Quo Vadis with your lasers?

Having just received my DX30, I am happily beaming off into the night Yet, after I was done, I asked myself "so what, 26$ for some light on the wall?"
Although I am aware that 26$ is really cheap for that, I did ask myself "what do you actually do with a laser? I mean, I won't use my 30mW to cut 2in steel plates or perform surgery with it. And some people here spent 600+ $ on some lasers with higher powers/frequencies.
The only thing I was able to come up with was "build a simple scanner", yet few do this here. Don't get me wrong, I love my laser(s), but still reason asks me "where did these 26§ go?".

So here is my question: What do you do with your lasers? What do you use a portable laser for? What purpose does a mW-range dot serve? Or, to go with the thread title, "where do you go with your lasers? What is their purpose in your life?

hahaha i like your sig, how did you do that?? animated gif? umm well most people like lasers because...well.... they are cool! i personally can't see why people spend thousands of dollars upgrading their car, when all you really need it for is transport. its the same for lasers, if you like the hobby, you will want something to play with! that is just my opinion, but yeah

it's really just whatever hobby it is you're into.
In my case, I like computers, cars, and lasers probably in that order. I've spent some money upgrading parts on my car (but not thousands). I'm now hoping to build a computer in January with my B-Day money, my x-mas money, the WL money, and the lousy paycheck I get. It's going to cost me just under $1500 for a kickass system that I've been wanting for a very long time. But that's the thing, it depends on what hobbies you are into and what not. I would probably spend, although I wouldn't like the hit it takes on my wallet, $2k for a computer, but I wouldn't spend $500 on a laser...

Ehh, whatever. Some of you will probably say I'm comparing apples to oranges, but I'm just saying what was in my head now.

BTW, congrats on your laser

Yup, that's what I'm thinking, too - a 1000$ laser can burn like something, but a 1000$ computer won't. Yet the 1k computer will probably give me more hours of fun as a green dot is just a green dot on the wall regardless of power. And unless you scan, and get fancy patterns, the dot remains the dot.
Once again, don't get me wrong - I was (and still AM) all giddy about the cool optics from the bluray sled, and am still happy projecting lines and dots, but when the batteries are empty, "laser existentialism" kicks in.

So give me reasons to drown out my common sense that tells me a 500$ dot on the wall isn't worth it

Do you like science? Are you interested in light and photonics? Can you reproduce the device you are holding for less? Is it not worth it to be fulfilling that aching burn inside with a gush of monochromatic, coherent, uniform green light?

The amazement of lasers to me does not stop with obtaining them, but with making them, learning from them, about them, and improving the experience. I personally cannot say what the limit is as that is a personal opinion. But believe me when I say that sometimes I just look at the lasers I have stacked here and wonder just how much this all cost me.

My newest and latest toy is a couple of >100mW argons. And after that the need for newer and different colors will only be more costly and more commitment oriented.

The amazement I get from lasers is through the observation of how light reacts with different objects, how the technology has changed, how different powers feel, and how other react to light like that. Most people will imagine a flimsy red laser at 5mW when you mention a laser. If they know about a green laser they just assume it's a 'beaming' laser that's pointless beyond the first 10 minutes or so... Have you tried to think about how light works? Why does it work like that? Can you explain some of the things your laser does? :

Optics and laser interaction are at their peak nowadays... and to me, a logical thinker by all means of the word, this whole field opens up eons of reading, learning, experimentation, and amazement. I love how light that I cannot see can be turned into a beam of green or blue or orange or many other colors of light... or how an electric arc in a specific gas can generate amazing colors when properly contained. It's amazing how a small diode measuring a mere 5.6mm can put out light so powerful that it can burn a hole in most things! And best of all... you can carry it in your pocket!

This is the age of light speed and the 'WOW' factor, and lasers are at the climax of it all. Everything now uses lasers... huge things like global communication, data storage, surgery, and even measuring the distance to the moon!!! Other small things you never thought could use a laser are made much better with a laser... laser levels, no-touch temperature sensors, motion sensors, measuring 'tape'... etc... etc...

How do I use lasers? I use lasers to expand my mind, knowledge, and experience. I use them to be amazed by the power of science.

A bit dramatic no? ;D

Well... hope you enjoyed it... and I hope it passed the message well

--DDL

This is definitely true, by all means. Still, I think there imore to discover in an argon than in a red diode.
I think (for me) to sum it up, it's more like "the journey is the reward", as to build the laser, get it to work, fine-tune it, refine it, is the fun in it.
I do plan on getting the components for a yag system one day (and keep on lurking ebay for "yag" time by time), and also want to build a portable mulitcolour-laser as well as a simple scanner. Maybe get some dyes and experiment with different colours, be it fluorescing or lasing.
Lasers sure are a broadband application (antipun??), and one is able to find them in all possible locations as well as to find them in all possible configurations and types, and to become somebody to have a fundamental knowledge about "lasers", one has to spend much time, effort and money to those "little creatures".
One day, my greenie might die and while I don't hope that it happens, I still have plans to dissect it, examine it and try to revive it, be it with another diode or whatever. So "experimenting to expand knowledge" sure is in it for me.

Well I use my 75mw greenie just for fun mainly, its good for showing off.

Use my scanner for fun and parties.

things said:

hahaha i like your sig, how did you do that?? animated gif?

Click to expand...

I pmed him..
he said it was a
BB tag.

[move]Look... It workes! ;D WEEEEEEEE....................[/move]
He He He...

[move]oh this is really cool!! ;D ;D ;D yayayayayayayayaya[/move]

ROFL [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif] [smiley=smiley_down.gif]

-.-

lamborgini8 said:

Well I use my 75mw greenie just for fun mainly, its good for showing off..

Click to expand...

I see where you are going with that