As an aside George Lucas is suing them for the “light saber” look
Burning ants at night. And without a magnifying glass.
Why do you think it’s a pointing laser?
I know a few physics undergrads who’ve purchased them to do optics experiments and projects without having to rely on access to labs. Easier than cannibalizing old gas tube CD/laserdisc players. I know a few people (myself included) who’d like to have one just to play with. It’s not much different than using magnifying glasses to burn stuff as a kid, really.
Could you set something on fire from 100 feet away?
Not that I’ve seen. It can light a cigarette or burn a pinhole in paper up close… as far as burning capacity, it’s about as dangerous as a butane jet lighter. The big danger is in its blinding capacity.
That’s BS.
A 1W laser is a class IV Laser, and is not eyesafe. Use of this laser in public would constitute a serious hazard to those in the area, something that a magnifying glass wouldn’t.
BTW, I have two 30W Infrared cutting lasers, so I am aware of proper laser safety procedures.
No, you could seriously hurt someones vision from a distance, though.
its cool
What’s BS? That I’d like one to play with (true?) or that I know of a few students using them in an optics experiment (which I’d hardly classify as “public”)?
This:
Oh, yeah, I did ignore the blinding problems in that post, since I was focused on the burning capacity of the laser at the time. You’ll see I did acknowledge it later, before your own post… Mea culpa.
Can I come over and play sometime?
Only with proper eye protection…
From the link: “Important Announcement: S3 Arctic will no longer be offered at the introductory pricing of $197.97 effective on midnight July 23rd PST. The new price will be $299.95.”
My bet is that tomorrow, that will change to “midnight July 24th PST.”
I see a bunch of lasers at Canadian Tire that are supposed to be mounted on top of a hunting rifle. Perhaps you could use it to detach a deer’s retina before blowing its brains out?
Could it defrost your windshield?
Bah! Following up to report that the students I know doing the optics experiments ordered the Arctic, but the laser in their project right now is from a different company. I screw up again!
I don’t see any way that these lasers can be safely used as a pointing device. They are sufficiently powerful that they pose a blinding hazard not just through direct aiming but by reflection off pretty much any surface within 6 feet or so. You shine one past a window and you can blind someone standing hundreds of metres away.
They are incredibly dangerous devices and I can see a lot of people being blinded as a result of the irresponsible idiots who will buy and sell them.
They obviously can be used as a cheap experimental laser, but aren’t going to be well suited for most such applications as, absent any space issues, you are probably going to want such a laser to have a bit more weight and stability to it.
1 Watt isn’t really remarkable in a laboratory laser. The real difference in this is its portability and its ease of maneuvering. That’s what can cause problems.
Your typical 1 Watt lab laser is either held down on a lab bench by gravity or, more likely, is bolted down. This keeps the beam in a known plane away from eyes or reflections from the random mirror surface. With a completely free laser that can be swinging around, there are infinitely more opportunities for the beam to go into someone’s eyes, either directly or though a chance reflection from a mirror or a glass surface. And that’s purely by chance with someone carefully operating it in good faith. The probability of this happening rises rapidly with non-careful users, drunken or incompetent users, and the actively malicious. After one or more bad experiences with such users, someone’s going to slap regulations on this – people have been rumbling about putting restrictions on hand-held lasers for years.
To tell the truth, I can’t think of any real uses for a hand-held laser of this power. It’s too weak to really do anything useful (You can talk about lighting cigarettes with it, but I’ve stuck my hand in a 1 Watt laser beam, and it’s still whole), but it can have catastrophic results if you send it into a camera system or someone’s eye.
Cal’s right on the money about this eye safety thing. I used to only have worry about stray bullets. Now I gotta worry about stray beams too. Though, I guess I’ll look pretty cool walking through the woods in an orange safety vests and laser safety goggles.