Wow, I am constantly amazed at how quickly people in this forum are to brand someone a "troll" and think they are purposely trying to mislead everyone. It seems like anyone who doesn't see eye to eye with the regulars or who shows ignorance about the inner details of laserology is a troll - especially if they stick up for themselves.
I almost laughed when a few of you actually thought Toasty was faking his video.
He may be trying too hard to convince us (and really he's more trying to convince himself) that a high power laser isn't really THAT bright and that goggles aren't totally neccesary, but that doesn't make him a troll or a liar or a bad guy. He just doesn't want to wear goggles and is trying his best to paint a picture which will make ANYONE here tell him "oh well if you live in a house with no reflective surfaces by all means go right ahead!" (it was pretty funny when you tried to convince us that you really do live in a matte-finish home. Seriously, give up on that one, everyone's home has hundreds of reflective surfaces whether you are aware of it or not).
Toasty, NO ONE WANTS TO WEAR GOGGLES. It sucks. We all want to stare at the pretty lights. I'm sure plenty of people out there will play with lasers their whole life, never wear goggles and never have a problem.
But if fortune doesn't smile upon you and your luck turns for even one second, a little laser goblin in the shape of an eyeball is waiting to pounce. And there is no turning back when that happens - once the zombie bites you, it's all over.
Even if your laser isn't a full watt, clearly it's very powerful. If it lights a match in less than a second, just imagine what a split second of contact with your eye would be like? Thats basically an entire lasik session, after which you could have permanently altered vision.
The problem is these "toys" are only going to get cheaper and MORE powerful and, because that's just the way it goes, before you know it all of us are going to end up with TWO WATT yellow handhelds.
That alone is reason enough to get in the habit of using eye protection; sure, maybe you can dodge the bullet and go commando with the lasers you have now, but in 2 or 3 year you'll have one 2 or 3 times as powerful and that bad habit is going to backfire.
Everyone who puts on a pair of goggles I'm sure does it with a frown, just the same we we all curse the air when we put on a condom - but that frown gets turned upside down when you find out she has AIDS and you go "whew that was a close one" but even so you're stuck with that whore because somehow she still managed to get pregnant (god knows if it's even yours) and so you basically had to let her move in and now your studio apartment smells like diapers and the ironic thing is you don't even need condoms anymore because the LAST thing you want to do is share a bed with that disgusting -
Ok, maybe I'm straying a bit off topic, but you get it.
), and mentioned the $300 dollar mark in the post below the one you quoted there, in the hope Toaster may go looking. Still seemed to be a bit pricey to, 'prove a point', for him though.
:crackup: