Looking to buy a laser for survival purposes

[hakzaw1]

WHAT?
are we still asking about getting into trouble using a laser to signal help when you ARE already in trouble..that is silly to even wonder about...

now if its not an emergency-- yeah you would be in trouble then. In fact if you go to laserpointersafety.org and READ

you will learn a lot including about the FBI cash reward for info on anyone doing 'laser pranks' fed time (NO EARLY OUT)

and big ass fine too
.. so PLEASE just never use a laser at night if you know aircraft ( of any type) nearby.. and NOT at all within 10 miles of ANY airports- or HELI Landing pads-- btw there is a pad near most every PD and at EVERY hospital..
where btw some helis were heading with injuried on board and some total jerkwads find it funny to lase them.........

.... that's OK

PD has their own helis (and drones) and are experts at finding you and sending a boatload of cops to your door... no warrant needed as you are NOW a terrorist not a prankster!

:tsk:

 

[paul1598419]

It really depends on how far away the helicopter is and if the pilot is looking in your direction. At half a mile this would be very important as the beam would diverge to the point where it would cover the whole aircraft. That is very little power making it to one's eyes.

But, hakzaw1 is right. The flashlight is a much better option for signaling for help.

 

[IceKnight366]

WHAT?
are we still asking about getting into trouble using a laser to signal help when you ARE already in trouble..that is silly to even wonder about...

now if its not an emergency-- yeah you would be in trouble then. In fact if you go to laserpointersafety.org and READ

you will learn a lot including about the FBI cash reward for info on anyone doing 'laser pranks' fed time (NO EARLY OUT)

and big ass fine too
.. so PLEASE just never use a laser at night if you know aircraft ( of any type) nearby.. and NOT at all within 10 miles of ANY airports- or HELI Landing pads-- btw there is a pad near most every PD and at EVERY hospital..
where btw some helis were heading with injuried on board and some total jerkwads find it funny to lase them.........

.... that's OK

PD has their own helis (and drones) and are experts at finding you and sending a boatload of cops to your door... no warrant needed as you are NOW a terrorist not a prankster!

:tsk:

No... we're not talking about that anymore. In fact, I never was. The thread was hijacked for a while by someone who brought that up.

 

[IceKnight366]

It really depends on how far away the helicopter is and if the pilot is looking in your direction. At half a mile this would be very important as the beam would diverge to the point where it would cover the whole aircraft. That is very little power making it to one's eyes.

But, hakzaw1 is right. The flashlight is a much better option for signaling for help.

Oka, so basically I'm getting a "no" from two different people. That's good to know that I'm not going to waste hundreds of dollars on something that's not even going to work well hah.

What flashlights would you recommend?

Anyone else have input?

 

[steve001]

Oka, so basically I'm getting a "no" from two different people. That's good to know that I'm not going to waste hundreds of dollars on something that's not even going to work well hah.

What flashlights would you recommend?

Anyone else have input?

For recommendations and far more expertise on flashlights visit Candle Power Forums.

 

[Harrison]

I mean, this is kinda why God invented radios. There are push-one-button emergency transmitters that will send your GPS coordinates to a satellite and direct rescuers straight to you. The more modern ones allow text messages to be sent as well. Just look for "emergency personal locator beacon" or EPIRB using your favorite search engine.

If you want full two-way voice comms, cellphones work nearly everywhere in the lower 49 states now, and satellite phones work everywhere on the planet. If you're going on an expedition to deepest darkest Gondwanaland, you can rent one for a month.

 

[Gazen]

In a true emergency, the dangers of using a laser for signaling aircraft are reasonable. The visibility of a laser of better than a flashlight, try a green laser, a 532nm would be good for the low divergence.

Who cares about prison time and a fine when the alternative is death? In all over situations though, it is best to avoid using lasers in the vicinity of any vehicles.

Jetlasers and sanwu offer high quality lasers, some of which claim to be waterproof. The optics and diode will still be fragile though.

 

[T_Warne]

I mean, this is kinda why God invented radios. There are push-one-button emergency transmitters that will send your GPS coordinates to a satellite and direct rescuers straight to you. The more modern ones allow text messages to be sent as well. Just look for "emergency personal locator beacon" or EPIRB using your favorite search engine.

Yes! Exactly!

 

[RedCowboy]

How about one of those high DB pocket noise makers.

 

[steve001]

In a true emergency, the dangers of using a laser for signaling aircraft are reasonable. The visibility of a laser of better than a flashlight, try a green laser, a 532nm would be good for the low divergence.

Who cares about prison time and a fine when the alternative is death? In all over situations though, it is best to avoid using lasers in the vicinity of any vehicles.

Jetlasers and sanwu offer high quality lasers, some of which claim to be waterproof. The optics and diode will still be fragile though.

You've provided inadvisable advice. 532nm lasers are temperature and shock sensitive.

 

[Benm]

My logic also would be that getting rescued is worth any fines - and you probably will not even get one in most countries if it was an actual emergency and you had to laser a plane or heli to safe your life.

532 nm would indeed be a bad option since they are sensitive to temperature and shock.

And as far as radio systems go: they'd be preferable, but in case of EPIRB very expensive too - it'd be advisable to rent one if you go do something where chances of an emergency are high, like multi-day jungle/mountain trekking in area's without any cellular service.

If you plan to go that far and feel you may need to communicate it might actually be more economical to rent an Iridium satphone, though many models are not as rugged as the emergency beacons are. The upside is that you can have a clear voice communication with anyone on earth and actually know rescue is on the way or not.

