Spyder III Pro Arctic Laser

sid said:
Yeah, I didn't express myself clearly there.

The laser goggles only protect against scattered light, you can't point that laser in your eyes even with the goggles on.

I suggest you read the safety for your laser and the specs on the goggles. they have high attenuation at certain wavelengths but its not a beam stop and doesn't protect against direct exposure. Its because, whatever gets through is focused on to retina by the cornea and once you start focussing, the power magnifies like crazy (think magnifying glass + sun)

PS - what do you use your laser for? I'm doing a phd in lasers atm so play with what only be described as serious ****. We mainly use high power pulse lasers where you can't blink faster than the pulse. They are also infra red so you can't see them :( dangerous is an understatment.

sid
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i use my laser for pdt (photodynamic therapy) research. i can't remember what its called - cost around 50 grand though.
for goggles i guess i was thinking of only a couple of watts protection - glasses with an absorbance of say 5 would absorb 99.99% of the light so thats a lot of light removed - i've seen some goggles with an absorbance of 9 but obviously in the visible region thats difficult.
we also have a laser at 680nm and some goggles that are specific to that wavelength and when the laser is at full power (2W) i put the goggles on and it looks as though the laser is off, i can't see any light coming from it - haven't tried a direct beam though!
 
-Colli$ion- said:
Okay so football is popular, and has been around for a long time. I did not know that had any bearing on it being acceptable for MANY people to die as a DIRECT result of the sport; however, I don’t see any organisations or newspapers pushing for a ban. High powered Laser pointers have been around for about 5 years, a handful of people have been blinded as the result of lasers (mostly through light shows http://www.geekologie.com/2008/07/russian_ravers_go_blind_from_l.php), and not 1 person has died from the result of a portable laser. I m basing my arguments on facts, figures and statistics, where as all your arguments are based on presumptions of what COULD happen IF an idiot got hold of one of these.

How can minors get hold of this laser, firstly; they would have to find out about it or know about it, secondly; they would have to have a debit/credit card and thirdly; they would have to have a spare £150, so how many ‘kids’ do you know have all those?? A minor I would classify as <17, anybody 17 or over is responsible enough, well if there responsible enough to drive a vehicle at 70 mph on a public road, then they are responsible enough to possess a 1W laser.

The laser comes standard with safety glasses and safety mechanisms, not to mention there are warnings plastered all over the website, and you have to fill out a survey before you buy it, and even when you get the laser there are warnings in the box and labels glued to the laser.

Besides; if some chav wanted to create a laser weapon they need no more than a DVD RW, some wire and batteries. They are very simple to create and the instructions can be found from thousands of places on the internet. As I have already said; they cannot ban lasers even if they wanted to. They are too main stream; the average household probably has at least 5 laser diodes in various electronic devices.
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I'm still waiting for a valid use for such a device, or at least some expansion on the 'enjoyment' that can be derived from it.
 
MasterPlan1 said:
It's for people who used to like playing with matches as a child, and have now grown up and earn lots of money.
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Hmmm... the wealthy pyromaniac demographic isn't one that I am particularly concerned about in terms of how much fun they are having. :p
 
-Colli$ion-, don't assume that just because someone is over 18 they will act responsibly with a laser. A university someone was trying to direct a laser tachometer (class 2 I believe) into thier friends eyes until I physically took it off of them.
 
Dr.EM said:
-Colli$ion-, don't assume that just because someone is over 18 they will act responsibly with a laser. A university someone was trying to direct a laser tachometer (class 2 I believe) into thier friends eyes until I physically took it off of them.
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Don’t assume someone with a licence or authorisation to use a laser is safe either. REMEMBER THIS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10216923.stm

You cannot regulate human behaviour through licences/age limits or any other primitive measures. :o
 
krooton said:
I'm still waiting for a valid use for such a device, or at least some expansion on the 'enjoyment' that can be derived from it.
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So now you want me to explain the exact definition of enjoyment? Well that’s actually a very difficult thing to do; as every individual enjoys different things. Tell you what, you explain to me exactly what’s so enjoyable about kicking a ball first, and then I will have a go at explaining the enjoyment of lasers, how about that? ;)
 
-Colli$ion- said:
So now you want me to explain the exact definition of enjoyment? Well that’s actually a very difficult thing to do; as every individual enjoys different things. Tell you what, you explain to me exactly what’s so enjoyable about kicking a ball first, and then I will have a go at explaining the enjoyment of lasers, how about that? ;)
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So in other words, you just collect them because its cool to have something dangerous like that?

