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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Laser eye protection question.

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I'm getting a 30mw green laser and want to know if it's safe to view the dot on surfaces such as walls and floors without eye protection. I know to avoid direct exposure by either pointing the laser directly at myself or reflecting the beam back at myself. I know this is a very noob question, but I have no experience with anything more powerful than an office depot pointer.
 





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Anything over 5mW can damage the eyes giving the right circumstances I wouldn't recommend it, if you do wanna look at the dot/beam look at it from a distance an make sure there's nothing it could reflect off of, tho I could be wrong and correct me if I am :) always be careful stay safe
 
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Anything over 5mW can damage the eyes giving the right circumstances I wouldn't recommend it, if you do wanna look at the dot/beam look at it from a distance an make sure there's nothing it could reflect off of, tho I could be wrong and correct me if I am :) always be careful stay safe
Agree. Anything more than 5mw need laser goggles. It doesn't matter if the beam that might hit your eyes is direct or not, no matter what , even if the beam that might hit your eye is indirect, ur eyes will still be affected

You only got 2 seeing balls, treasure it well. If you gt blind because of not wearing goggles, it is not worth it
 
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Yes at 30mW this will be safe, but not up too close, and be very careful of reflective surfaces like glass or metal.

Alan
 
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Agree. Anything more than 5mw need laser goggles. It doesn't matter if the beam that might hit your eyes is direct or not, no matter what , even if the beam that might hit your eye is indirect, ur eyes will still be affected

You only got 2 seeing balls, treasure it well. If you gt blind because of not wearing goggles, it is not worth it

haha that's true :) googles is a must! Indefinite of how your using it then
 
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gozert

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I don't agree with people saying you really need goggles for everything over 5mw. If you use common sense and don't point at reflective surfaces or look at the dot from too close, there won't be any harm done. I mainly use my goggles for burning or watching my high powered lasers up close. What's the fun in having a laser that you absolutely can't use without wearing goggles? I use my 70mw green laser daily indoors and point it across the room, on a non-reflective wall.

Of course I don't suggest pointing with more than 100mw indoors, that can be dangerous regardless of there being reflective surfaces or not. For outdoors, I haven't even once used goggles. I only point in the sky though, so it's not like anything is going to reflect the beam from there.
 
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gozert

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It is all a matter of perspective. People recommend it because they want to play safe.

Yeah, I know. And they're right that you need to be as careful as you can since you only have one pair of eyes. But sometimes people tend to exaggerate a little bit.
 
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It's like driving a car with no seatbelt you know you can do it but if something was to happen your gonna wish u had the seatbelt on same circumstance with the googles.
 
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Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will !!!

The problem is risk vs. potential damage. Assuming that the beam hit only a nice wall across the room, it's OK, BUT if by some chance you hit something that reflects into your eye, you risk blindness.

(1) Use laser safety glasses. The only drawback is the cost, it's minor, but it protects you.

(2) Put a patch over one eye. If you do blind yourself, you'll only be blind in one eye.

(3) Run the risk of blindness in one or more eye.


Maybe your chances of blinding yourself is small, BUT the potential damage if you mess up is massive.


Bob Diaz
 

gozert

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Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will !!!

The problem is risk vs. potential damage. Assuming that the beam hit only a nice wall across the room, it's OK, BUT if by some chance you hit something that reflects into your eye, you risk blindness.

(1) Use laser safety glasses. The only drawback is the cost, it's minor, but it protects you.

(2) Put a patch over one eye. If you do blind yourself, you'll only be blind in one eye.

(3) Run the risk of blindness in one or more eye.


Maybe your chances of blinding yourself is small, BUT the potential damage if you mess up is massive.


Bob Diaz

I hope you're not actually serious about covering one eye with a patch. You're probably better off selling your lasers and never touching one again if you're that afraid to get blinded by one.
 

joeyss

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Yes at 30mW this will be safe, but not up too close, and be very careful of reflective surfaces like glass or metal.

Alan

I look at my dots from like 8+ feet away and never lost vision. However bear in mind this goes out the window with those class 4( above 500mw) muiltiwat 445nm lasers unless the dot is 50 feet away on a non reflective surface. assume worst cause windows reflect 5-10% at worst back like a mirror so up to 50mw may be safe , but I wouldn't want to try it since there are too many unknowns with goggles and a LPM to test that. Foom what I've seen metal tends make a very diffuse refection at a distance but can be bright very close. so wear googles till you get a feel for laser reflections. ( I have an idea for it due 5 years of laser use.) When in doubt goggle up tho like I did at first.

Also the reflections from glass can be random and chaotic up close so yeah wear googles...trust me you'lll thank me for it one day.
 
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There is really not much benefit that you will get for not wearing the laser goggles, ie. being able to see the beam. Thus, an obvious decision would be to buy the eye protection and protect your eyes, so you can prevent possible blindness while you do whatever you need to do with the laser.
As for the the point about there being minimal chance of a damage, I would like to point out that minimal chance is still chance, and that we are better off sticking to protection as we only have 2 eyes to depend on for our sense of sight
 

gozert

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There is really not much benefit that you will get for not wearing the laser goggles, ie. being able to see the beam. Thus, an obvious decision would be to buy the eye protection and protect your eyes, so you can prevent possible blindness while you do whatever you need to do with the laser.
As for the the point about there being minimal chance of a damage, I would like to point out that minimal chance is still chance, and that we are better off sticking to protection as we only have 2 eyes to depend on for our sense of sight

The benefit for not always wearing glasses actually is being able to see the beam and dot. What would be the point of getting anything other than a single 5mw pointer when you are always wearing glasses? There's no fun in that.

Using common sense is quite enough for not blinding yourself. For example, you don't use a anything over 100mw to point inside. You don't point on any reflective surfaces inside or outside. You use good mounts and tripods for your lasers instead of laying them on a desk with the chance that they'll fall off and hit you in the eye. And much more.
 
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Yes gozert is right, tripods with clamps. Here are my tripods: http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/targus-tripod-88257.html
Yes that photo is really me. If you're taking a photo put the laser in a tripod. Otherwise have both hands free to handle the laser. If you use anything class 4 inside especially if you put it in a tripod take care what it's pointed at because it can be a real fire hazard. I do use powerful lasers inside and quickly learned extreme caution is required.

Alan
 

gozert

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Yes gozert is right, tripods with clamps. Here are my tripods: http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/targus-tripod-88257.html
Yes that photo is really me. If you're taking a photo put the laser in a tripod. Otherwise have both hands free to handle the laser. If you use anything class 4 inside especially if you put it in a tripod take care what it's pointed at because it can be a real fire hazard. I do use powerful lasers inside and quickly learned extreme caution is required.

Alan

I use my 650+ mw LG Hercules inside too. I mount it on a 5ft high tripod and point it just behind my bed. That way there's no way of looking at the dot. The walls are white and not made from wood, so there's no real fire hazard.

For burning things, I do always use glasses. The reflections from burning materials can harm your eyes for sure. I also use my glasses for setting things up with mirrors or other optics, and only take them off when I'm sure there's no chance of accidently walking into a beam.
 




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