Help with my DX laser?

I've noticed that eye safety seems to be a slightly disputable subject. Everybody has their own opinion and some tend to judge others or express their opinion as absolute fact. I for one agree with Razako here, but I'm not saying Monel_funk is wrong either. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But there should be a guideline to follow. Basically using common sense should be efficient, for the sensible person! Unfortunately there are many idiotic stupid senseless people out there who do infinite amounts of harmful stupid things at their own and other’s expenses. As a member of LPF and with interests of lasers, common sense should be practiced and discussed. Anybody can sound smart and say “wear your safety goggles no exceptions!”

Well I’ve explained my opinion on another thread, but in a nutshell, it goes like this: wearing safety goggles depends on your “lasing” application. If you plan on shooting a beam into the sky, common sense tells me not to wear goggles (you wouldn’t see anything with them on). If you plan on showing your friend that you can light a cigarette, WEAR YOUR GOGGLES!

Just a matter of time before cOLD moves this thread to safety!

<Safety monitor on>

Hey, accidents happen.

People underestimate lasers anymore. I remember not too long ago, watching a 100mw laser. Well, not actually watching, but through cameras, because everyone had to be out of the room when it was fired. Goggles were MANDITORY if you were near it, even with power off and the shutter closed. Hell, nowadays, people are waving around 9 gigawatt pointers like they are magic wands.

Which brings up another safety topic, then I am done. You should not be shooting more than 5mw in the sky. You blow out some pilots eyeballs, and he is gonna be cranky.

monel_funkawitz said:

<Safety monitor on>

Hey, accidents happen.

People underestimate lasers anymore. I remember not too long ago, watching a 100mw laser. Well, not actually watching, but through cameras, because everyone had to be out of the room when it was fired. Goggles were MANDITORY if you were near it, even with power off and the shutter closed. Hell, nowadays, people are waving around 9 gigawatt pointers like they are magic wands.

Which brings up another safety topic, then I am done. You should not be shooting more than 5mw in the sky. You blow out some pilots eyeballs, and he is gonna be cranky.

Click to expand...

How exactly am I going to hit a pilot on a clear night? I can see planes/helicopters by their lights and I am not going to point a laser in their direction. If it's cloudy so you can't see the planes the beam is going to be dispersed by the clouds and still won't cause problems. The main problem comes from idiots intentionally sitting by runways and beaming the pilots while they try to land. Of all the cases of lasers hitting pilots I would say that >95% are intentional and most of the accidental cases where caused by stupidity.

I'm not trying to say that laser safety isn't important. It's just that wtf...I'm not going to get a permit from some government agency just to have some fun pointing a laser into the sky......Just use common sense aka watch out for helicopters and planes when doing so and don't do it in front of cops.