Leaving the Laser Hobby

Rifter said:

Maybe he had a close call with a laser and it scared him out of the hobby.

This almost happened to me once.

My friend had a brand new A140(I think, predecessor to M140) diode blue laser around 1 watt of power and we were off roading in the middle of nowhere and he was playing with it shining it into the sky(there was no planes) onto far away trees and rocks we burned through a few sets of batteries using it. Then right as we were about to get in my truck and leave we were looking at each other from 18" apart and talking and he had the laser still on pointing at a treeline 30 yards away and the laser hit a reflective sign loggers use to mark tree's and reflected the beam directly though the 18" of space right between out faces, I swear I could feel heat coming off the beam, few inches either way and one of us could have been blind for life. the sign it reflected off of was only less than1" round, chances of that happening were so small, but it happened.

That was almost a game changer for me and made me almost quite lasers.

Click to expand...

No danger is not the reason I'm getting out of the hobby. Their are a few personal reasons why and also I think if I continued the hobby in the long term I would regret it. Also to the person that says I'm trying to get people to convince me to come back that's not how it is. I am very much done and I only made this thread because I didn't just wanna ditch everyone I've known on LPF.

Tha Greenlander said:

Thank you for the kind remarks FallOut, I really appreciate it. It's always a shame to hear about someone leaving this hobby but lasers aren't for everybody and if you feel another hobby is where you would find more pleasure then go for it, whatever makes you happy.

Best of luck in the future!

-Your buddy Alex

Click to expand...

Thank you Alex. One of the reasons I'm leaving the hobby is because I think if I stayed I would regret it in the future. Their are also some personal reasons involved. And being 16 I'm not so great at choosing what I want to do long term.

jander6442 said:

You can't leave without an exit interview... Did you read the sign up contract? You must also send me all your lasers for deactivation per said contract.

Seriously just chill if you would share your reasons maybe some could walk you through it.

Click to expand...

Well I think in the long term I would regret continuing this hobby and their are also some personal reasons involved. And LOL you wouldn't want my wimpy 1 laser collection.

Best of luck in your new endeavors ! This hobby is so vast I don't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon. I can also see where it may not be for everyone.
It's actually a good thing that you took a personal inventory and decided this isn't for you.
I hope you find what gives you personal satisfaction that you enjoy. :beer:

The " BUG OF COHERENT LIGHT"

If one is TRULY bitten by the " Bug of Coherent Light "....IT NEVER GOES AWAY...NEVER. EVER. `NEVER !!!!!!!! You may put it down for awhile.....but....it will ALWAYS haunt you !!!! I will try to put this into words....Many will nod in understanding....some will NOT !!

There is almost an ethereal like quality of the beam...that draws the fortunate....unto it . A primal response to quell some ancient need of the Cerebrum feed by the Occipital Lobe process stream. Much akin to that of watching the flames of a campfire do their random dance.

Is it the purity of the color ?? Is it the perfect straight-line geometry....in a world where there is a noted lack of perfection ??? Is it the satisfaction of being able to direct a flowing stream of photons....out...into the room....or out into space.....Only God knows where those photons will end their journey ....a beacon to the heavens !!! A RAY of hope... Giving us some sense of awe and wonder as to where their photonic path will lead ???

In our small command of this fountain of Photons....we direct LIGHT...One of the remaining mysteries of science....the nature of which ...Science has YET to fully understand. And...that direction delivers...joy !!

ALL this.....AND...A general satisfaction of understanding ( Somewhat for me) the underlying principles that produce this wonder of Coherent Light.
NO....you may take a hiatus...a vacation....a break.....but....if you have been lucky enough to become addicted to such a gift from God....YOU WILL RETURN !!

:angel::angel::angel:

Well stated CDBEAM777. There really is some mystical attraction to that beam of light.
The campfire was a good analogy.
Lights on a Christmas tree do the same thing. I'm just mesmerized for hours. LOL !

Kind of like the old saying "If I have to explain, you would never understand"

IWIRE said:

Well stated CDBEAM777. There really is some mystical attraction to that beam of light.
The campfire was a good analogy.
Lights on a Christmas tree do the same thing. I'm just mesmerized for hours. LOL !

Kind of like the old saying "If I have to explain, you would never understand"

Click to expand...

YEA !! If ya get it....then you understand !!! Like trying to explain to a certain gender...."....and....this is why the " 3 Stoogies are SOOOOooo...entertaining....." ========> Response=====>

" Deer in da Headlight Stare " HAHAHAHA Some things are just...Universal !!!

CDBEAM777 said:

If one is TRULY bitten by the " Bug of Coherent Light "....IT NEVER GOES AWAY...NEVER. EVER. `NEVER !!!!!!!! You may put it down for awhile.....but....it will ALWAYS haunt you !!!! I will try to put this into words....Many will nod in understanding....some will NOT !!

Click to expand...

I had this experience

I cannot help it. When it comes to lasers I am a lost case: hopeless. I spend way too much money on them haha. Each one for me has to be a little bit better than the one before it.

Yeah, I'm about to give up on this hobby myself. Never really actually got into it, I mean I like playing with lasers a bit but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a hobby of mine. I am interested in making more practical uses out of lasers though.

I am personally very thankful for what the laser hobby has done for me, so I don't think I could ever quit. I also find LPF to be a great community with a lot of very clever people, so for that I am also grateful.

I had always held a vague interest in them and as a kid I had one of those red bullet style pointers. In more recent times, over the years I had toyed with the idea of getting a green laser many times. Years went by and I never bothered because all of the sites I came across seemed scammy; now I see the predicaments many newbies get into. I also knew about this forum for years but for various reasons never joined until recently.

I let the interest slide a bit and then one day last year I heard someone mentioning lasers in a sentence. The word "laser" was enough to perk me up and make me again begin researching. Once again I got caught in a web of scammy spammy websites and nearly gave it up but eventually persevered and did enough research on here that I got my first laser, a skylaser.

The interest then blossomed as I learned more about lasers and almost by freak accident directed me towards the street lighting hobby, starting with the fact that 589nm lasers share their colour characteristic with low pressure sodium lamps. This has in turn led to me doing something I should have done a long time ago: learning about electronics and getting a better grasp of physics altogether. It has also helped me relive some fond childhood memories in street lighting and travelling.

So there you go, a hobby that was sparked into life by a few spoken words which then led onto several other interests I now hold. I think it helps to have a certain degree of interest in related subjects to begin with, but I never truly give up any of my past hobbies, and as you move through life things become interesting as your interests begin to pile up and cascade upon one another. Although I am less interested in some of my past hobbies, there are days when I'll fire right back into them. So I think if something truly takes your mind you can never really give it up proper.

o7 man have a good time on whatever thing you move onto next

trencheel303 said:

I also find LPF to be a great community with a lot of very clever people, so for that I am also grateful.
.

Click to expand...

That's a nice way to put it :crackup:
It is pretty amazing how many different directions the laser path leads. :beer:

I often wonder what I am going to do with one laser let alone two of them. PLaying with them is fun but...............

give the other to your girlfriend to play with..