thinking of buying a laser

[david25892]

Hi!
1) I'm thinking of buying a green laser from deal extreme dot com however could someone please tell me about the ir a
30 MW would give off?

2) I wear glasses so would that increase the damage done to my eye if i took a direct hit?

3) Would i have to buy goggles to wear while using it or could i buy a 5MW model or would that still be too unsafe?

4) Lastly could anyone tell me the capabilities of a 30MW model and a 5MW one and which one should i buy :-/ :-/ :-/?

Thnx for your time any responses would be hugely appreciated!
BYE

 

[philguy]

Well, to answer your questions, i have not bought any of these but can repeat what i read here:
1. Supposedly, they do have IR filtering, so that should not be a huge problem.
2. Wearing glasses does not help at all. I think the marginal losses by passing through that lens are by far exceeded by the additional focusing of the glasses onto your lens. So it would actually be safer to use it without your glasses, but only theoretically (better use it with them).
3. You don't have to use goggles, if that is your question. Afaik, there is no law telling you it is forbidden to destroy your eyes.
But it is strongly recommended to get some. The user NES_DS sells some for 29$ (iirc), so that is a low price for your eyesight.
Some say 5mw is still okay, soem say 1mW is the maximum power to shine in your eyes, I'd say get googles and 30
But I wouldn't risk even 5mW.

4. 5mW can point. With luck, you'll see the beam outside at night.
30mW can pop balloons, and some have even lit matches with it (rare case, might be overpowered or mislabeled). Maybe read a bit in the "green lasers" section, and you'll find what you get.


Recommendation: There are quite some "weak lasers" that can be increased in power, by just turning a potentiometer! A so-called "pot mod", that might be possible with the DX ones!

 

[david25892]

right thnx for that!
i am aware of the risks of using a laser without goggles but i am only wanting a cheap laser to mess around with what are the chances of me taking eye damage if i took a hit of a 30MW in the eye?
also i have been looking at ebay lasers i seen a video on you tube saying that <10MW are fine because they haven't been modified
in your opinion which would i be better of getting and what are the quality like on the lasers from deal extreme dot com
plus are lasers from dealextreme called dx? :-?

 

[philguy]

Well, do you believe everything you hear from youtube????
Seriously, if I see a video on youtube saying it is fine to drink motor oil, I'm not going to risk my health on that.

Well, many people use a laser without goggles, and many have not had injuries...but you should maybe read this: http://www.milankarakas.org/pub/Eye_injury/Eye_injury.html
That was 15mW. That was just "swept past the eye", really short.

Furthermore, even if 10mW are fine, who tells you that your 10mW-Laser won't emit 15, 20 or 30mW? Also, if laser power spikes the moment it hits your eye, bad luck!



For messing around, also around others, get a 5mW. If you want it from DX, get a "true green".

If you mean "ebay vs. DX", definitely DX! The DX lasers have been purchased quite often, and people have some experience about it. ebay can get you anything, from 200% ir power to overpowered to lifetime few hours.

Still, it would be better to get it form a higher-quality company.


If dealextreme-lasers are called DX? I don't know, but if you type the abbreviation "dx" here, people will think you talk about the online shop dealextreme.com

 

[nes_ds]

Yeah, if you want to go with DX, get one of the "True Green" type.

I would suggest you save up money and get a good, quality, laser from somewhere like NOVA Lasers.

Also, if your interested in my laser eye protection, click here.

 

[david25892]

WOW just finished reading this and im considering just a 5MW as i dont like the idea of goggles and in the unlikely event of a hit in my eye i think the damage would be less

 

[david25892]

Yeah i think a 5MW would be a safer option but what would the beam be like if i shone it into the sky and how would it compare to a 30mw?
btw i live in england do deal extreme delivery to england?
ps thnx for all your help so far!

 

[f22warzone]

hi, i am just going to say this is probly a bad idea but its better than nothing as i will explain but all i have is a pair of safty gogles that are tented black so you can work out side and stuff and i seem to be ok. so far i have taken 2 hits from my dx200mw laser probly putting out around 150-200mw becaus it lights matechs looks like 2-3x bright than my dx50mw and well it smokes any black object and stings skin instanly. but anways one hit was from the relection from my glass set i was shining it at and it hit the side of my eye(hurd hitting the side does not do near asmuch damages as the center) but anway i was only sall the dot for prolby about 20 min or so and its fine now that was my left eye. a cupple of days ago i was plaing around with my laser sho just having it do a circle so i could do the tunnle effect. i was under the beam for some reason and looking down at somting on my desk then i lookd up and caught my eye in the tunnly not but 2' away from the unit. now this was a prity good exposer of idk a few mili seconds but it was more of a dircet beam than the first one. but it did bounce off of the 2 mirrors so that may have made it i lil less power from scatter but still very power full it is melting stuff i have tried but anways as i was saying i got hit on my right eye at the side not dead on. this time i saw the spot for like 30-40 min i was scard but now its all good so i gues what i am tryign to say is if your too cheep or to impaiten to wait on your goggles atleast use some tented safty glasses they spread the light out and asorb and reflect a lil bit of it. no i kno their was a study done on here whare someody shined a red laer throug normal sunglasses and the good laser glasses and it didnt trun out to good but hey its better than nothing and i still have my eye

 

[LarryQ]

Glad to hear your eyes seem ok...

However, I have to disagree about being safer while using dark sunglasses..or shield...

It works out to actually be WORSE!

When worn, dark glasses/shields will cause your Pupil to dialate...
The exposure to laserlight will be more severe..since your eye is letting MORE laser light in!!

Unless the glasses are made specifically for the wavelength of the laser...you are only giving yourself a false sense of security with Dark Glasses....and actually raising the potential to get hurt.

The Best laser goggles will block that specific wavelength, while allowing as much ambient light through to your eyes to prevent them from Dialating.


LarryQ

 

[marianne]

i'm pretty sure the youtube video was only referring to scammers - ie, an ebay laser pointer listed as 10mW or less is far far less likely to be a scam than one of a higher power. 5mW is definitely the safe option, though for shining beams into the sky you don't really need goggles - nothing there to reflect back into your eye i'm in the UK, and on *rare* days i've been able to project a green dot onto the clouds with a 5mW green, higher power does that a lot more easily. once i took one of those end caps from a cheap red pointer (you know, that project smiley faces and crap like that) and projected a green smiley face on the clouds with my 112mW CNI, that was fun!