Hola from Sunny Northern California! New member here. Glad to find this forum. Zero laser knowledge. In need of advice.

[nobuzzkill]

As stated in tagline, I've really no technical knowledge about lasers and down to learn. But first I need to procure a laser unit/setup to use for a specific task. After that, I can take the time to dive in, learn, tinker and play.
***For skill /technical level reference and perspective: I consider myself somewhat handy/ know my way around a hardware store. I can figure out how to fix most anything or at least feel confident attempting to. For the past 30 years I've worked retail display, set design. fabrication and related. So at some point I've had to dabble in all sorts of material or randomness. I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated workshop space at home with a respectable assortment of tools. A fair description would be "Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

A few weeks ago I purchased a Blue 5w handheld burning laser pointer (ODIN) online from BigLasers.com. BigMistake.com would be more appropriate. Long story short: laser began malfunctioning upon first use, credit card charge disputed, moving on. BigLasers.com is not on the level.
The silver lining: When it worked, the laser was PERFECT for what I purchased it for: pest control.
I live in a wooded location, lots of critters. Always something trying to make its way in house. But spiders I'm uber unkeen to. And here nestled in the redwoods, we get them all over. The laser worked perfect for burning spiders, webs and egg sacks off the outside edges of the house and down below in a creepy space under the house.
(side note: Those laser Christmas light show units do a killer job at keeping away deer, raccoons, possum, rats and mice. I point them down from my deck and as far as the moving laser beams reach, the critters won't venture near. (at least at night)

So now, here I am, In need of a new burning laser. But a bit overwhelmed with all the options, ie frequencies, colors, power levels I've found online. I just want a unit that will burn. I could have maybe used a little bit more burning power than the 5w unit I purchased. But it did the trick. At what point does it get really dangerous?

The fun part of my burning laser learning curve is, I got a reality check when I accidentally caused a fire which burned for about an hour and a half before I realized it. In a quasi basement/ crawl space under part of my house which is on a slight hillside. What I thought were 5 foot tall mounds of the hillside dirt with tunnels from critters turned out to be three huge 8ft wide redwood stumps. Obviously cut to make room for the house back in the 60's. I went down in the basement there, aggressively burning out all the huge spider egg sacks, mini tarantulas and scorpions in the tunnels. Not realizing the tunnels in the dirt actually went into redwood stumps. After I went back upstairs, the stump smoldered then began to burn under the dirt. Smoke trickled into the house and when I went down find the source there were embers coming out of the tunnels. One of the three stumps/root balls was full aflame underground. It took a ton of water sprayed from the hose. down multiple tunnels to finally put it out. Thankfully, no damage, no witnesses.

So that aside, I'm back to needing a new laser.

What are good options/ items/ units/ setup anyone can suggest and where can I get it.

- Don't want to spend a fortune, but I realize you get what you pay for.
- It does not need to be a single hand held unit, as long as I can move/point/adjust the beam.
- Laser housing mounted on a stand could be helpful with holding steady but not required.
- I prefer the power of a plug in as opposed to having to recharge batteries constantly,
- I don't care what color, or Should I?
- I couldn't see jack with the goggles on, is this always the case?


Any info/input appreciated.

Regards,
Jay

 

[GSS]

Welcome
That's one big intro and and somewhat scary story but the honesty is refreshing..
You will get alot of member objecting to you using a laser for pest control and will mention other more civilized approach.
As long as the other critters are sacred away with the Christmas light display which are pointed down "I" think it's ok.
I never had spider issues but I can understand the issues they cause and phobias especially if they are dangerous and poisonous. If burning really worked and seemed to be the only option and now well aware of the dangers of fires, I would say why not get another.
There are 7W blues with much better quality than those cheap China made ones. You would need a hand held style and have to recharge the battery's as labby styles don't come in pointer form.
A couple member builders here that use top notch parts. Look up DTR's store here or on ebay to get a idea of his parts as most of the member builders use his products.
Again some might warn you
Yes you won't see the beam with safety glasses on, if you do see the beam, stop and throw away the glasses.
The spot you will see but still not much. "Eagle" safety glasses are one of the best hobby laser glasses and a must with what you are doing. They have pairs with 50% VLT which helps you see the spot better but will still protect you with up to OD5 or OD6 protection.
Lifetime17 is a great builder member, Trinh and Thantung but only Lifetime17 is in the US so shipping is 2 or 3 days only.

 

[Encap]

one alternative is a JetLasers PL-E Pro 445nm high quality hand held laser which can be powered and run with an 8V/5A wall adaptor--am not aware of any other hand helds that offer that feature
See: https://www.jetlasers.org/index.php?id_product=14&controller=product

High quality Lab type lasers are more expensive. You can look on Bay for low cost chinese 12V 445nm uints w. transformer that might work also

There are a lot of less dramatic and exotic, albeit less entertaining and dangerous, ways to get rid of spyders that are less costly and no risk of fire and less dangerous to eyesight--including natural ones like vineger and water see: https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/how-to-get-rid-of-spiders/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90ab04bca3

You can see discussion of lasers for the purpose on LPF thread here: https://laserpointerforums.com/threads/need-a-laser-to-kill-spiders.54462/

 

[Shakenawake]

The laser on that site looks more legit than others I have seen. Not 100% though. Traverse mode TEM00 on a 5W blue? Um no. 2mrad divergence on a 5W? No. Try again. Also not the most powerful one you can get but a lot of places say that dumb crap, at least it doesnt call it "military". Also, stating a continuous duty cycle? Um, no. Hell no. It looks like a jetlasers pl-e pro. How long did it work before it quit? Did it have a line/bar shaped dot? Did you have it on for over a minute at a time? I agree with what others have said too. I'll add that if you get a laser that uses 26650 batteries and get the best ones, a single charge should last for quite a while. Oh wait that's what the site says it uses. So if they died fast on you they were crap quality. You can get some with over 4000mAh

 

[nobuzzkill]

Thanks for the replies.

