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FrozenGate by Avery

14 year old responsible laser user 1w?

Well if he does return, heres some advice/a story from someone rather close to that age range.

I started out the same way, wanting to just have one just to burn things.
Wicked lasers was going to stop selling in the us and was having a sale, and Christmas was 25 days away! I impulse purchased a 1.4W arctic (only previously having owned some 301's and some slightly higher red/greens). Now, as anyone who suffered through that awful several month process of waiting for their lasers to come knows, it got boring fast... I ended up buying a 2.4w from scifi lasers while waiting for the stupid arctic to be shipped. Keep in mind my parents were fully supportive however and knew(to a degree ;)) what I was buying as well as the dangers. When it came, I used my crappy ultra fire batteries to test it out. Those batteries luckly were under-powered and only gave out about 300mw. At that point I didn't have goggles and seeing how bright it was i was actually afraid to continue using it after reading all the horror stories on here as well... About a week later my arctic showed up and lucky for me had a pair of googles. If you are set on getting something of that power, you NEED to do the following:
1. Absolutely your parents need to be ok with it. If they don't trust you, that usually means they have had issues in the past, prove to them that you are responsible.
2. Make SURE you have a pair of goggles BEFORE you use whatever laser you end up getting.
3. Start slow, if it has a low power setting/safety lense USE IT. don't take it outside or use it when others are around,
4. When you get a feel for the power of it, you can use it outside and admire the beam(Making absolute sure there are no aircraft anywhere near).
5. I know it will be tempting but unless you get another pair of goggles(And even then...) I don't think you should let your friends use it.

Side note: If you're under 18, Just personally at least, i don't put my age on the internet. If you can interact with people at a level where they wouldn't really guess that you're even under 18 then i'd say it might be ok.
Side note 2: The people on this forum might seem a little harsh at first, but they just don't want to see us younger members have to go the rest of our lives without being able to see. They have good intention :)
Side note 3: To finish my little story here:
At my second high powered blue(The arctic) i began to appreciate the design more than just raw power. The crossover also occured when i got a 405nm one. At this point i'm more sitting in envy of the rarer wavelengths wishing i had the money to get a cool red/higher blue/green :)
 
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Lol my Step Dad was so scared when I got my first Uniphase Nova HeNi 1mw when I turned 18. He thought I was going to set things on fire with it. Wish I never got rid of it. That was back in the summer of "83
 
Lol my Step Dad was so scared when I got my first Uniphase Nova HeNi 1mw when I turned 18. He thought I was going to set things on fire with it. Wish I never got rid of it. That was back in the summer of "83

I remember playing with a friends HENE in college.Circa 86 or so.Things sure have changed!I was just playing with my 520nm 50mw pen.Epic...if my old friend was here he would be ecstatic!!!
 
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a 1 watt bluie?
There's just no reason.
I got mine a bit ago, there's really no reason for something that's really so destructive. if you want a bright one, get a ~200mW greenie.
 
Well if he does return, heres some advice/a story from someone rather close to that age range.

I started out the same way, wanting to just have one just to burn things.
Wicked lasers was going to stop selling in the us and was having a sale, and Christmas was 25 days away! I impulse purchased a 1.4W arctic (only previously having owned some 301's and some slightly higher red/greens). Now, as anyone who suffered through that awful several month process of waiting for their lasers to come knows, it got boring fast... I ended up buying a 2.4w from scifi lasers while waiting for the stupid arctic to be shipped. Keep in mind my parents were fully supportive however and knew(to a degree ;)) what I was buying as well as the dangers. When it came, I used my crappy ultra fire batteries to test it out. Those batteries luckly were under-powered and only gave out about 300mw. At that point I didn't have goggles and seeing how bright it was i was actually afraid to continue using it after reading all the horror stories on here as well... About a week later my arctic showed up and lucky for me had a pair of googles. If you are set on getting something of that power, you NEED to do the following:
1. Absolutely your parents need to be ok with it. If they don't trust you, that usually means they have had issues in the past, prove to them that you are responsible.
2. Make SURE you have a pair of goggles BEFORE you use whatever laser you end up getting.
3. Start slow, if it has a low power setting/safety lense USE IT. don't take it outside or use it when others are around,
4. When you get a feel for the power of it, you can use it outside and admire the beam(Making absolute sure there are no aircraft anywhere near).
5. I know it will be tempting but unless you get another pair of goggles(And even then...) I don't think you should let your friends use it.