You cant compare it to having guns because they are a form of pest control and people get enjoyment from target practice and so on, is there any such thing with a laser?

As for comparing it to Football, well.... I think you should stop with that, you know its pretty feeble :p
 
I'm not proposing liscenses to own laser products such as this, I'm saying there is no legitimate use for such a product and so, failing to place restrictions on thier manufacture, it is responsible to place outright bans on thier sale. Products using these lasers such as bru-ray burners or even more power lasers as in industrial automonous cutters have legitimate purpose and are fine.

Guns arn't really comparible. They have use in pest control for one, but more significantly I feel they are less likely to cause harm to others through stupidity. People who own them (and people in general!) are well aware of thier dangers and are rightfully cautious with them. With lasers, people tend to be aware of the danger, but seem to need to put it to the test somehow, a case of a little knowledge is a dangerous thing I think. I can't imagine someone waving a loaded gun around joking about it, but this exactly what happens with lasers in the hands of many, despite the fact that the model in question could cause permanent loss of eyesight.

WRT the incident with Derrick Bird, it's in no way similar. A person acting this far out of normal mentality will find whatever they can to cause harm or kill others, and this will nearly always be a gun or a knife.

In short, the problem with lasers like this is they present a significant risk to others in the hands of average (not mentally distresed) individuals without serving any useful purpose.
 
Robboftw said:
So in other words, you just collect them because its cool to have something dangerous like that?

You cant compare it to having guns because they are a form of pest control and people get enjoyment from target practice and so on, is there any such thing with a laser?

As for comparing it to Football, well.... I think you should stop with that, you know its pretty feeble :p
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No I don’t collect them because there dangerous I collect them because they interest me, I m constantly stripping/tweaking them and I’ve learnt a vast amount about electronics from them, same with my PC which I overclock all the time and when I get around to buying a car I expect I will be learning things from that too.

Pest control for guns and target practice, yea because we are just over-run with pests and rats and stuff aren’t we ;) cant 'pests' be controlled by other measueres such as traps and poison?? At the end of the day a gun is designed to kill, its a weapon. A laser is used for science, technology and medicine, and is not natively a weapon although like ANY iteam can be used to cause harm.

My football statement is just as valid as anything, once you take away all the fancy talk/money and glamour at the end of the day you have 40 odd grown men kicking a ball up and down a grass verge, dress it anyway you wish but that’s the facts. :D Lol What I m trying to say is everyone is different and everyone enjoys different things, so who is anyone to say what should be allowed or what should be banned or regulated.
 
krooton said:
I'm still waiting for a valid use for such a device, or at least some expansion on the 'enjoyment' that can be derived from it.
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It gets old pretty fast using a laser for enjoyment.

Good for attention seekers though. Bright beam/dot is a great way of getting your otherwise mundane self noticed.

I've got a 5mw green one, use it as a makeshift torch personally, can't use it directly because the light is too focused but bounced off a ceiling/wall the glow is fairly respectable.
 
Dr.EM said:
WRT the incident with Derrick Bird, it's in no way similar. A person acting this far out of normal mentality will find whatever they can to cause harm or kill others, and this will nearly always be a gun or a knife.
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The quote is valid, the point was; licences and regulation are supposed to make sure only responsible and law abiding people get their hands on the goods. OBVIOUSLY it does not work, as Mr. Bird went on the rampage with legally owned firearms. As I have said previously YOU CANNOT control human nature/behaviour through licences and regulation, if Mr. X wants to hurt Mr. Y they will do so; by whatever means necessary.

Yes, banning lasers would HELP stop the odd chav attacking some random person (although criminals and scumbags don’t obey the law anyway), but how many LAW ABIDING people is it going to also catch in the net? 99.9% and its going to destroy a perfectly legit hobby. The problem is; the law will be passed easily because laser enthusiasts/researchers and other people who use them sensibly are VASTLY outnumber by the general population, of which the media will stir up into a frenzy OMFG the lasers are coming; kill you in 2 seconds EXTREMELY DANGEROUS bla bla bla....
 
Dr.EM said:
WRT the incident with Derrick Bird, it's in no way similar. A person acting this far out of normal mentality will find whatever they can to cause harm or kill others, and this will nearly always be a gun or a knife.
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Not exactly always this case, you get idiots like I had in my college course, had a torch with a built in laser pointer and someone though it would be fun to shine it into someones eyes. The other guy had vision problems with a week, had to go to hospital to get it checked, was in a lot of pain. Unkown future problems ahead.

It isn't just people who want to cause harm, it's those who are incredibly stupid too.
 
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