Can anyone answer this definitively; RE xbox 360 Kinect and distance safety

[ElmoZach]

So I got my friends old xbox kinetic and have always been sceptical about the safety of the laser inside of it, never really used one except for really far away like your suppose to, and I have always been sceptical about looking into the laser even from far away. Today, I decided to plug in the kinetic and forgot about the anxiety I had with it and I plugged it into my xbox at my computer desk and had my kinetic ontop of my pc monitor.

My concern is I have tried looking into the safety of this thing and cant really find a straight answer, the thing is class 1 but trying to search upon that I realized its safe indefinitely but at what range / distance? I have turned the kinetic off for now, I don't "feel" any different because I know the eye has no pain feeling, its probably me being paranoid, but I want to know when I was sitting at just over 2ft from the sensor it was a very short time but I also looked at it from about 2ft away also.

So the underlining question is will it/would it have damaged my eye in any way looking at the laser directly from these exact distances because I did and am now paranoid :c

1st time - 74CM away
2nd time - 70-71CM away

 

[Cyparagon]

*sigh*... here's some wiki copy pasta.


A Class 1 laser is safe under all conditions of normal use. This means the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) cannot be exceeded when viewing a laser with the naked eye or with the aid of typical magnifying optics (e.g. telescope or microscope). To verify compliance, the standard specifies the aperture and distance corresponding to the naked eye, a typical telescope viewing a collimated beam, and a typical microscope viewing a divergent beam. It is important to realize that certain lasers classified as Class 1 may still pose a hazard when viewed with a telescope or microscope of sufficiently large aperture. For example, a high-power laser with a very large collimated beam or very highly divergent beam may be classified as Class 1 if the power that passes through the apertures defined in the standard is less than the AEL for Class 1; however, an unsafe power level may be collected by a magnifying optic with larger aperture.

 

[Things]

M$ would have been sent to the moon and back about laser regulations on their products. You're at a greater risk of eye damage walking outside. From memory the actual diode is 60mW or so.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

That 60mW is spread out over many, many tiny points that create the grid that is used for calculated the 3D image. The resolution is 640x480, but they probably use some scanning to obtain that resolution. Each point is probably well below the amount of power needed to harm you eyes, and each point is moving, so the time period the point will reside on a surface is small too.

 

[ElmoZach]

*sigh*... here's some wiki copy pasta.


A Class 1 laser is safe under all conditions of normal use.......

I did look up class 1 on google, and looked at the wiki on laser classifications, I am sure I didn't see anything on distance, I wouldn't have just posted here without searching for a while, Sorry to waste your time mate (Y)... Was only looking for some friendly advice but thanks... real appreciated (sarcasm)..

As for the rest of the replies thanks for real. So I guess even though I was sitting really close to the kinetic, I could look at the laser through a telescope or a pair of binoculars and still be fine. So I am assuming that sitting about 4ft away from the kinect is not harmful at all? Thanks

 

[Cyparagon]

I am sure I didn't see anything on distance

"...safe under all conditions of normal use..."

Standing too close to the TV (or even walking past it, for that matter) qualifies as a condition of normal use. :yh:

 

[ElmoZach]

"...safe under all conditions of normal use..."

Standing too close to the TV (or even walking past it, for that matter) qualifies as a condition of normal use. :yh:

"normal conditions" I assumed the normal conditions was standing far from the kinect enough room to move around and perform full range of movement. Either way I think you've proved your point, but there was no need for the sigh and being rude. I'm done with this now the thread can be closed.