So I bought a 50mW laser pen on eBay...

AshFU said:
just a quick question.. why do people feel they need one of these?
Click to expand...

I was actually going to post this same question yesterday but decided that I was obviously missing some cool craze to own laser pens.
Now personally I do own a laser pointer, however it is cheap and I use it for the presentations I need to do at work now and again.
Sometimes they can be useful.

As for owning laser pens that have the potential to actually hurt somebody - I just can't see the point.
Unless it is now becomming as "cool" to carry one of these as it is to carry a knife?
"Self defence" and all that ********
 
i use my green one to help my camera autofocus during long exposure night shots when the lenses starting hunting for focus points. They find the laser dead easy and get the focus spot on with it.

I've also used it for some artwork involving red and green lasers, smoke, ice, mirrors etc.

in my spare time i shine it on the floor in front of people on the street to see their reactions.
 
Turophobic said:
One question. Why?
Click to expand...

Why to the thread in general? Or my post? If my post, I was like 12 and found these lazers amazing and thought it was fun to shine lasers into other peoples house, now they are just boring unless I can hit clouds and planes in the sky with them. I got a cheap one from a car boot sale, was like £2.50, used to shine it in my eye, now I get head aches a lot since then.
 
I have a 5mw green, it does everything I want it to because lets face it, although burning stuff is cool after the first few times it soon gets old. Also because our eyes are an order of magnitude more sensitive to green than red light you need less power to see it at a distance.

At night you can easilly see the dot from mine 500m away on a lit structure without risking anyone's sight, fair enough astronomers and some others have a legit reason for owning more powerful ones but most people don't and shouldn't.
 
willhub said:
How much are 5mw ones?

Is £12 inc postage good for a 10Mw green lazer pen?
Click to expand...
Mine was about 25 quid from wicked lasers. It's a somewhat reputable company, you know the power is as quoted and that an IR filter is present and will be of good quality. I wouldn't risk getting one from fleabay, it may not be well filtered, the beam may not be well focused and diverge too much at large distances and may be overpowered which will reduce the life of the laser diode.
 
Last edited:
willhub said:
Why to the thread in general? Or my post? If my post, I was like 12 and found these lazers amazing and thought it was fun to shine lasers into other peoples house, now they are just boring unless I can hit clouds and planes in the sky with them. I got a cheap one from a car boot sale, was like £2.50, used to shine it in my eye, now I get head aches a lot since then.
Click to expand...

That is really stupid, the laser can screw with the pilots vision. I have read lots of cases of this happening , you could cause an accident or ruin the vision and put them out of a job. Don't see why people would want them, but then again, a lot of people don't think about the consequences of their actions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6775100/
 
inferno said:
That is really stupid, the laser can screw with the pilots vision. I have read lots of cases of this happening , you could cause an accident or ruin the vision and put them out of a job. Don't see why people would want them, but then again, a lot of people don't think about the consequences of their actions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6775100/
Click to expand...

I was only joking about pointing at planes but I would not of thought it would be easy to shine it what 38,000+ ft in the air and aim at such a small target and in the process get it through the cockpit window???
 
willhub said:
Why to the thread in general? Or my post? If my post, I was like 12 and found these lazers amazing and thought it was fun to shine lasers into other peoples house, now they are just boring unless I can hit clouds and planes in the sky with them. I got a cheap one from a car boot sale, was like £2.50, used to shine it in my eye, now I get head aches a lot since then.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want a laser pen? Why would you want a very powerful one at that? I can only think of harm.
 
Laser pens are quite fun but I don't see the point in having such a strong one. Just buy a moderate strength one which you know is safe from a reputable laser seller (ie. not ebay ;))
 
krisboats said:
I'm guessing its a red one? If so, 14 years ago, commercial lasers weren't powerful enough to do that much damage, at less than half a milliwatt, or maybe a whole milliwatt if your lucky, you'd be lucky to damage it at all, let alone enough to cause semi-blindness in your eye. Lasers available before 1993 were only of the class 2, which are significantly weaker, then the 3a ones appeared (red under 5mw) and lately the green ones ranging from 10mw up to 95mw.

I'm 21 myself, and when i was around 9 or 10 i was bought my first ever 1mw laser pen with all the head attachments and everything. Me and my cousin used to stare into the beam for as long as we could to see who could last longer and we used to have laser eye fights all the time.

No damage to either of our eyes yet.

Its not the beam per'say that damages your eye, its the infra red output from the diode that does. The green lasers are far more powerful, and if you buy a cheap cruddy one off ebay they lack the infra red filters so the sellers can claim they hold a higher output, its just only 40 of that is real grean light and the other 200mw is infra red, which is very dangerous.

Given that you can actually see the red dot means theres a large amount of red light being emitted, and at just 1mw only a fraction of that will be harmful infra red. To damage your eye in the manner your describing you'd have to be looking at the laser directly, from point blank range for a good few minutes, every day for at least a year.

Have you had your eye checked out properly? Its possible to get an astigmatism during growth that affects your vision in the way your describing and its entirely possible to have it in just one eye.
Click to expand...
I just always assumed it was the laser that caused my eye problem, because it is really nackered compared to my left eye, which is fine.

It was more than a few seconds I stared into it. It was over a period of time when the initial laser craze hit. I used to stare at it because I could see little black squiggly lines amoung the red light. (idiot i know lol)

I've never had my eyes totally checked from opticians, however I've had regular eye check-ups from work. They told me my right eye is very weak, left is very good, and combined is good. They said its upto me if I want to get them checked from a professional opticians, but said I should be fine for now.

After your post I think I'll get them checked, thanks :)
 
Crazy Ivan (my bot) has two laser diodes. I normally wear sunglasses if I'm using them - simply because I find them bright.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom