At what power should goggles be used

[masta]

hi all, i was wondering at what mw of power for a green laser would it be recommended to use goggles.

i dont want to be using something where i need to use goggles, because at that point its scary how much damage the laser could do.

would i need goggles for a 15mw?

 

[pyromancer]

from what i have heard others say, i would get goggles for anything above 5mw. with a 15mw you never know it might be outputting 20 or 25 mw.

 

[tommygreen23]

at 15mW the human blink responce should protect you well enough, just as long as you dont go stareing into it :-?
you shouldnt stare into any laser with goggles or not, its still not safe because of ir light.
for goggles, i would suggest them for anything over 55mW. under that level, teh dot becomes hard to see, which defeats the pupose. if you are pointing at a wall 5 feet away with 15mW, there would be almost 0 threat for eye damage.

 

[lasers3131]

i would use them at 35 or 55mw

 

[dorkultra]

i flashed myself last night attempting to light a match with my pulsar. the dot hit a shiny book cover behind the match. i'm very very lucky that the reflection broke up enough to not cause any damage. from now on, i'm going to be much more careful, considering 179 mw will destroy your retinas faster than you can imagine

 

[kingzilla]

I think it depends what you use yur laser for. If all you ever do is starpoint, then you don't need googles even for a spyder, but if you want to do close up tricks like burning then google are probably needed. 75mw is the first laser that really will need goggle for close up work, anything less you can probably, if you are very careful, get away without them.

 

[NairB]

:-/

EEK....i cringe every time i read the various posts regarding this subject but can i say that goggles should be worn when using lasers at CLOSE PROXIMITY above 1mW in UK or 5mW in US.

They MUST be worn when using lasers at CLOSE PROXIMITY any higher than 5mW and no questions asked on the subject above 35mW.

CLOSE PROXIMITY - means burning matches, using prisms, mirrors, anything that can give bright specular reflections within the confines of your room/lab.

THE DAMAGE CAUSED - With the high powered greenies...At best you will get a headache. At worst and depending if the beam has a direct hit on the optic nerve on the back of the retina.....BLINDNESS im afraid.......so WHY risk it.

Lasers are meant to be enjoyable & fun......why do you want to spend a few hours having headaches at best

Millions of lasers to buy.........Only one pair of eyes (lol, that rhymes)

So pleeeez wear goggles at CLOSE PROXIMITY

Oh and here is that link again......http://www.milankarakas.org/pub/Eye_injury/Eye_injury.html

There is also a blink reflex graph somewhere that shows how quickly damage will occur with 5mW lasers....a real eye opener if you pardon the pun