Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Heavy) *Updated with IR filters*

D

Deleted member 8382

Guest
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Nice review, althought there's something I don't understand. Why do you take the measurements with goggles after 30 seconds? that makes no sense, you should read immediately after placing the goggles between!

I mean, the 5mW safety limit applies considering that you will blink and so that the exposure will only last 0.25s at most. Not 30s!

I own this goggles too and I know that the plastic will degrade with long exposure, so I think that the reductions you measured are still lower than the real (although they are enough)

Yours,
Albert
 





Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
6,252
Points
83
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Thanks for review....I have a pair of those, great information to know :gj:

@SupermanFTM.....

Mine also arrived broken (top left corner), fixed them with super glue. Thier packaging isn't the greatest.

PICT1230-1.jpg
Tell me about it ...

DSC00256.jpg


Ordered 11/ 15th
Arrived somewhen in Feb IIRC, broken after three months of waiting.
I was claiming an RMA when their holidays came, so that was a drag... anyhow they said they shipped mine last month or something. Only two more months to go WOO HOO ... not.
 
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
1,056
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Ouch! That pair looks like they drove the forklift over it! Hope it misses the replacement pair ...
 
D

Deleted member 8382

Guest
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

I guess you can still repair them with superglue xD
 
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
Messages
430
Points
28
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Tell me about it ...Ordered 11/ 15th
Arrived somewhen in Feb IIRC, broken after three months of waiting.
I was claiming an RMA when their holidays came, so that was a drag... anyhow they said they shipped mine last month or something. Only two more months to go WOO HOO ... not.


Good grief.....i'd think they would improve the packaging, with all the reports of broken ones. I guess I got off lucky with a broken corner.....I hope your next pair arrives in good shape.
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
6,252
Points
83
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Ouch! That pair looks like they drove the forklift over it! Hope it misses the replacement pair ...
Yeah, I have to be lucky for a forklift to miss my package.
I EXPLICITLY requested a box or any hard case packaging.
I guess you can still repair them with superglue xD
Actually no.

Lonewolf can glue his together, but I cannot, the crack on the left eye piece cannot be glued that good so it won't allow any laser light through it. I am not trusting my eyes to $2 superglue.

Good grief.....i'd think they would improve the packaging, with all the reports of broken ones. I guess I got off lucky with a broken corner.....I hope your next pair arrives in good shape.
Well, logic is not always implied...
As I stated, you can at least glue yours together.
I have to wait 2 more months for mine :banghead:

Thanks for kind wishes for my goggles arriving in good shape.
I hope they do.
I have no protection from green lasers at all right now.
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
1,223
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

The safety goggles are for the reflection and accidently SHORT time direct hit in your eye.

Why do you take the measurements with goggles after 30 seconds? that makes no sense, you should read immediately after placing the goggles between!

FWIW, I believe for certification, goggles need to be subjected to a 10s blast. Furthermore, I quote From Wikipedia - see Protective Eyewear

Laser goggles
Protective eyewear in the form of spectacles or goggles with appropriately filtering optics can protect the eyes from the reflected or scattered laser light with a hazardous beam power, as well as from direct exposure to a laser beam. Eyewear must be selected for the specific type of laser, to block or attenuate in the appropriate wavelength range. For example, eyewear absorbing 532 nm typically has an orange appearance, transmitting wavelengths larger than 550 nm. Such eyewear would be useless as protection against a laser emitting at 800 nm. Eyewear is rated for optical density (OD), which is the base-10 logarithm of the attenuation factor by which the optical filter reduces beam power. For example, eyewear with OD 3 will reduce the beam power in the specified wavelength range by a factor of 1,000.


Even if you are wearing an expensive, reliable safety goggle, it would'nt save from a 100+ mW laser if you point directly to the eyes through goggles.

