Very rough way to determine output of supposed 1mw red laser pointer?

[jamaall]

You have to watch out with these lasers on Amazon. Typically, the laser pens labeled as 5mW are pretty close on to 5, but once in a while it may be up to 10 or 15. And if you're buying one for a cat, the words "ULTRA POWERFUL" isn't what you should be looking for. That's common sense. And no, shooting it at your face isn't a good idea. Think before you take actions.

 

[daguin]

You have to watch out with these lasers on Amazon. Typically, the laser pens labeled as 5mW are pretty close on to 5, but once in a while it may be up to 10 or 15. And if you're buying one for a cat, the words "ULTRA POWERFUL" isn't what you should be looking for. That's common sense. And no, shooting it at your face isn't a good idea. Think before you take actions.

Cheapie red lasers are much more likely to be under 5mW than green pointers. The small "chip" diodes put out much more predictable and low power output than when a crystal is pumped with several hundred mW of IR

Peace,
dave

 

[twinbee]

Cheapie red lasers are much more likely to be under 5mW than green pointers.

That's reassuring to hear - thank you.

They ask their question in that forum

They get their question answered by a member of the admin team, who has the highest post count, AND the highest reputation in the forum

The answer is "ONLY ONE WAY"

I recall hearing from someone that it would take at least 10-20 mW to feel heat from a laser on the lips. Yes, it was speculation, and a massive approximation, but it was still an educated guess. Don't forget injuries from red lasers below 5mw are AFAIK non-existent (or practically non-existent) despite the numerous accidental, deliberate (malicious or otherwise), reports of eye contact incidents in the past. If people don't feel it's worth the risk to do something like that, I respect that, but I'd rather do a simple safe test like that than say, risk blinding my dog.

Dafuq did I just read... You sir, Are an idiot.. Pointing a laser at your face? Probably one of the dumbest things I've read someones done

Yes pointing in a safe controlled manner unlike the millions who buy cheap massively overpowered green lasers, and point at their pets, or worse. This isn't a Spyder Krypton, or anything like it - just a cheap apx 1mW (not 1MW) red laser. Amazingly I have the willpower to *not* move the laser from the lips to my eyes. I know, hard to believe isn't it? It's like my hand is trying to have its own way, and knudge up the angle a bit, but somehow I refuse - not sure how I manage that. From my knowledge, this laser is extremely unlikely to be higher than 20mw, and probably lower than 5mw as has been stated above.

Granted, the shut-eye test is a bit more risky, and I think that was maybe a bit OTT in hindsight, but I was careful, and had good reason at the time to believe it was less than 5mw before doing that.