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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

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I do not know where to post this, but since I am new, I will assume that I must ask the question under this category of the forum.

I am looking into buying a new laser specifically for the use of burning while having a clear, visible beam in the night sky. I have heard that dragonlasers is legit so that is where I will be viewing products at. The green Spartan 200mW laser, the green Hulk Ultra 200mW laser, and the blue 1W Spartan laser all have caught my interest and are in my spending zone with $240 being the max amount that I am willing to spend on a laser (price excludes safety goggles).

I have a few questions about the lasers that I may purchase. The first being why are both the green spartan and the green hulk ultra the same price($199)? My second question is does dragon lasers ship to the US without being seized in the Customs? As stated earlier, which one of the lasers that I have mentioned would be best for simply burning, pointing in the night sky, and MAYBE creating cool little mini light shows?

I have also viewed an interesting "thing" from dragonlasers called "Laser Beam Splitters - Diffraction Gratings." (Laser Beam Splitters - Diffraction Gratings) I am wondering if those items would be useful for creating cool photographs and doing my own mini light shows for friends and family.

Anyways, thank you for taking your time to read this and I may be asking further questions later. :yh:

*EDIT
I may also consider getting the Wicked Lasers Nano. Which one can BURN while still being clearly visible in the night sky, the purple 75mW, the red 100mW, or the green 15mW? If you ask why Wicked Lasers, my answer is because of the lens attachments to create a mini light show :p I will not get it though if there rep is THAT bad. So I am also wondering if wicked lasers is terrible.
 
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I haven't heard of any problems with dragon lasers getting through customs, but you never know. The diffraction gratings that they sell would work in creating a cool picture. The best for burning from dragon lasers would be the 1W spartan, but if you haven't dealt with lasers before, it can be dangerous. (definite must on the glasses for safety)

Also, Wicked Lasers used to be bad, but recently several members have said that they are getting better. (still not the best) I think that the red nano would have enough power to burn when focused, but the beam would be dim. (fog would bring it out)
 

Tmack

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I have owned a dragon lasers spartan 1w 447 and a hulk ultra 300mw. Both great lasers.
For the green the hulk is great, but for the blue, I would look at the custom builders here. It will be much cheaper stronger and much better in terms of usability. The spartan is not focus able which is a needed feature with lasers of that power. That is the reason I sold my Spartan. After shipping it is a $275 laser. For that price or less you can get a 3w 445 from the builders here. Triple the power and focus able for cheaper, and it would be coming from inside the country, so customs is not an issue. No brainier . Just check out the buy sell trade section. Be aware these powerful lasers are not for the entry level enthusiast . I would start out with something around the 100mw of green. This will get you used to the safety precautions involved with powerful lasers. Even at much less than 1w, eye damage is instantaneous. Make sure, with whatever you choose , glasses come with the order. If you need further help, send me a private message. Threads like this don't tend to get many responses because they have been answered many thousands of times lol. Also another good way to get answers is the search bar at the bottom of the page. You will find it difficult to find a question that hasn't been thouroughly discussed. Good luck and welcome :beer:
 
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where are you? plz add that to your profile.
it often a good idea to buy from a trusted forum member- one with a LPM- right now our pasttime is in jepordy- so tae care when starppointing that NO aircraft are visible- you do not need to aim your laser at an aircraft to do us harm and get yourself into trouble starting with a goodbye to your laser- please also try not to show those who may find it disturbing that your laser will burn 'stuff' as all they will think is about burning someone into blindness.
Or your could just skip the 'childs play' and get into laser projectors- forget gratings etc. get a LUMIA kit and build it- you can use your handhelds until such time you get a few lab lasers- just remember that overheating is a laser killer- never keep running when the host is very warm- as that means it HOT inside- and also NO laser can cool below ambient temp- so a short rest may be fine on a snowy day but in the desert you must rest longer that your duty cycle-
Other fun projects are spyro- Liquid sky and tunnel efx.

also taking any laser to school is no different from taking a gun-
or knife- handing your laser over to some fool does not relieve your of responsibility- just say NO! In the city at night lasers will get you into trouble-- happens to many here all the time-almost NONE get their lasers back-

Federal jail time is no joke- no early release- if you get 5 years you will do every day-

buy your laser here- from a member-
check thier rep score- avoid newcomers.
Buy in person if possible- another reason why your location NEEDS to be in your profile, dood.
 
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where are you? plz add that to your profile.
it often a good idea to buy from a trusted forum member- one with a LPM- right now our pasttime is in jepordy- so tae care when starppointing that NO aircraft are visible- you do not need to aim your laser at an aircraft to do us harm and get yourself into trouble starting with a goodbye to your laser- please also try not to show those who may find it disturbing that your laser will burn 'stuff' as all they will think is about burning someone into blindness.
Or your could just skip the 'childs play' and get into laser projectors- forget gratings etc. get a LUMIA kit and build it- you can use your handhelds until such time you get a few lab lasers- just remember that overheating is a laser killer- never keep running when the host is very warm- as that means it HOT inside- and also NO laser can cool below ambient temp- so a short rest may be fine on a snowy day but in the desert you must rest longer that your duty cycle-
Other fun projects are spyro- Liquid sky and tunnel efx.

also taking any laser to school is no different from taking a gun-
or knife- handing your laser over to some fool does not relieve your of responsibility- just say NO! In the city at night lasers will get you into trouble-- happens to many here all the time-almost NONE get their lasers back-

Federal jail time is no joke- no early release- if you get 5 years you will do every day-

buy your laser here- from a member-
check thier rep score- avoid newcomers.
Buy in person if possible- another reason why your location NEEDS to be in your profile, dood.
Would you get into trouble for using a laser at night in a suburban with a population of around 50k and where the houses are reasonably spread apart?
 