So given the above example of OD 3, your 100mW laser will be diminished to 0.1mW. This is NOT to say that you should ever stare directly at a laser but to suggest that certified goggles are designed to take a direct hit and protect your eyes. Please note there is a vast difference in protection between an OD 1 and 5. Also please note that said protection factor is stated for a very specific wavelength range.

If I take my own 532nm goggles as an example, here are the certified protection levels:

Univet 531-313 Specs:
argon, HeCd, UV, II, III, IV harmonics YAG
VLT: 35%
190-375 @ OD 5
315-535 @ OD 5
315-540 @ OD 4
315-543 @ OD3
In layman: OD 5 protection for 405 BluRay, 473 Blue and 532 Green DPSS lasers
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
4,186
Points
63
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Tell me about it ...

DSC00256.jpg


Ordered 11/ 15th
Arrived somewhen in Feb IIRC, broken after three months of waiting.
I was claiming an RMA when their holidays came, so that was a drag... anyhow they said they shipped mine last month or something. Only two more months to go WOO HOO ... not.

LOL. so they finally arrived... broken :O
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
6,252
Points
83
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

LOL. so they finally arrived... broken :O
:yabbem:

I just checked, the replacement shipped 1st day March. They day after tomorrow is exactly one month since they shipped.

Only two more to go.
 

ser

0
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
9
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

My goggles arrived yesterday - broken in the middle :mad:
But judging by my pair it's ultimately a design/manufacturing fault. The goggles consist of a frame made of soft plastic & a single piece of harder laser-protection glass covering both eyes. If you look at these pieces from above - both are U-shaped, but the frame is broader. Thus when fit together, it takes form of the harder glass, but the frame is constantly applying pressure on it in an attempt to straighten. This holds the 2 pieces well together, but apparently also often results in broken goggles.
But FP could do something about packaging - they could ship in a cardboard box and charge 9$ (I'd pay an extra buck for a safe arrival). IMHO even shipping the goggles with the 2 pieces bubble-wrapped separately would be fine.


What bother me far more is the quality of the laser-protection glass itself. Judging from the different reviews (including this one), I expected it to be around OD 2 for green-violet. That's why I ordered mine. I've seen the different pics showing lasers shining through them and the only thing seen is IR dot. Well, it doesn't work that way with mine. It took me a lot of effort to take this single picture of an IR dot:

And to take it, I placed 2 layers of this glass together and shone on a white wall with little ambient lighting. All other photos either showed green, or nothing at all (I almost reached the conclusion that my laser has no IR output :crackup:). Now compare that to a single layer of protection glass:


Direct view with camera. Left - laser on wall. Right - laser through glasses on wall. While weak, the dot is clearly visible as green.


Direct view with camera. Top-left - laser on wall. The rest - laser through glasses on wall. Again, visible green dot.


Laser on wall. Left - direct view with camera. Right - view with camera through glasses. Camera can see a green dot.

All the photos are unedited (only crop and resize, all pictures on a single image are at the same scale), and they are very similar to what I see with my eyes. I wish I had an LPM to measure how much of green it lets through, but I don't. The laser I used is the green disco 30mw reviewed here earlier (to estimate power - it can burn plastic bags when I put a black dot on it, and when used with a magnifying glass it can heat to smoke a tiny dot on black tape, visible nighttime beam, dot visible at a km-distance, maybe more). With these glasses on - no beam, dot visible up to about 50m, when burning (with magnifying glass) - tiny, but very bright green dot is visble on the black material.

I'd like to hear your opinion. If it's indeed a faulty pair (hopefully not a whole faulty batch that FP might send to unsuspecting customers), just how much of mw green do you think a single layer lets through (if that can be at least approximated according to the photos), i.e. what can these be used for? Common sense tells me a direct hit (and even a fully reflected hit) is a no-no with these glasses (even with 30mw) - the dot through the glasses appears somewhat brighter than a common keychain red laser dot without glasses. But would it be safe for use when burning with a 30-50mw laser? Or maybe, due to the way my pair is broken, I should DIY a single eye goggle (eyepatch + dual glass)?
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
136
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

Nice review, althought there's something I don't understand. Why do you take the measurements with goggles after 30 seconds? that makes no sense, you should read immediately after placing the goggles between!