But as a last resort using a laser to attract attention if you're in an emergency is probably not that bad: maybe they'll send the police over to find/fine you, and if you're actually in distress they might just give you a ride back to civilization

 

[paul1598419]

Yes, if you just happened to have a laser along with you when you went hiking and got stranded. It would be better to use it than dying because it happens to be illegal. Some people do take lasers along wiith them when hiking. ArcticDude comes to mind. If you are out in the wilderness, it can be fun to use a laser to point to stars or other objects on the ground. Would need to be fairly dark out, though.

 

[IceKnight366]

Thank you for all the responses guys. Unfortunately, there is less consensus on the topic than I was hoping for. Also, I was hoping we would be able to stay on topic slightly more than we are. Great ideas about radios, sat phones, distress beacons, etc... But I am referring solely to visually signaling rescuers or other hikers/passerbyes.

I was thinking a 532 only because I've heard that wave length is picked up by the human eye the easiest, thus being more likely to be seen. But if the 532 is a bad idea because of it's thermodynamic and kinetic sensitivity, are other waves comperably better than 532? It's probably better to sacrafice visibility for durability in this case.

What would you guys say are some examples of waves that are more durable in this sense? And indeed, how durable are we talking about? For example, could I casually toss my pack to the side with a 532? Is 100F too hot to be walking around with a 532 if it were in direct sunlight? Not in direct sunlight? That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for to be sure if I should spend over $100 on a laser or not.

On a side note, are there lenses around that will limit the how visibile the beam is? This could have appicibility for pointing out various routes up ahead if one had a good enough vantage point. Just a thought.

 

[hakzaw1]

wth? GUYS
BOTH myself and the OP would like to get back OT.
read my post--'silly to even consider that' IT's totally 'legal' =it was written into the law. BIG DIFF between lasing for help VS a prankster -lets move on- enough about getting into troble if you are signallyfor help-you are already in trouble duh
>>>>>>>>
Okay here is a good suggestion.
You prolly have already heard about Jetlasers lasers.. sadly - the perfect laser for you is not being made YET!
Putting in a request at JL for a new version of Yamtaka (JL.org/yamataka)
It would be nice to see a 'Yama' w/o the stun.. the 250 --300mW 520 green laser and the powerful LED- both w/ many 'modes' like SOS.
water proof-
last you a lifetime
a real warranty and repairs at low cost AFTER the warranty expires.
CRAZY fast DHL Express-- the ONLY smart way!! and less than 72 hrs.
Very well done webstore quick replys to Qs. no language issues.
now granted you can find cheaper- AND the Yama is on the heavy side.
I would not like to be bonked on the head with one.
No rest/duty- 100% - and uses the batteries we like best.
I am still looking for the right nylon holster. one with place for batts. Its too fat for the JL Nylon.
AND the JL Nylon is too short for a ProPle-with beam expander.. & second batt tube.
personally if you stun-gunned me- better grease up that stungun so it hurts less when I shove.... n/m
no clue as to price- hardly any out there by others for price comparisons and ..well.. we know what happens when you buy cheap. SURE would be an awesome thing for your dad/grandpa/ brother/ uncle etc who hunts- goes offshore-ETC to find under the tree or for a BDay. :san::bday::beer:

needs a holster and lanyard.. it does NOT float...

hak:friend:

 

[Benm]

Something 520 nm direct diode would be the best way to go, considering price, robustness and temperature range of operation.

It'd also be very good for pointing out stars and such if you are into that.

And yeah, you can get in a hairy situation when doing astronomical observations: you take your jeep and drive into the desert quite a bit to get away from light pollution... and then the jeep fails for some reason. Regular cell service might not reach where you are either, if you just drive inland for 30 km or so to find a dark spot chances are pretty good you'll be out of range of any cell towers by then too.

It may not be common in densely populated areas, but in countries that have pretty good conditions for stargazing (say, egypt) a 30 minute drive can put you outside of any cell service, and too far away to walk back unless you brought a lot of water with you.

I've been to such places, and your options really are very limited. This is mostly the reason they rarely go with a single car to a remote location, since it's unlikely two cars break down at the same time.

If you do go out that far with a single car you'd probably carry some communication gear with you, like VHF/UHF radio's... but if those run off the car battery you're still stuck.

 

[ragebot]

The difficulty in answering your question is figuring out just what you are looking for. As an example I am not sure what someone would do after seeing the beam from say a 7w Sanwu shining straight up in the sky. Even if you used the standard SOS signal it might not get the response you wanted. Not to mention the Sanwu has something like a 60 second duty cycle. There are probably lasers with better duty cycles and similar or better visibility but still seeing a beam in the sky is not viewed as a call for help. On the other hand if you had a radio/phone/what ever the beam might be helpful in the last part of the rescue.


I was considering something similar to use on my boat in an emergency situation, but only after I had used my boat mounted EPIRB, and probably in conjunction with my VHF radio on an emergency channel and likely in bad weather. Not to mention that I also carry a personal EPIRB that is water proof, floats, and has a strong white strobe that is activated when dropped in water or by switch, which can also turn it off. All this in addition to a second personal EPIRB that has (as long as I pay a monthly subscription fee of $US30 a month) simple email ability as well.


While this seems like overkill (even to me) I have a catamaran which has two hulls (so if one fills with water the boat will still float) in addition to four compartments filled with foam so if both hulls are filled with water the deck will still be a couple of inches above the surface. Also have a life raft and an inflatable dinghy.


Of course I spend lots of time out of sight of land, or in places where it is common for me not to see another boat for a couple of weeks at a time. Point I am trying to make is the amount of emergency stuff you carry should be a function of what you are doing. How long will you be backpacking and how far will you be from say cell service. As mentioned most places in the US you should be getting coverage. If you are in a place with no cell service there are other options that would offer a much better chance of contacting help than shining a blue laser beam in the sky.