Radiant Shades safetey goggles

[firelight]

Hi all, I've got a question for all those that wish to answer.

I ordered some radiant shades safety goggles: RadiantShades for Blue and Green Lasers
as a preemptive safety measure for my first laser build (a 404nm BR ~200mw from a 6x diode, build in progress). As you can see the wavelength range these goggles claim to protect for is 400nm - 550nm with OD 2.5@445nm and 2.7@532. After they arrived, I am relatively pleased with them, I do not have my new laser complete yet, so I have yet to use them with any laser higher than ~50mw. Out of curiousity, I ordered a pair of very cheap ($7 US) laser safety goggles off of ebay. They look exactly the same as the ones from radiant electronics, except no OD rating was given. I don't intend on these protecting my eyes, but I wanted to see if they were effective at all. To my great surprise, When observing my 5mW greenie, and my 50mW LED Shoppe green laser with both glasses, the cheap ebay ones make the light look dimmer. In fact, with the ebay glasses I can't even see the green light with the 5mw (only the IR) and I can see only the faintest of green dots with the 50mW.

I am more inclined to believe that the radiant shades (which actually list an OD) are more effective, but that's not really what I'm seeing. I have seen several goggles talk about the amount of transmitted visual light vs protection levels. Would it make any sense that the radiant shades allow me to see the laser dot better, but still reduce the light intensities to a safe levels, or is it just more likely that I got an oddball pair of cheap chinese safety goggles from ebay that actually do something?

I'm sorry I don't have a laser power meter to test any of my suspicions, that's next on the shopping list, I just need to scrape up $140 somewhere. But if and when I do, I'll be interested to see (and post :yh: ) the results.

In the mean time, thoughts? opinions? experience with radiant shades? all opinions are welcome.

 

[MarioMaster]

It might be possible that your ebay goggles actually do have a higher OD at 532nm.

I sell these because I have done damage and OD testing and they have proven themselves to provide adequate protection for fairly high powered lasers while still being able to see the laser fairly well for aiming purposes and whatnot.

It's up to you which ones you think will protect you better. As I say on my store page, safety goggles should be a last line of defense and your laser experiments should be safe by design.

 

[firelight]

Thanks for the info, I'm always glad to here there's someone on the other end actually testing these things, and I'm always inclined to believe someone who's up front about OD's and testing than someone who's not. :thanks:

 

[Bluefan]

The testing is probably the only difference, but damage testing and OD testing gives more security then the cheap untested stuff around. I still prefer certified laser safety eyewear though, they offer security I trust my eyes with.
A setup should be safe, but accidents can happen and your goggles should offer protection without doubt.