Hey LPF Greetings from ireland pretty new so ive few questions if someone can help :)

[Adam Kelly]

Hey, well ive recently became interested in lasers, i guess i always had an interest in them starting with the cheap little ones you'd buy at a street market or something, but i recently ordered a 200mW green from Lazerpoint.com and its currently being shipped out to me Buy 854 200mW 532nm Green Beam Laser Pointer (Black) in US$ 36.95 in Low Price- Free Shipping

What i was hoping is that maybe an experienced member could give me their opinion about this purchase, and clarify a few things for me things like "is it good or bad being 200mW and only 41 dollars" "does it look like like it would be underspec or overspec?" im aware that it probably wont be 200mW on the dot
but anywhere over 100mW and ill be happy

I've been browsing the forum for the past week (Brilliant site btw) learning what i can,(alot so far) im well aware that about the safety issues surrounding lasers above 5mW, but dont bite my head of when i ask this,(Ive ordered goggles too) i value my sight more than anything, but at the same time i wanna be able to enjoy using the laser, now i realise if im burning something or experimenting or whatever to use the goggles, of course, but if im shining it off non reflective surfaces say a wall, or if im shining it outside, are the goggles nessesary for every second that i have the laser on to prevent eye damage?

I would also ask if someone could explain the possible damage of the invisible Infra Red leaking out of the laser because im seeing some threads saying its the worst thing ever, and others saying its nothing to worry about, or if you could direct me to a thread which has the right explanation

Aswel i have ordered a pair of goggles but if someone could give me a site with cheap but proper ones (if possible), free shippings always handy too liveing in ireland and all


I really didn't know where else to write this so id said id write it here to be safe, i know i said don't bite my head off, but if any things horribly wrong with what ive written feel free to do so


Thanks

 

[Eudaimonium]

Hey man, greetings,

Yeah your $40 pen will probably never be 200mW, but we did see some fairly nice 120-150mW green modules running for $30 or so (also advertised as 200mW), so I wouldn't worry too much about it. It's not a real laser if you don't need to save money for a noticeable amount of time for it

Infared emissions from green pointers are barely worth the term "concern". IR light but a margin of the green output and not collimated. If a green laser module with green output of 100mW would have a 50mW IR side-product, those 50mW would stop being dangerous after maybe 2 feet, simply because of too low power density.

If you happen to have any other questions regarding basic stuff, you can feel free to shoot me Personal Message (PM for short).