Wicked Lasers Introduces Handheld One-Watt Green Laser 404
First time accepted submitter (and Slashdot coder) cogent writes "Wicked Lasers, famous for last year's 1000mW handheld blue laser, and infamous for its handling of six-month-long backorders, is now selling a green version. There are three power levels, each priced at $1/mW (300mW, 500mW, 1000mW). Since the eye is far more sensitive to green than to blue, this is pretty much the state of the art in putting-dots-on-stuff technology. Wicked Lasers sent out an email promising to handle backorders much better this time."
Adds reader whitedsepdivine: "There is currently no disclaimer that this is not a lightsaber on their site, so we can only assume that this version is."
Might add a warning... (Score:3, Informative)
Might add a warning that at 1W (1000mW) your eye is 'sensitive' to just about anything in terms of damage from them, whatever color.
Be sure you get good laser protective glasses with one of these things, and whatever you do *do not* aim it or reflect it into anyone's (or any animal's) eyes... its not a "toy".
I have a blue one (Score:2, Informative)
It took forever to get. Then the charger didn't work, I emailed and got one in 3 days. (The repair department is much better than the order department where you wait and wait)
Anyway, it's awesome. It burns things, It's fun. I love it.
I also bought a Torch flashlight from them and waited months, actually given up ever seeing it, then it finally arrived. It's cool too.
Re:you don't want this (Score:3, Informative)
The goggles they do something. I am pretty sure they come with proper eye protection.
Need Sharks (Score:3, Informative)
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
"If it doesn't terrify you, you don't know what you're dealing with, and if it does, you probably don't want one."
Well, I actually have a 2.5W blue laser, but yes - it terrifies me and I treat it with the respect it deserves, wear proper eye protection, keep body parts away from it, and only operate it in a safe/controlled environment with no 'random people' around. The people calling it a 'light saber' scare the bloody crap out of me, as if its some 'cool toy'. A 1W laser is about as much of a 'toy' as an AK47 or a flamethrower, and deserves every bit of proper training and handling as those do.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
I have wanted one for the longest time but have resisted for precisely the reasons you cited. All it takes is one bystander to glance at the reflection even from a distance, and they're injured for life. It's not worth it even for such a fantastically fun toy.
I've been thinking about a 70mW-90mW laser for a while but even that poses a high risk of injury even at a significant distance.
(obligatory WARNING: DO NOT STARE INTO LASER WITH REMAINING EYE.)
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:4, Informative)
(Wicked also has pretty emphatic warnings in the manual [wickedlasers.com] about never aiming it at satellites. Me, I wouldn't want to be the guy who gets sued by or faces criminal charges from the operators of a commercial or government LEO satellite whose sensors are damaged by one of these. Goes at least double for whoever tries to show off to the ISS crew
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
The comment about proper eye protection is naive. Eye protection for a 1W green laser would only protect against attenuated reflections. Such a laser should only be operated inside an appropriate enclosure, or in a closed room while mounted in a fixed position below eye level with now reflective surfaces in the room. There would need to be appropriate signage on the doors to the room.
No one who cannot calculate Nominal Hazard Zones should be making decisions about operating the laser.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
I've lusted after 1000mW diodes for a long time with the idea of programming beam splitters, mirrors and the like to produce laser shows for parties and family events but it's just too dangerous for close quarters. Kids will insist on playing with them, or if I goof, or anything fails, the idea of blinding someone is scary.
I do need a brighter pointer for astronomy (easier aiming of telescopes and cameras, pointing objects out to others, etc) and 1000mW would be perfect for that (a nice bright clear beam even in low-dust conditions) but the risk of dropping it or a chance reflection off an insect, bat, bird, etc. is just too great because at that level a close range reflection would mean near instant blindness. Even the 70mW-90mW (WL has a 75mW model) is a bit much, but 25mW might not be enough and if you go 50mW, why not go for 75mW for $10 more?
I'd love to play with a 1000mW laser, but since you can't look at the specular reflections, or objects you aim it at without protection, what's the point? What can you safely do with it once you pop a balloon with it, or light a book of matches or burn a wasps' nest? The fun would die out pretty quickly. You can't cut steel with it, you can't weld with it, or really do anything practical with it, and it'd be a boring toy once you've experienced the novelty of popping a balloon or two from across a field using nothing but a beam of light and find there isn't anything you can safely use it for.
FDA ban (Score:3, Informative)
You can give them Money, but unless the FDA allows them into the country, you would need to buy an airline ticket to get one:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cms_ia/importalert_254.html
unless they have resolved all the issues, which, I doubt.
Counts as a weapon and is highly dangerous (Score:5, Informative)
Take care that this counts as a weapon in many countries and possession without a matching laser-permit can land you in jail. Here you need a permit for any laser class 3 or above, i.e. > 5mW. Also it is very easy to permanently blind someone with this thing by reflection only. If you are stupid enough to point it at a flying airplane or helicopter (quite a few people are), you will go down either as a terrorist or for attempted murder. Or with this thing likely for completed murder as most helicopters and quite a few airplanes do not have a second pilot. Pointing it at a moving car can have the same effect. It is quite amoral to sell these to normal people.
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:5, Informative)
But I have never seen someone wear eye protection when using one, much less making sure everyone for miles around had eye protection when they're shining it through windows, at passing cars, etc. And they're coming down in price so any goofball can screw around with pretty powerful ones.
FWIW when I bought the 350mW laser I'm using on my CNC mill to do marking and drill soldermask stencils, I'd already purchased a set of laser goggles designed for that wavelength, and always wear them when it's powered up. The reason I did that is because I've worked in three high-power laser labs, two commercial and one academic, and in all three at least one coworker had partial blindness from an unintended exposure. (In two of those, the person had been wearing laser glasses, and had just gotten unlucky with a specular reflection off a tool sitting on a desk that deflected the beam upwards between the edge of the glasses and the person's cheek, which is why I got against-the-skin-all-the-way-around goggles.) One dubious benefit to high power lasers in private hands is that it'll most likely be the owner's eyes that get fried in the reasonably short term.
Re:Blah Blah Dangerous Blah Blah (Score:3, Informative)
Usually I would agree with you about rampant fear-mongering, but not in this case.
Let's look at the numbers.
Have you ever glanced accidentally at the sun? Your eyeblink reflex protects you in about 100ms, and you probably see some colored spots for a few 10s of seconds afterwards. No big deal.
Now, this laser is marketed as "8000 times brighter than the sun". Let's pretend they're telling the truth. That means the light energy is equivalent to looking at the sun for 8000*100ms = more than 13 MINUTES before your eyelids close.
In reality it is even worse, because all of that energy is burning onto your retina in just 100ms.
But if you want to get a rough idea, just go outside, hold your eyelids open, and stare at the sun for 13 minutes. Let us know how that turns out.
Not everything is fearmongering.