Side note: If you're under 18, Just personally at least, i don't put my age on the internet. If you can interact with people at a level where they wouldn't really guess that you're even under 18 then i'd say it might be ok.
Side note 2: The people on this forum might seem a little harsh at first, but they just don't want to see us younger members have to go the rest of our lives without being able to see. They have good intention :)
Side note 3: To finish my little story here:
At my second high powered blue(The arctic) i began to appreciate the design more than just raw power. The crossover also occured when i got a 405nm one. At this point i'm more sitting in envy of the rarer wavelengths wishing i had the money to get a cool red/higher blue/green :)


I completely agree with everything you say, and as it turns out is is not even really a 1 watt. It is one of those eBay 445nms(Before you bash me I know there are issues with these but I just don't want to spend 200 for a blue laser, all i need is for it to work reasonably well) Just tonight in fact i did a 1 mile range test with a laser 301 and got some pics of the dot at 1 mile. I was pleasantly surprised by how minimal the divergence was at such a great distance. If you request i can upload some pics. again, thanks to everyone who has contributed to my threads, i appreciate all your advice.:D
 
and as it turns out is is not even really a 1 watt. It is one of those eBay 445nms

Not bashing you, but letting you know that its most likely not an ebay 1w because a usual ebay 445nm is over 1w. Yours is most likely underdriven if it is under a watt, but did you LPM it? or are you assuming? Its hard to tell without an LPM.
 
Not bashing you, but letting you know that its most likely not an ebay 1w because a usual ebay 445nm is over 1w. Yours is most likely underdriven if it is under a watt, but did you LPM it? or are you assuming? Its hard to tell without an LPM.

Think you got it backwards bud, usually eBay lasers are far, far underspec if there sold as 1W, and if his is reaching 1W then it might be a quality seller or overdriven.
 
Think you got it backwards bud, usually eBay lasers are far, far underspec if there sold as 1W, and if his is reaching 1W then it might be a quality seller or overdriven.
No. Usually an ebay 445nm, not 405 is around 1.2 to 1.5 watts. USUALLY. Normally, they use ca$1o diodes. If you get one that says something generic like "burn paper" or whatever, its usually a watt. My cousin bought one for 40$. They aren't too bad either!
 
No. Usually an ebay 445nm, not 405 is around 1.2 to 1.5 watts. USUALLY. Normally, they use ca$1o diodes. If you get one that says something generic like "burn paper" or whatever, its usually a watt. My cousin bought one for 40$. They aren't too bad either!

I suppose, that makes sense. Here is a review of a 1W eBay laser: http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/ebay-thor-laser-93771.html
I guess there really isn't an advantage for the seller to under drive it, it's not cheaper or anything. The main reason to avoid them is the quality most often. Thanks :beer:
 
Thank you everyone, I never expected this thread to take off like this. I greatly appreciate all your effort into helping me, and making me feel so welcome!
 
Waiting is a good idea, Ive wanted a 1 watt since They first hit the market 10 years ago, or at least since WL released their Arctic, believe it or not I got my first 445 1w just a couple years ago. And always remember one thing, when the time comes when you finally get one DO NOT under any circumstance let your friends play with it! Not smart for as they most likely don't understand how dangerous they are, and they could potentially make a horrible mistake.
 
Sorry to anyone who's angry I dragged this old thread out, just concerned that Alien Laser is building this guy (14-15yo) a 7+watt laser when a few months back his parents didnt want him owning a 1w
 
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Well that's no good. Who's alien laser?

He's a member on here who builds some pretty incredible lasers. Their are quite a bit of good builders on LPF. You can check out his 405 pen build he just finished building on the B/S/T section.
 


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