Is this laser alright for my dog?

After perusing these forums a little, I bought 4 laser pointers off of ebay. In the past I have owned countless dollar store lasers and one ebay-grade green laser that operated around 5 mw.

I bought This focusable 5 mw green laser as well as

This 3 piece set, , both from the same seller. The lasers arrived today, and they're everything I could have hoped for. The violet burns when focused, and the bigger green laser lights matches and pops balloons in an instant, and the beam is incredible at night.

Anyway, the 2 greens and violet are definitely overspec. I'm wondering if the red one should be assumed to be well overpowered as well. The beam is the least clear on the red, the casing is a different design that the other two, and the dot is not nearly as bright when you look at it. Could i use the red laser to play with my dog?

I wouldn't use it with my pets. Chances are, its overspec.

It's a bit of a situation because I'd like to go outside and play around with the laser, but my dog goes nuts even when she sees it in my hand.

I wouldn't use a cheap green to play with my cat. Now, if I got one and it tested up to 10mW or so, I probably would.

The thing is, like Pilgor stated, it is most likely overspec.

For instance, I had bought a green pointer for 3.95 USD. I lucked out on the quality of the module and it has great divergence and a pencil thin beam.

However, see this.


Peaks at 50mW on completely fresh batteries, and averages around 40-45mW. Definitely would not use it with my cat.

That makes sense but would the red one (because it physically appears less powerful) be usable to play with my dog? I have put together that about 50 mw of green with some IR can burn with focusing and a bit more than that for violet and focusing (at least for these ebay lasers, and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm very new to the hobby). I determined the approximate thresholds of 2 of my lasers based on their capabilities. Is there a way to determine if the red laser is a lower wattage without a multimeter? Is a lower wattage of red just as bad as a slightly more powerful green?

I have much to learn.

Jacob

As long as the red says 5mW you'll be fine. I only use a 5mW red with my cat. If I manage to get a green and it tests around 10mW or less, I'll use it with my cat.

And no, brightness and burning power actually say very little about the power of the laser most of the time.