What power do you prefer indoors?

[3Pig]

I find my "200mW" green (which is brighter than my 1W 445) to be too much indoors, even 10 meters away its excruciating to look at. That said I do think I'm a bit hypersensitive to light.

 

[Atomicrox]

I prefer 30-50mW for indoors use, won't completely fry your eyes in case of an accident and you can see the beam on a dark room for anything between 405nm and 589nm (maybe for 635nm as well, don't have one at that power range).

 

[hakzaw1]

I appreciate the warnings and I sure didnt mean to stir up a hornets nest. I have read the laws for my state as well as federal laws.
I am a bit confused however with your reply. I fully understand harm reduction and the need for emphasis on laser safety but as a newcomer thats trying to comply and fit in to a new community your words sound like Ive said something to give you the impression I'm not being safe.
I am a moderator on another forum that harm reduction is a main intention and I understand how forum and online communities work. I also understand that when you are on a forum long enough its easy to become numb and frustrated with the endless newcomers that are doing all the wrong things. I hope I'm not that guy.

I understand this is a new world to me and I fully admit i am learning the importance of laser safety and seeing the problems that unsafe use is causing to this hobby. But I'm not some yahoo running around with a HP laser pointing it at people or aircraft. In fact I've been working with pilots and the FAA for a decade now and have had people nearly blind me with pointers doing demonstration parachute jumps for the public. I get it. I understand the importance and frustration of educating the mass's that don't seem interested in anyone but themselves and a good time. I have read the thread you linked and its a good one for all newcomers to read. Hope it gets stickied.

I appreciate peoples help here and yours as well. Just letting you know that as a newcomer it made me wonder if I'm doing something wrong but didn't have an explanation as to what or why.
Cheers

Sorry= I don't mean to paint all new members with the same brush BUT
you are not in the majority of new members- and for that I thank you and welcome help with harm reduction.

LPS.com says the 'profile' for 'laser arrestees' has been white- late teens or early 20s and male-- what % of our new members fits that profile I can only guess-- but even if they are few in number --knowing what can happen may stop a few before they do something stupid that will effect them the rest of their lives is important.. For me to go after members who have been here a while seems a waste as I would hope the majority would be on the same page as the rest of us..

My intent here is NOT to make one feel BAD.. like they are doing
something wrong--unless they ARE.

Going at this in a 'soft' way has not worked. And I don't mind making a few ticked off at me IF I can get a few 'others' to not do or to stop doing harm.

how this is a good explaination.. 10 lasers aimed at aircraft every day is not good.

 

[Shadowsix]

Mine is my 405nm 930mW Classic Phaser I use for target practice around my living room. I'll setup paper targets (that one has to run over & put out before they burn up once hit), balloons and matches set on alligator clip paper holders.

Of course wearing my Eagle Pair OD5 eye protection at all times while the phaser is armed (Keyswitch activated).






A great stress reliever some nights after work! :eg:

 

[blasterman]

Going to state this again:

It is not illegal to own a laser in the multiple wattage range, and it is not illegal to turn them on outside. It is *illegal* to do bad things with them such as pointing at aircraft, cars, the running back of a rival football team, etc.

IMO, anybody dumb enough to shine a high powered laser at an aircraft isn't going to be deterred by reading a link on a web-site saying "don't shine lasers at aircraft". They might be deterred however when they realize what will happen if they get caught.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Is this with or without haze/fog? Fog/haze
will make the beam become visible without
needing to increase power to the point
where the dot is too blinding to look at.
It also depends on the wavelength. In
clear air, you need about 300mW @ 660nm
before the beam begins to become visible.
It also has to be pretty dark. At that
point it becomes difficult to look at the
dot unless it is hitting a black beam
stop. The dot will actually interfere with
your ability to view the beam when it's
bright enough and the room is small
enough. With 405nm it takes even more, at
least to my eyes. Everyone's eyes are a
little different.

 

[olympus mons]

Thanks for the good tips guys. Shadowsix I am very envious of your after work stress relief program, lol!
@thelightiningstalker- or anyone else that can answer, Would a 520nm in 50mW be as visible as a 532 of the same power? I think I have decided on 50mW after reading peoples advice here. I don't want to be using safety glasses every time I want to use my laser indoors. (I understand that a 50mW can still damage ones retinas.)
I think it would be pretty easy to add a little can fog to the room and even without haze my only laser, a 5mw 532nm's beam is pretty visible in the dark. If a burn some incense its quite bright. Im thinking lower than 100mW is what I am after.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

@thelightiningstalker- or anyone else that can answer, Would a 520nm in 50mW be as visible as a 532 of the same power? I think I have decided on 50mW after reading peoples advice here. I don't want to be using safety glasses every time I want to use my laser indoors. (I understand that a 50mW can still damage ones retinas.)

I don't think you would be able to tell the
difference. The visual perception charts
would tend to favor 532nm under some
viewing conditions and the 520nm under
others, and they are only 12nm apart.
Since you will be using smoke/fog/haze,
100mW will be fine. Ya know what they say
about smoke.

 

[3Pig]

I believe 520nm is less visible than 532nm, but not much less. One of the advantages of 520 is that they are direct diode not a DPSS like 532, this means that 520 will have a much more stable power output and be able to operate in colder temperatures. Also a 520 will not put out any IR, leaky IR is a common trait of cheap 532's.

I think the benefits of 520 over 532 definitely outweigh a little less visibility.

Oh and that "5mW" greenie you have is probably not 5mW, some of those pens can be massively over spec, it could be putting out 10x more than what the sticker says.

 

[Atomicrox]

I agree with The Lightning Stalker about 660nm, but I can see the beam of 405nm easily at 80mW and barely at 30mW (that's with mesopic vision, with scotopic vision I can see a reasonably bright "grey" beam even at 30mW).

As for 532nm x 520nm, they look almost the same brightness to me. 30mW is enough for a clearly visible beam but 100mW looks more "solid".

 

[olympus mons]

After getting the sad news that my lasers from sci-fi and O-like are still a few weeks from being here I decided to order a couple of ebays to hold me over. Im not expecting too much from them so I rolled the dice on a 5mW 405 which Im guessing is more powerful than advertised and a 50mw 532nm. Strange because I thought ebay banned anything over 5mW but I did find some on there. Even found a 800mW 532. Not that I would ever buy something that powerful off ebay though.

The green laser seller claims to LPM every unit and he said he would guarantee plus or minus 5% of power advertised. I also just got a pm from him that the 50mW was "dropped" and the lens cracked so he is sending me a 75mW 532 instead for the same cost. I think it helped that I told him I had a LPM.

This should be interesting. Glad I have good safety glasses.