I mean, the 5mW safety limit applies considering that you will blink and so that the exposure will only last 0.25s at most. Not 30s!

I own this goggles too and I know that the plastic will degrade with long exposure, so I think that the reductions you measured are still lower than the real (although they are enough)
I agree that 30 seconds is definitely excessive, but I thought it would be better to measure on the extreme; the data wouldn't be very consistent if it was <5 seconds. That being said, degradation definitely happened with the green laser hits since I couldn't defocus the beam, but it seemed pretty minimal IMO. I also made sure to use a diferent spot on the side of the goggles for each test.

@ser - Your pictures seem characteristic of these goggles (at least the pairs I own), so IMHO they are probably not defective in terms of laser protection.
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
1,223
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

FWIW, I believe for certification, goggles need to be subjected to a 10s blast.

I agree that 30 seconds is definitely excessive, but I thought it would be better to measure on the extreme; the data wouldn't be very consistent if it was <5 seconds.

I would suggest that 10s is the most necessary but that say, 1s would not be enough for this kind of testing... would be interesting to read up on how glasses are really tested for official certification...

they finally arrived... broken
My goggles arrived yesterday - broken in the middle
I would think this is a rather good indication that you should all stop buying them (from this source, in any case)...
 

ser

0
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
9
Points
0
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

@ser - Your pictures seem characteristic of these goggles (at least the pairs I own), so IMHO they are probably not defective in terms of laser protection.

So when you wear glasses, what do you see? A semi-bright / bright green dot (albeit without a halo)? Or a dim white/orange dot, and when laser is pointed through glasses - IR only? From different reviews, I expected not to get any green through:

With goggles, there is only a small IR dot visible to the camera. To the naked eye it's literaly nothing - That's a 150mw laser.

i defocused the 150mw module for do this, to a green spot 5 mm large, cause i not wanted to damage the lenses ..... no green at all, medium daylight condition, AGC turned off, same aperture of the previous pics - Another 150mw.

However, the goggles from focalprice don't let any green through - That's for a possibly overspec 50mw (subjectively, my pair seem to leak a similar amount of green as the OEM from this review)

Some more saying that only IR is seen

I believe my results are more similar to the ones described here:
If your measurement is accurate, those glasses are actually an OD of 0.65 and if the allow the nearly 25% of 532nm though, they are really as far as eye protection for any beam greater than 20mw.

Like I posted, with 1 layer - I can see a green dot (not IR), with 2 layers - white/orange dot (when viewed through glasses) / IR dot (when lased through glasses). And if that's the case with 30mw, I could only imagine how bad would be a 100-150mw through 1 layer...
 
D

Deleted member 8382

Guest
Re: Another review of the cheap focalprice goggles! (LPM Image Heavy)

You'll see an orange-yellow small dot with low power, but I see a small green dot with my 200mW green laser.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
136
Points
0
Hey guys, I updated the OP today with data from a more powerful green laser (A Jayrob C3 kit with a DX "200mW" module) and IR-filtered data on this laser. The new results seem to suggest that these goggles are more effective at blocking 532nm than the earlier O-like pointer tests would lead one to believe, but I will let you all draw your own conclusions :)
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
Messages
6,252
Points
83
Since this thread is bumped I might throw my .02 in it.

I recieved mine goggles recently, well, good news / bad news scenario.

GOOD NEWS:
They were almost in one piece. I managed to glue the red plastic to black holder no problem.

BAD NEWS:
I had my PHR at the moment, I believe that they do not even cut the power in half.
I can surely take a beamshot after the goggles.

SHAME!
Not worth the damn $8. Could have treated myself a cheseburger in McDonalds instead of goggles that do not even block bluray. Green not yet tested, but I do not expect miracles.
 




Top