser ;) not 473nm
 
D

Deleted member 8382

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You didn't buy a blue laser. You bought a violet laser, and it's not going to be any visible in the night. It can be pot moded but I don't know until what level.

If you wanted night visibility I ensure you a 5mW violet laser is the worst election you could have made.
 
Flaminpyro

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I would go for a YELLOW they are the coolest ! and there are less of them than any other color so that puts you in The Special YELLOW club right there !

@ Nefarious That avatar is just not right ! If you are trying to make me sick it worked ! LOL please go back to the cat ! he is very cool ! :tinfoil: meow......


Nefarious said:
I believe he's referring to a 405nm laser ;) not 473nm
Click to expand...
 
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Nefarious

Nefarious

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Flaminpyro said:
I would go for a YELLOW they are the coolest ! and there are less of them than any other color so that puts you in The Special YELLOW club right there !

@ Nefarious That avatar is just not right ! If you are trying to make me sick it worked ! LOL please go back to the cat ! he is very cool ! :tinfoil: meow......
Click to expand...

What you don't like Gary Bucey? LOL! I was gonna go back to the cat anyway :na:
 
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