Sunglasses as eye proctectors??

[Joreyaesh]

I'm looking at buying my first real laser and was hoping to avoid the expensive goggles... Does a 200mW laser at 660nm require goggles?Can I just use sunglasses?

 

[Rob]

Anything over 5mw can permanently damage your eyes, so safety glasses are STRONGLY advised. No sunglasses won't work. You should ask yourself what your vision is worth. Money for safety goggles is trivial next to your eyes.

 

[Byrnz93]

Yes, it does need safety goggles. No, sunglasses will dilate your pupils and let even more light through.

 

[Joreyaesh]

Okay. Thanks!

 

[Eudaimonium]

You will be suprised how hard it is to look at high power lasers dot... Your eyes will ache only because of looking it on white paper. Wrong reflection here and there can get you blind for the rest of your life!
But let's be honest: in 4 years of my laser hobby, and a lot of red lasers observed, I never had/used any kind of safety goggles. As you can see, I still can read what you write
So, just be EXTREMELY careful with your laser. Don't point it where you would not another person next to you point it: reflective surfaces (glass and other decorations, TV screen and so), through windows (they also reflect some light back),
AND
ALWAYS remember!!
DO not shine the laser where a human can be/appear!!
Don't shine it in houses windows, doorways, hallways, street,
Also, avoid aiming it at horizon level at night. High possibility somebody will see a bright red flash in the distance, and nothing else. EVER.

First safe, then have fun with lasers!

 

[Jaseth]

Sunglasses are a big NO for laser protection, except for blu-ray lasers (405nm) where several people, including me, have found that they seem to block out as much of the light as "real" blu-ray blocking goggles. However, there are still drawbacks to using sunglasses for blu-ray protection, such as pupil dilation, dye degradation and exposure to shots from the side. For these reasons, if you are getting a blu-ray laser at some point I recommend buying these good and cheap goggles from Glenn, a very kind and trusted member: http://laserpointerforums.com/f64/yellow-goggles-blu-ray-blocking-43262.html

For any other high power laser the only option is proper goggles and sunglasses are useless, sometimes even increasing damage to your retina.
If you are getting a high power DPSS laser as some point (usually 532nm, green) you should also read about IR filters.

Seb
​

 

[Deleted member 8382]

You won't get damage from looking at the dot. However, it may hurt you to look at it. At this point you can use sunglasses to see the dot better.

However, we use protection goggles to protect our eyes from possible reflections from metallic things, mirrors, etc... For this purpose sunglasses won't make any difference. The small power reduction will be compensated by your pupils dilatation, so at the end you'll get the same if not more power inside your eye. accidents do really happen, buy goggles.

Yours,
Albert

 

[Asherz]

Never ever use sun glasses as a substitute to safety goggles, there was a video on here of a guy shining a red laser through them and popping a balloon, imagine that but on your retinas.

For general pointing or if you wanna checkout the beam then ok maybe as an exception, but anything to do with mirrors, experiments, burning ALWAYS wear your goggles

 

[scopeguy20]

I agree w/ Ashers! I recently tested some deep blue sunglasses, these I had hoped could block red laser light, on my Kenometer they passed 80 mw from a 230 mW red 658 nm laser! That is far too much light to be safe! -Glenn

 

[Marcusss]

You can not put a price on your vision, that is all that needs to be said .