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."
Is it powerful enough? (Score:2)
Do these things come with a stun setting?
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Do these things come with a stun setting?
Only if you're a pilot.
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".
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:Might add a warning... (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with lasers is that, whereas everyone knows how dangerous a firearm can be... people tend to treat lasers like toys with no consequences. "Yeah, yeah, don't shine it in anyones eyes... got it." 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.
Maybe it's time to make sure people buying these things really understand how bad they can screw up with these devices in just a moment of bad decision making? And I don't mean clicking "I Agree" to a paragraph on a website that they didn't read. Maybe something more like a amateur radio test?
For me, it's awkward talking favorably about regulation. Maybe I'm overly concerned about something that isn't really an issue.
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I was going to mod you up but I want to post to this story.
I'm not sure what the best approach is, but I'm pretty sure 'something must be done'(tm). I'm pretty libertarian, generally, but I think we need to treat lasers capable of causing blindness as firearms - subject to the same constitution-friendly background checks and penalties for misuse.
People are worried about blindness - yes, that's a big concern. However, living in a fire prone region, I'm also concerned about mass arson attacks. I think we'v
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:4, Insightful)
As opposed to simply using matches?
I sympathize, I live in Colorado and we have acres and acres of beetle killed trees. But banning lasers to the general public will not stop a single asshole from setting half the state on fire.
http://www.rogergeorge.com/rentals/items/0rfflt/ [rogergeorge.com]
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:Might add a warning... (Score:4, Insightful)
Here in Australia, laser pointers above 1mW are considered prohibited weapons - in the same category as crossbows and knuckledusters. You need to get a prohibited weapons permit to own one (and keep it in a safe), and you need to get two more permits to buy one from overseas. I had to go through all this paperwork and police checks - and I was a scientist getting them delivered to my university office! Let's not tell the politicians about the CO2 lasers sitting in the labs downstairs eh.
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:4, Interesting)
As power levels of these lasers are getting higher up, it takes a dumb kid living 200 yards away shining this stupid thing on my eye and causing injury.
IMO, there should be licensing similar to guns. Maybe even training on how to handle these as opposed to Tom the fat wallet idiot ordering it off the internet.
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:4, Interesting)
Maybe he meant regulated. I guarantee guns are regulated in your state, but maybe not to the point that you noticed the inconvenience.
Is it legal for you to:
Guns may not be licensed, but gun makers and sellers are, and guns are very heavily regulated (and not in the same sense as used in the 2nd amendment).
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"You can only test a laser's functionality twice."
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:5, Insightful)
NO, it's a damn weapon. If you're out walking the streets with this, the police should be about as suspicious as if you're walking around with a kitchen knife in your pocket.
Re:Might add a warning... (Score:5, Insightful)
well okay... (Score:2, Flamebait)
At least it costs a kilobuck, so that the idiots who buy these things can also lose a bit of dosh while losing an eye.
And since green also shows up in the atmosphere better, the cops can better locate you when you shine it on their helicopter.
"Do not look into laser aperture with remaining good eye"
--
BMO
Stepped up their game (Score:2)
Wow. Nothing like fucking with the guys on the ISS for lulz. Maybe spot that new Air Force mini spy shuttle, or whatever it is.
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Yes! Let us amateurs attempt to damage a satellite that was specifically designed to provide fast high-resolution mapping and targeting, and was probably designed to withstand "enemy" sabotage attempts! What could possibly go wrong? :)
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Yes! Let us amateurs attempt to damage a satellite that was specifically designed to provide fast high-resolution mapping and targeting, and was probably designed to withstand "enemy" sabotage attempts! What could possibly go wrong? :)
Succeeding?
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.
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Burns things how? Pics or it didn't happen. Video is even better.
Can I use this to kill bugs on my ceiling. Will it work on asian stink bugs?
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Burns things how? Pics or it didn't happen. Video is even better.
Search youtube for "1000mW laser". There's a ton of videos of people burning stuff with them.
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I have one. It'll pop a dark balloon in about 2 seconds. It will light a cigarette.
As for burning things, I pointed it at a piece of 3/4" oak plywood and left it there. After about 5 minutes, it had charred it about 1~2mm deep.
I expect it could have done more but it's not a very focused point. The actual "point" is about 1mm by 4mm at around 50cm. They have a lens kit which has a "Focusing Effect Lens", but I waited about 5 months before cancelling that order so no idea how well it works.
The more obvio
you don't want this (Score:5, Insightful)
As cool as this is, you really don't want one. Specular reflections off other surfaces can blind you instantly. There's no way to actually hand hold it with it powered in any remotely safe manner. 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.
