Safety glasses: What % of laser light do they block? Any combo deals?

[LightBeamConcentrate]

I just ordered my 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th lasers in the last 3 days. The nly laser I own and have in my possession right now is an advertised 1mW keychain red laser. That being the case, I have not yet bought safety glasses/goggles.

Now I'd assumed that laser safety goggles were going to be a bit like regular safety glasses and safety equipment, in that it protects you from the dangerous stuff, but allows you to still enjoy the hobby, or sport, or still do the work. In other words, common sense seemed to dictate that, like sunglasses or regular safety glasses, they would protect your eyes, but not completely prevent you from being able to see what the heck you are doing!

But the other day, while reading another thread here, a member seemed to be describing laser safety goggles in a way that sounded as if they actually work by completely blocking the visible laser light altogether. Oddly, if thats true, it sounds both stupid and smart at the same time!

But........if I were to get into tennis as a hobby, and someone told me I needed to buy safety equipment that would protect me, but would also be so restrictive that it would completely prevent me from moving around the court, or returning a serve, it would completely defeat the whole purpose, and make it impossible to play the game!:cryyy:

On the same token, if laser safety goggle prevent you from seeing the laser altogether, then I may as well save all the money I'd spend on lasers, and just go outside at night and point my finger in the air and pretend I can magically shoot lasers from my finger tips! What would be the difference? I wouldnt be able to see the laser anyway with the glasses on....... If all your friends put on safety goggles, then nobody could see the laser!

Whats the deal, and can you actually see 'any' of the laser light while wearing a quality pair of safety goggles?

Also, I just ordered that 3 laser value pack listed on another forum, that are proven by other members to be seriously over-spec. The red one is around 100mW+, the green one and violet ones are between 30-90Mw I believe. They are all listed as being <5mW on Amazon.com.

So, obviously I need safety goggles for 650nm red, 532nm green, and 4-something nm for violet(?)

Is there a 'safety goggle value pack' anywhere for sale that covers the "popular" wavelength's? Hopefully one that doesnt cost over $100.:thanks:

 

[Wolfman29]

The thing about goggles is that they really only have to be used when there is a risk of direct or indirect reflection or a close-up specular reflection: that means, when burning, you should wear goggles - that's a close-up specular reflection. Then there are reflective, or semi-reflective, objects like metal plates, etc. If these have a chance of falling into the beam, then wear goggles. But, if you are pointing in the night sky, you don't need goggles. Why? No reflections are possible! You can still view the beam

 

[lman]

Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles cheapest certified goggles

 

[MadEye]

How much light laser glasses block is given in OD - optical densitiy.

A simple formula to this is Power after = Power before / 10^OD... I know you can explain this more detailed, but my english stops here :>

OD 0 : 100%
OD 1 : 10%
OD 2 : 1%
OD 3 : 0.1%
OD 4 : 0.01%
...

So viewing a 1W laser through OD3 glasses will be like viewing a 1mW laser with your bare eye, while it would be 100 times weaker through OD5...

 

[ThunderSqueak]

Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles cheapest certified goggles

Those don't cover the red lasers, which are usually 635-650nm, You will need something like these as well Eagle Pair® 190-400nm & 580-760nm Laser Safety Goggles

You would need 2 -3 different pairs of safety glasses to cover the spectrum from what I have seen. Unless someone has found some that cover everything, other than a blindfold, and I am wrong ?

 

[lman]

Those don't cover the red lasers, which are usually 635-650nm, You will need something like these as well Eagle Pair® 190-400nm & 580-760nm Laser Safety Goggles

You would need 2 -3 different pairs of safety glasses to cover the spectrum from what I have seen. Unless someone has found some that cover everything, other than a blindfold, and I am wrong ?

No, your are right +1

 

[ThunderSqueak]

Didn't see he said red.

Just wanted to make sure he knew that he would need to make sure he covered all the wavelengths for the lasers he is working with :beer: :thanks:

 

[LightBeamConcentrate]

Just wanted to make sure he knew that he would need to make sure he covered all the wavelengths for the lasers he is working with :beer: :thanks:

Yeah, what I meant when I said safety goggles "value pack", was a pack of a few different safety goggles, each designed to handle a different light frequency range. I was thinking that someone probably would offer a discount on a multi pack that would allow you to purchase a few safety goggles at a discount, so that you dont have to buy them separately, and each 1 would cover each popular laser color.

If not, maybe someone here could start doing this.......

 

[LightBeamConcentrate]

Eagle Pair® 190-540nm Standard Laser Safety Goggles cheapest certified goggles

So this 1 pair would cover green(532nm) and violet(405nm), but not red(650)?

Well, thats within the price range I mentioned in the OP($100), because for only $41, it seems to cover 2 of the 4 lasers I've now ordered, leaving $59 to spend on the goggles for the other 2 (both 650nm). Plus they're convenient, because I wouldnt have to worry about changing goggles when using violet or green.

 

[tsteele93]

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/cheap-safety-glasses-tested-71621.html

And

http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/c...test-uvex-s0360x-ultra-spec-2000-a-73484.html