looking to purchase my first red laser.... rayfoss?

[clipboard]

Hello all,

I,m new to this forum and wanting to purchase my first red laser. I"m looking at the rayfoss 660mn lasers. would 200mn be enough to light matches and fireworks? which model would be best? I was looking at the FLX. do I have to worry about IR light? I will also purchase a set of safty glasses also from them. They look to be at a good price.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

I,m new to this forum and wanting to purchase my first red laser. I"m looking at the rayfoss 660nm lasers. would 200mW be enough to light matches and fireworks? which model would be best? I was looking at the FLX. do I have to worry about IR light? I will also purchase a set of safty glasses also from them. They look to be at a good price.

Welcome to LPF.

Couple of corrections to your post up there. Milliwatts or mW for short, refers to the overall power of the laser. Nanometers or nm refers to the wavelength. For example 660nm is dark red, 445nm is blue.

200mW is enough to light a match, or fireworks. I'm glad that you are investing in goggles. You absolutely MUST wear goggles when burning with a laser. A direct hit, or a reflection will do damage to your eyes. Even staring at the dot from up close without goggles is dangerous.

Goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, never point at people, cars, planes, animals, etc,.

I would recommend another company as it has a much better reputation right now than raysfoss. Lazerer.com:

LZCS - 650nm 200mW Focusable Red Laser Pointer

You can also pay an extra two dollars to have your laser output tested before it is shipped to you.

 

[joshshermannn1]

IR light is only in 532nm lasers (green) is this your first laser?

 

[clipboard]

no I purchased a green 50mw 2aaa from laser pointer pro . it got me hooked on lasers. it probably puts out close to 50 mw as I can see beam at night . but was not aware of ir of cheap green lasers. I want one more powerful but also use the goggles with the 200mw lasers. I like that website I am very familiar to rechargeable 3.7v batteries as I am into flashlights as well.

 

[JohnTheRipper]

Welcome to the forums, please get goggles, and never point any laser at cars/planes/boats/people/animals.

If you want a highly visible beam, green is the way to go. And it's generally a bit better at burning than red from what I've heard.

 

[InfinitusEquitas]

If you want a highly visible beam, green is the way to go. And it's generally a bit better at burning than red from what I've heard.

Since you brought up burning with green.. how about you also warn about IR presence in all green lasers?

The burning ability of a laser depends on how well the target material absorbs a particular wavelengths. The 532nm spectrum is more energetic, but not by much. There is no significant advantage in burning with a green laser vs a red laser but there is added danger in the form of IR.

Also green lasers are quite a bit more expensive.

@clipboard - for a cheap burning laser stick with red.

 

[hakzaw1]

You only need to worry about un or under filtered IR in DPSS lasers- like 532 -473- et al. Good brands and builds use good IR filtration. You can add a filter to a laser. Radiant sells nice ones. Check out the search, tutorials and stickies here at LPF and for even more go to Sam's LaserFAQ- 17 yrs of laser info,,for free and no ads.,