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No worries, anyone that stupid will have long ago blinded themselves with cheap moonshine anyway.
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The goggles they do something. I am pretty sure they come with proper eye protection.
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So use it indoors.
Seems pretty simple.
I own a gun, that could kill people. So far I manage to use that responsibly, no reason a laser could not be used in the same controller manner.
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A gun is pretty limited by the noise it makes, and by the fact that you have to aim it. Aim the laser at a prism (or basically anything semi-reflective-- white paint on the side of a house?) and watch as everyone around you gets eye damage, silently, immediately. Guns also have a very limited range at which they are effective-- handguns are well under a kilometer i believe. Im sure this laser is effective at well over a mile.
And unlike gunshot wounds, im pretty sure eye damage from lasers is generally pe
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Gunshot wounds from many firearms are permanent in the sense that dead men don't heal.
Not sure about a mile, but .300 win mag is good out beyond 1000 meters, 1500 meters should be doable . You would not hear it at all that far away. The bullet gets to the target before the sound.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Insightful)
I think the issue is that everyone knows that guns are dangerous, so they get treated with respect. People think of laser pointers as especially cool flashlights, while they are as dangerous as a gun to someone's eyesight. Sure, they do have the small warning box near the bottom of the product page, but the title reads "Green Laser Pointer...", so you know these'll get bought by people who don't realise what they can do.
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At that distance in a populated area, you can't be reasonably sure that you won't have reflected beams hit something that refocuses them. So there's really no safe way to use this other than in a controlled laboratory, where you should probably be purchasing different lasers anyway.
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My hobby is "shooting down helicopters that disturb my sleep". I'm pretty sure this will come in handy.
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I didn't realize they came with a pair for everybody else that might get hit by the same beam. Does the laser pointer come with a 30 second advance warning, too?
Or should we all just start wearing them by default - http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/article_1e221000-e502-56f6-b5e5-90530677a8c2.html [stltoday.com] - just because some people are irresponsible and some companies are irresponsible enough to sell to irres
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The vendor is not responsible anymore than a hammer maker is responsible when someone kills his spouse with a hammer.
I don't have to fill out registration forms for guns. All I needed was a drivers license and a simple call to the police. Only handguns have those restrictions.
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Its significantly harder and messier to kill someone with a hammer than it is to blind someone with a laser.
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But none of that is registration yet. The FFL still retains the form with the s/n recorded, so a database of owners isn't too far off.
The longest part of buying a gun is waiting on the dealer to complete the 4473. Most are overl
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I really hate things like this. Nitwits at a local beach vacation spot buy the lower powered versions ($30-$130, don't recall the wattage) and shine them EVERYWHERE. I know kids who have had them shined in their eyes, though briefly and without any damage. At night stretches of hotels are nothing but roaming green dots.
The difference between these and guns is that guns go BOOM, kick, and are well known to produce devastating damage to humans. Laser pointers are silent, have no recoil, and just make brig
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briefly and without any damage
There's no proof of that without a proper opthalmic examination. The thing about retinal damage, is you can't see it. Your vision routes around blind spots - you already have one in each eye, the fovea, that you are unaware of unless you make an effort to detect it.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Insightful)
Those who do can go fill in paperwork and registration forms - no different from guns (not that that is working out particularly well in a market that's flooded with the things).
i think the part that is different here is that the average Joe views a gun as a dangerous weapon - one that if i pull the trigger i have the chance to alter someones life and i'm responsible for it.
the average Joe views a laser pointer as a toy.
this product is anything but a toy - and anyone who teats it as such will pay the consequences (along with the people around them).
While i'm against laws preventing me from owning something like this (or a gun, which i don't currently), I'm all for mandatory safety training & certification. If there was a machine that had something like this on it in Industry - there would be safety training, and that is for people who deal with them on a daily basis (same as cops and guns). The fact that we let the average Joe with no training go wild with it is just irresponsible, and sadly it is more likely the people around this person who will pay for it.
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)
"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:4, Funny)
A 1W laser is about as much of a 'toy' as an AK47 or a flamethrower
So, you mean it's not a toy, it's a really fun toy?
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A 1W laser is about as much of a 'toy' as an AK47 or a flamethrower
So, you mean it's not a toy, it's a really fun toy?
The more I read, the more I agree with you.
I definitely shouldn't have one.
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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.
The Wicked Laser 1KW Green Laser, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to blind every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes.
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.)
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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.
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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.
Arent laser-light shows-- especially homemade ones-- also spectacularly dangerous?