GSS- Yes, long intro. I like to paint a clear picture.

Encap- When I say critters. the only ones I would burn are insects. My dogs go after the snakes and rats. Stickey boards have consistently worked on mice, scorpions, potato bugs and spiders. I have two dogs, so bug sprays aren't doable. The real issue spiders are the small tarantula type under the house. Lots of big, hard to reach, egg sacks. Also, along pretty much every exterior corner and entire roof line there are some sort of oddly meaty spiders with very dense spun webs. My place is painted a charcoal/black. So between the color and the webs, it looks like the Munsters live here. And again, poison or anything sprayed on the roofline comes down in the rain. Did I mention I'm located in what is called "The second wettest town in California"? The rainfall and humidity levels are unreal here and on the plus side, help prevent fires.
Trust, I have weighed my options and the laser route has remained the most ideal for me.
And, yes it is more fun/satisfying to burn em.

I wouldn't describe myself as aracnaphobic. I just have a deep urgent impulse/need/want to obliterate any spider I see. Yes, they kill flies etc. I have bats here and prefer them do the job.

Shakenwake- The handheld pointer from BigLasers has multiple issues. Excuse my lengthy response. Again, painting a clear picture.
I still have the malfunctioning Blue ODIN pointer. It still functions somewhat. Yes, the beam is bar shaped or square depending on the focus. First and foremost issue, no instructions provided whatsoever. The body is designed and shaped like a light saber, with a keyed lock on the tail end. The batteries are Ultra Fire 26650 7800mAh. I purchased an extra set as well. The first functional issue was, the socket for the a/c adapter (which they referred to as battery charger). The female socket was not secured properly in the housing and would slide out when trying to remove the male end on the adapter cable. After my first recharge, things got dicey. Possibly a short or wires crossed due to the socket movement. The unit would function regardless if key was in off or on position. The LED indicator light has no clear sign of what it indicates. Sometimes green, sometimes red, sometimes blinking. All regardless of key position or if the adapter was connected. The beam strength appeared stronger and brighter when used while the adapter was connected. But after a few days, that changed. Now it only functions on battery power. It no longer recharges the batteries. Since it didn't come with an external charger, I've had to rig them to fit into my Energizer recharger. Which doesn't fully charge them, even if left to charge for a couple of days.

Realistically, if I could get this one to function would be great. But its not ideal. The light saber-esque housing isn't easy to hold steady, its rather heavy and pendulous.

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF, Jay. Glad to have you here with all of us. Enjoy your stay and, as always, stay safe.

 

[Shakenawake]

Well, ultra fires arent know for quality. I dont believe 7800mAh. I'm not sure plugging the unit in is a good way to charge them. I recomend a separate charger like a nitecore.

The laser sounds and looks very much like a jetlasers clone.

You can have one made by members here for a pretty reasonable price and the quality will be there with lifetime17. For your described use, I would recommend a build with a large copper heatsink for a reasonably good duty cycle, but that will increase the cost. Mine has a 2" diameter one, weighs over a troy pound. The duty cycle still wont be continuous. Get some better quality 26650s that dont lie about their capacity. Get it with both a g lens and a g8 lens for close or slightly further away burning. They can make 7W but I personally recommend having it set a bit lower to be nicer to the diode and make burn outs less likely. One really nice thing about almost every custom build you'll find around here is that the diode module will be easy to replace if it does go, without needing to replace the whole laser or send it somewhere.

 

[hakzaw1]

NOW THAT was a great intro title and post.
see how many replies you got.
If it is not there --put your location in your profile also.

WE have some super members in your state AND there have been some LEMs.
CalLEM and SCalLEM are just two. Some in Wash state-Oregon- too.
Go to just one and you will never want to miss another-- you might even want to host one as well.

Lasting 5 days (now) SELEM is a LASERPALOOKA--LASERFEST--LASERSTOCK AND LASERCON.
it is now year 14 --held in Newton NC. in early Aug. AND hard to describe-- more lasers than a Pink Floyd concert-- and we have free access to all areas (3 'venues' at same location-- It is very 'laidback' friendly and more fun that anyone can stand. Bring some 'goodies' to share--we like gummies a lot..

hak

 

[Alien Laser]

Welcome to the LPF

 

[nobuzzkill]

NOW THAT was a great intro title and post.
see how many replies you got.
If it is not there --put your location in your profile also.

WE have some super members in your state AND there have been some LEMs.
CalLEM and SCalLEM are just two. Some in Wash state-Oregon- too.
Go to just one and you will never want to miss another-- you might even want to host one as well.

Lasting 5 days (now) SELEM is a LASERPALOOKA--LASERFEST--LASERSTOCK AND LASERCON.
it is now year 14 --held in Newton NC. in early Aug. AND hard to describe-- more lasers than a Pink Floyd concert-- and we have free access to all areas (3 'venues' at same location-- It is very 'laidback' friendly and more fun that anyone can stand. Bring some 'goodies' to share--we like gummies a lot..

hak

I'm in Cazadero. The second wettest city in California. (Though, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a city) Lots n lots of redwoods, a post office, a "market" (would barely pass as a liquor store or deli, more dust than food or beverage. I've only entered once) a hardware store (whatever you are looking for = "we just sold the last one" or "ones on order"). I think the most interesting fun-fact about Cazadero is it was the original location of the Bohemian Grove, before it became a frat for wealthy republicans.