You know after reading some of the comment about glases and such I think I really need to make a educational post about laser safety. There's so much misinformation and outright dangerous info out here.
you guys need to understand the light is light, and the amount that goes into your eyes is what does the damage. there's an obvious diffrence between shooting the beam directly into your eye and looking at a dot. The dot however, is still a reflection, a diffuse reflection - meaning the light is getting scattered in all directions as opposed to a specular reflection where it's being reflected into one direction. diffuse reflection are just as dangerous. if you are too close the light isn't scattering and you can get enough light going in to do damage.
I like using the waterhose analogy with lasers. a diffuse reflection is like squirting a hose against a wall. the water sprays all over, and the closer you are the wetter you will get.
there are precise measurements for accounting for pupil size, the divergance of beams and reflectivity to determine what the safe distance is if any and what protections should be used. Granted most of these are to insure there's no possible way to get any damage. Lasers are prettier when they are dangerous, but there are safe ways to watch pretty dangerous lasers, such as using a tripod and controlling the environment so no one else can be inadventantly hurt by walking in or whatever.
My personal threshold levels are > 50 mw, have eye protection available, > 200mw use the eye protection for setup and keep it ready nearby ( like on your head ) and > 500mw wear the eye protection constantly and only take it off/peek after setup and safety is assured and you are out of the danger area, meaning you can no longer directly interact with the laser or anything it is contacting, such as optics etc..
you have no idea how many close calls I have had with even a 200 mw setup where I've been aligning somehting and caught a face full of green or blue just from the beam slightly touching the edge of an optic or a fixture or something. Even a shot off of your wrist with a 500mw is blindingly bright up close. All it takes though is one time not being lucky to have a permanent reminder.
The waiting sucks horribly....I WILL PM and post info if any are available after they all arrive - everyone will get a fair shake at the spares if any 