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Yes, that's kind of my point. There really isn't any purpose to the 1000mW laser unless you want to present a high risk of blinding people. :-(
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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)
I have a 5mW basic cheap green laser pointer and it is MORE than bright enough. You don't need a 10 or 50 or 1000mW laser to point telescopes and cameras. The beam is clear enough, even before but especially after your eyes become attenuated to the dark!
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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.
Well, mine's not 1W, just 350mW, but it, in combination with a CNC mill, or even my previous setup where I had swapped it in place of a pen in an old HP x/y plotter, did a fine job of: drawing fancy graphics on wood, precisely and rapidly cutting paper (my girlfriend is a collage artist), precisely and rapidly cutting fabric for sewing projects, and I'm currently working on making really inexpensive PCB soldermask stencils using it. I do have some really nice laser goggles, and when it's running, I'm the o
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1W is a frightening amount of power for something marketed like this.
Warning: Do not stare at neighboring town with remaining eye.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Informative)
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Insightful)
AND any idiot/scum with 1000 bucks can buy it and use it, no need for a license or training.
It doesn't actually do direct lethal damage but anyone who thinks this is fine is either stupid or ignorant (or is already blind and has no nonblind entities he/she cares about).
There are already idiots/scum with high powered lasers. In one case, some spectators were shining high powered lasers at the opposing team's players in football match. I'm not sure how high powered they were, but those players certainly noticed and complained. They eventually lost the match, but I don't blame them, I would refuse to play in such conditions. I would actually recommend that the match be called off or boycotted. Not worth permanent eye damage.
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Yeah it's like an easily concealed fully-automatic machine gun that can fire continuously for one to two hours till the battery runs out, with an "effective range" of up to 149 metres....
...It doesn't actually do direct lethal damage
Sooo...not like a machine gun at all then?
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More like a machine gun that only shoots you in the arm or leg. That's would be ok to carry around right?
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Yup - worse, by reckoning of the Geneva Conventions. Weapons designed to blind are banned, whereas machines guns are totally ok.
Re:you don't want this (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess a dead solider only costs $5K to bury but a blinded soldier will rack up millions of dollars of costs over his lifetime. I can't think of another reason to prefer killing.
Dead people don't suffer. In short, you can incapacitate someone or kill them, but the conventions ban weapons designed to permanently maim or cripple the enemy forces. The primary reason is humanitarian, not economic. The irony of claiming some ways to injure people are ethical and some aren't is not lost on me, neither was in on the people making the conventions. But it's the idea that even if we are at war, there are acceptable and less acceptable ways to wage war. Like for example slaughtering civilians, prisoners of wars, rape, torture, land mines, weapons to kill rescue workers and so on. That even if there's no war without suffering, that there is an obligation for everyone to minimize it - even among the enemy.
Also in any but the two cases where you're either exterminating or being exterminated, you will have to live with these people afterwards. That kind of memories can burn bright and long, should ever the opportunity for revenge come.
Re:you don't want this (Score:5, Insightful)
I fully agree. I (being a physicist) can not imagine any purpose for this laser outside a firmly mounted case inside a lab or workshop.
If you write on the lase: don't point it to aircrafts, then this is exactly what some asshats are going to do.
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Yeah, it's a really good idea to blind the search-and-rescue crew with your laser.
And blind it does. During daylight, your best bet is a signal mirror that catches the sun and presents a bright, but relatively harmless flickering light at the crew. At night, the lasers can blind crew (unlike cars, aircrew dim the lights - and that nightvision
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A 406MHz PLB is cheaper and more effective.
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There's no way to actually hand hold it with it powered in any remotely safe manner. 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.
I would say you're the one who doesn't know what we're dealing with here. You buy safety goggles to protect your eyes, they make goggles that can protect you against much stronger lasers than this. Yes, it is not a toy, and if you use it like a toy and without adequate safety measures, you will hurt yourself or someone else. But to say it's impossible to use a 1W laser safely is ridiculous.
R E F L E C T I O N S
Damn, not powerful enough (Score:4, Funny)
No popcorn for me :(
What's the point? (Score:2)
1 watt lasers have been around for years. You can buy the diodes. This is just cute packaging. It's not powerful enough to be a useful weapon or cutting tool, and it's too powerful in a narrow beam to be a useful illumination source.
In the CNC laser cutter world, this is viewed as a very weak laser. [hackaday.com] Commercial laser cutters start around 30 watts (for thin plastic and wood) and go up to about 5KW (sheet steel).
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So...what's the average price for a 30w commercial laser cutter? How about a comparable 1w laser diode + driver system?