NO4H99

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I use my laser at night fairly often with no problems. Keep in mind that if you keep it close to 90 degrees, it is very hard to see the beam (unless you are looking hard for it) from more than 100 feet away. If you point it near horizontal, prepare to hear "holy s**t" from neighbors.:D
 
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Howdy and Welcome to the Forum :wave:

It would depend on the local laws where you are planning on using the laser, most places do not have a local law
governing the use of lasers but your town or city may have enacted it's own local ordinances so you should check.

There is however federal laws that cover the act of shinning a laser at people, cars and aircraft.

You asked about gratings, see here> http://laserpointerforums.com/f48/pics-11-23-13-a-86454.html#post1255877


Would you get into trouble for using a laser at night in a suburban with a population of around 50k and where the houses are reasonably spread apart?
 
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If I were you, I would just use it in your backyard if you have one. Less people and alot, alot safer :)

Welcome to LPF!
 
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Keep in mind that if you keep it close to 90 degrees, it is very hard to see the beam (unless you are looking hard for it) from more than 100 feet away.

That's novel; to keep the beam vertical or perpendicular to the ground. Also perhaps limit it to short blasts rather than long drawn out ones. Assuming of course no aircraft is above that very spot.;)
 
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Until all the recent bad press about lasers at night i had no reservatons as long as my beams were not aimed at homes-cars and of course anywhere at all near aircraft-
-but that has now all changed some and i think it will get worse- I can imaging people calling 911 only because they saw a green or blue beam no mater where it was pointed if any member REALLY wants to help all of us- PLEASE write to ABC AND GMA and let them know just how misguided it would be to ban lasers-


thier story was very one-sided- some would group all laser owners together- the terrorists the idiots/noobs who mean no harm , but do not know better than to lase at night where people can see this... AND the rest of us.
Personally any 'fun' one has lasing at night in town is far outweighed by the harm this MAY to. - We just had a new member lose his brand new $$ laser- and he may also be in trouble with the local law so losing his laser may be the least of his worries--what 'terrible' thing was he doing??

he wanted to take a pic of his new laser lighting up a stop sign- thats it- nothing more- harmless RIGHT? Nobody was around (he thought)well the police who were parked in the dark within view did not see it that way-and worse she (the police) said the laser was aimed at her eyes--WTH?
So there is NO WAY you can be 100% sure you are NOT doing something really bad- at least to someone seeing you- who has cell phones now- EVERYBODY- so there is NO way to say you will be Ok- do you want to find out the hard way?

Since the GMA story i have not lased at night outdoors and i live pretty much out in the country and not in 'town' I would think your chances of having a problem may be lower if you can hold off until most folks are asleep and even then i suggest you have your 'fun' or take your pics as quickly as possible. -hak's two centavos
 
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Since the GMA story i have not lased at night outdoors and i live pretty much out in the country and not in 'town'. I would think your chances of having a problem may be lower if you can hold off until most folks are asleep and even then i suggest you have your 'fun' or take your pics as quickly as possible. -hak's two centavos

I admit it's getting rather risky outdoors for this hobby and I refrain from outdoors as much as I can too. Even in the suburbs, the only times I found that attract least attention are between 1am to 5am. Stay safe.:undecided:
 
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Lots of great advice, Tmack practically typed the words out of my brain.

I think there may be specific laws in some places about no lasers within X amount of miles of an airport

Lasers are high profile and generally attention to them, especially in the news, is bad. When using your laser, ask yourself, "is this likely to draw unwanted attention or cause any problem?" if the answer is yes, maybe, or not sure, don't do it.

About the Dragonlasers gratings, they are little pieces of glass that when a laser is passed through split it into either a fan of beams or matrix-grid. I wouldnt call it a light show like I would a projector, but it would be fun to have I think.

there is a group buy going on for them (the gratings from DL) now, you could get them cheaper, and if you are determined to get a laser from them too, maybe send a PM to NO4H99 to see if you can work out a deal to save on shipping. though I agree with Tmack, the spartan sucks 'cause it cant be focused without an external lense like a magnifying glass

almost forgot the link to the GB:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/gb-dragon-lasers-diffraction-gratings-86479.html
 
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Thanks for the tips and pointers guys! I will be sure to keep using a laser outside during the nighttime down to a minimum. I will mostly use my laser for burning experiments and light shows indoors :p
 
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Hopefully you knew this already, the safety glasses are not only to protect against brief direct hits, but also, some lasers have dots that are too bright to view up close without glasses. how close dependes on lots of factors, like the output power and reflective properties of the target.

Some high powered lasers have less impressive beams indoors especially when pointed at a white wall (pretty reflective). the lasers are so bright that the light splash from the dot drowns out some of the beam and makes it SEEM less bright than it really is.

In short, 1W for light shows indoors needs extra caution., naturally, beams split up by diffraction gratings are safer than the raw beam, but could still individually cause eye damage at those power levels.

sorry to be such a safety nazi but around here we like to have our hands clean when other people do really dumb things. ounce of prevention and all that jazz
 
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Yup, buying like a few safety glasses for my friends, family, and I before doing any light show :p
 

NO4H99

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Yup, buying like a few safety glasses for my friends, family, and I before doing any light show :p

Check out the uvex ones in my sig. They were down to $6 last week - cheap enough to pick up plenty but still will protect you well.
 




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