Advice for buying a green laser

[pastryblob]

I was originally going to get the arctic spyder 3 but its too dangerous and too expensive plus it would seem like overkill for what i would use it for. I'm looking for a laser that I can see the beam in lit areas and can go for miles at night. But I dont want it to be so powerful that I cant look at the dot or diffused light without damaging my eyes (which is why I changed my mind about the arctic). Burning things is optional. And lastly I would want one that would last a long time since my first one broke in a week. To summarize into one question, what is the most powerful green laser I can get that doesn't require eye protection (besides direct exposure of course) and that won't break on me in a week? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks :yh:

 

[Speedy78]

5mW and less is your eye safe output power. Will be dim but visable in a lit room. What you are wanting most likely is in the 50mW range but then its no longer eye safe. LaserGlow has affordable 532 pens rated at 5mW, unlike the ebay lasers that claim 5mW but are far more, and are IR filtered. I would recommend one of theirs

 

[pastryblob]

Even at 50mw the diffused light is dangerous?

 

[Speedy78]

You wont be able to view the dot.

 

[Shakenawake]

you could try to win a ~60mW green laser in my raffle thread in the donation section

 

[Bambuko]

Even at 50mw the diffused light is dangerous?

Not sure about diffused light, but accidentally looking directly at a 50mw beam could definitely damage your eyes. Not worth the risk with that much power. As others have said, unless it's <5mw, then I would get safety glasses.

 

[Blaster]

Its ironic that you pay a lot more to get a genuine 5mW than the classic eBay pen that a lot put out 10 to even 20 times what they are supposed to, of course you do get the occasional dud eBay one that really does only put out around 5mw i have a few that are "duds " but the rest around 45 or more pens are at least 4 times what they are supposed to be ,and about half are 10 to 20 times more than rated power on the sticker ,these are the sought after ones especially when they are stable and I've had a good run with eBay pens never killed one yet