My laser knowledge is probably outdated since I've read old texts on laser experiments. But, last I knew, laser diodes aren't always 'true lasers' like, say, a gas laser. Something about how the waveform varies too much between exiting photons. What I've read, and please inform me, is that diodes can't be used for all experiments.
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What's a weapon, though? It causes immediate, permanent damage to your opponent's unprotected eyes. That's pretty weapon-like. If you can rob someone of an entire empirical sense, that's worse than chopping off a finger or something, no?
Need Sharks (Score:3, Informative)
Green Vs Blue Laser questions (Score:2)
I understand longer wavelength light (i.e. -> infra red) but blue photons have higher energy than green ones, so would a blue laser be better or worse than a green laser for burning/meltng stuff?
Given we know that exposing your eyes to any laser light is a bad idea, and that blue light has more energy but your eyes are way more sensitive to green, which color laser would potentially be a higher risk for damaging your eyes (say from specular reflections)?
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The first time I used this (Score:3)
what the heck are these for? (Score:3)
Can any explain why they want one of these exceedingly dangerous "toys" lying around? This seems like the kind of thing that felony reckless depraved indifference assault charges was designed for.
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Second amendment!
- pretend to have weapons around for "protection"
- actually have it because its cool and/or makes you feel like a big shot
- eventually gets used to [accidentally | deliberately] kill or injure self or others.
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No difference than any other exceedingly dangerous "Toy" that the average person owns.
Stop trying to be everyone's Mommy.
Re:what the heck are these for? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is no legitimate use. I have a 4mW green laser pointer, and that is clearly visible in daylight and quite enough. The only use I see is as an anti-personnel and anti-aircraft weapon. In quite a few countries possession only will land you in jail. And there are quite a few stupid scumbags that point these at airplanes or helicopters for fun. One went down for several years here recently for pointing it at an ambulance helicopter in flight. That is 4 times attempted murder. (pilot, EMT, doctor, patient). Quite even making the pilot unable to fly safely for 15 minutes can kill the patient. You can do that with a much smaller laser already.
Red? (Score:2)
So with blue and green 1w handheld lasers... are there Red ones available? With that we could get white!
BMW Working On Laser Headlamps (Score:2)
Not a gunsight laser... (Score:2)
You evil bastard! (Score:2)
No, no, no - blinding an opponent is against the Geneva Convention. You're only allowed to humanely kill them by ripping holes in them with supersonic slugs of heavy metal, or burning them alive and violently dismembering them with incendiary devices dropped gently from aerial craft.
What kind of cruel bastard are you?
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Because any chance object you shine it at might reflect enough of the beam back at you to blind YOU? Or alternately, the goggles you need to protect yourself from it blunt your tactical awareness so much that you get pwned with an entrenchment tool?
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.
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Normal people do not understand lasers. They seem far to harmless for their destructive potential.
Worse then a gun imho (Score:3)
I consider these 'toys' much more dangerous then a machinegun. Why? Because while a nut with a machinegun can actually kill people, you cannot hide the fact that you are doing it. With a laser gun like this it is easy to blind people for life without anybody knowing who did it.
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Cool... but at the same time pointless. Seriously what is the point of this laser?
It'll keep those damn kids off of my lawn and in the ER where they belong.
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You can combine it with a rotating mirror and a DLP and make monochrome pictures on a wall a long way away? You can fire it at a spinning screen and make Star Wars Holonet-style images?
A sixty foot image of Princess Lea in the middle of the park?
What's not to like?
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A sixty foot image of Princess Lea in the middle of the park?
What's not to like?
I've heard her beauty can blind a man.
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A sixty foot image of slave girl Princess Lea in the middle of the park?
TFTFY
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It really is just a novelty. Less practical and more of a collection piece. You could use it to point at stars or signal others at a distance to your location (this apparently comes with a built in SOS flicker mode), but I'd be too afraid to point it at the sky for fear of messing up some satellite or fail to notice some small plane in the sky and blind the pilot and/or passengers.
To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about this being readily available to anyone since they are extremely dangerous. They don'
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So anything green is state of the art?
If that's the case, I've got a sandwich that's bleeding edge!
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You spelled it wrong, it is 'Schwanz'
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Aside from color...they'll both do the same amount of damage, right?
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*Only applies to very small galaxies.
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From TFA: "With it's intergalactic range of 85 miles, the S3 Krypton is the first and only handheld laser visible from outer space." Maybe it's different here but I'd hardly call 85 miles "intergalactic."
Maybe they meant intragalactic. Although a 1mW laser pointer would also qualify.
Re: (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 y