I apologize for what’s about to come, it’s not good forum etiquette, especially for a new member, but I have to say it. Sorry.
I had to make a new acc for this forum, but I’m rather active on Styroypyros Discord, so members like Giannis or Cyparagon can confirm my story.
It started in January when I got a new high-power Argon, I wanted to make sure that my EaglePair 190-540, 800-1700 nm OD5+ goggles that i bought from Survivallaser could protect me from a direct hit. I own a spectrophotometer that can measure ODs up to 3, so I put my goggles in it and measured them over the whole 200-900nm range. My meter showed that the OD rating dropped below 3 around 510 nm, that should NEVER have happened since those goggles have a OD5+ rating for that region. Another server member on Styro’s Discord (puppi) posted a pic where a 505 nm laser basically went straight through those goggles while a 532 nm was blocked, confirming my suspicion that the OD of those goggles does go down quite a bit in that region.
I contacted Gary and gave him the data, because it seemed like a serious issue, but the response was rather underwhelming. I asked for an OD vs wavelength chart multiple times (that got ignored), and he admitted that he didn’t have the means to test them. Apart from that, nothing happened.
I contacted the manufacturer EagleView and gave them the data, because it seemed like at least some of there goggles had massive safety flaws and didn’t meet their specifications (they let more than 100x more light through than their OD rating suggested). Never heard from them again.
I started to reach out to chem/pharmaceutical labs with spectrophotometers to get my goggles tested by an independent 3rd party. My spectrophotometer (LKB Ultrospec Pro) is rather old and uncalibrated, and I wanted data from a calibrated instrument before I published anything. Turns out that you need rather specialized equipment to test goggles above OD3, and I didn’t want to pay a couple hundred bucks to a proper DAkkS certified laser lab.
That brought the “measure the EP OD” project to a stop, until another guy from Styro’s Discord, Spirit, measured his own pair of EaglePair 15-4 IR goggles on a calibrated spectrophotometer in a laser lab. Those have a OD7+ rating for 680-1100 nm, but he measured a transmittance (!!!) of over 1%, starting at 1050 nm and growing to roughly 5% at 1100ish. Those goggles should let less than 0.00001% of the light through, but their measured optical density is not even 0.5 for the main Nd YAG 1064 nm wavelength.
And that fact is why I’m writing this: It is extremely bad if OD5+ rated goggles dip below OD3 for some wavelengths (where you need somewhat obscure high power lasers to get into the "danger zone"), but if goggles with a OD7+ rating don’t even reach OD1 FOR THE MAIN Nd:YAG WAVELENGTH, it is catastrophic to say the least. This is not excusable. I wanted to publish my findings in a more controlled way once I got confirmation from a 3rd party lab, but I needed to address the launch of the EP 15-4 on the SL website.
Styropyro made a video a few years ago where he tested different laser goggles and recommended EaglePair goggles, he took that video down until we have more test results and know if we can trust the OD ratings of EaglePair goggles.
Even the manufacturer doesn’t seem to know their OD ratings, they list the EP 15-4 as “OD7+ 680-1100 nm”, yet their own site (bj-jjhy.com/index.html) lists an OD of 6 for 694 nm Ruby lasers. What is it then? OD7+ or OD5+?
About their "CE ratings": Those aren't "proper" CE ratings where the certification lab tests the product, those are so called voluntary certificates (check the bottom of the lab reports). The CE cert lab doesn't test products for this "certification light", they demand test results from the manufacturer and just make sure that what the manufacturer claims on the product is also in the manufacturers test report. But they DO NOT check if the test report from the manufacturer, for their own products is legit. You give them a test report that states OD10+ and you print OD10+ on your goggles? They won't check if your goggles are actually OD10+ or if you just made that up.
@Garoq: I would highly appreciate it if you could add real data in the form of OD v wavelength charts from independent labs to the discussion to settle this simple question: Are my EaglePair laser goggles safe to use and do they meet their specifications?
Because right now, the answer to that question seems to be “probably not”.
I have attached the data from my measurements, a screenshot from Spirit’s measurement of the EP 15-4 in a laser lab, a picture of a 50ish mW 505 and 532 diodes going through EP goggles (thanks puppi for the pic) as well as my full mail conversation with Gary where I told him about my findings so you can validate my claims. The first mail to Gary (with the full data) went out on the 23.2.2021.