How do I use my alignment laser?

[GalileoPro]

Hi, years ago I purchased a LaserGlow Anser and was absolutely in love with it. Fast-forward 4 years and I'm currently laserless, so yesterday I did what I often do and impulsively bought something well out of my price range. In this case it was a LaserGlow 5 mW Galileo Pro, without fully understanding the benefits of said "Pro" status.

First off, I have nothing to align. I don't even really know what that means. I'm just a college kid who wanted to impress his girlfriend at night on the beach. What am I actually getting with the Pro that I wouldn't have with the regular Galileo, what is the Pro actually designed for, and how do I utilize these improvements?

 

[diachi]

Hi, years ago I purchased a LaserGlow Anser and was absolutely in love with it. Fast-forward 4 years and I'm currently laserless, so yesterday I did what I often do and impulsively bought something well out of my price range. In this case it was a LaserGlow 5 mW Galileo Pro, without fully understanding the benefits of said "Pro" status.

First off, I have nothing to align. I don't even really know what that means. I'm just a college kid who wanted to impress his girlfriend at night on the beach. What am I actually getting with the Pro that I wouldn't have with the regular Galileo, what is the Pro actually designed for, and how do I utilize these improvements?

Galileo Pro with adjustable beam alignment. Adjustable set screws can be used to direct the beam parallel to the housing, as beams in most hand-held laser pointers are not guaranteed parallel. This makes the Galileo PRO a perfect choice where the body of the laser should serve as your alignment guide, or when the laser rotates on a shaft.

From the product page.


Good feature to have if you're using it on a telescope or something that requires the beam to be aligned parallel, or close to parallel with something else.

 

[GalileoPro]

Yeah I've read that, so it basically adjusts the direction?

 

[diachi]

Yeah I've read that, so it basically adjusts the direction?

Yeah - beams never exit pointers perfectly parallel to the pointer. You won't notice it in most typical pointer situations because it's a fairly small deviation, but if you have something sensitive to alignment you'll notice it. This laser lets you adjust that to some extent so that you can get the beam (close to) perfectly parallel with the pointer.

Take a round pointer, sit it on a table with the beam pointed at a flat surface a few feet away (A wall works fine) and then roll the pointer across the table with your hand. You'll notice that the beam moves vertically as you rotate it - at least in most cases. Some will be worse than others.