High Power Laser Pointer – Bright Beam Technology In The Palm Of Your Hands
Lasers have not always been the high powered hand held gadgets that we see readily available online today. In fact most laser pointers have extremely low powers where the beam itself is not visible from the side, and where only the ‘dot’ is visible to target. This is how lasers had typically been designed for more than 30 years.
The 21st century, however, has its own views about high power laser pointers and what they are capable of. If you take a look on youtube you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of different laser videos showing everything from combat situations to popping balloons to entertaining cats with lasers of every kind.
You can find hand held lasers in wavelengths (colors) of all kinds from red, green, blue, orange/yellow, purple/blu-ray, and even infrared (invisible). Each laser pointer will have its own pros and cons, the point is to look for something that you are really going to enjoy and get a lot of use out of. This means finding a laser that not only looks good, but performs with a level of consistency that can be relied on again and again.
A lot of high power laser pointers just are not engineered all that well and it can really show when compared to a high quality laser diode. When you start to deal with more powerful lasers its really important to ensure the quality is superb. With such a bright laser beam any imperfection is clearly visible and can have your beam scattering way off target and even being potentially dangerous from reflection.
Some lasers will be able to burn black plastic, pop black balloons and light dark colored match heads, so if you are going with a laser that is powerful like that (100mW+), be sure you take some simple safety measures before you start burning. Laser safety goggles or glasses are important to protect your eyes, even when lasers have IR filters, and the phrase “don’t play with fire” should come to mind as burning things tends to lead to fire. Since that is what you probably want, just be careful. Maybe have some water handy or a fire extinguisher, lasers can be a great time but if you go overboard you can have some problems on your hands.
Make sure any laser pointer above 5mW in output power is FDA certified and legal to own in your country, including the USA. Remember its not only completely insane and dangerous, but highly illegal to aim any laser at any aircraft anywhere! So don’t be foolhardy and point your laser at the sky without paying at least a little bit of attention to what you are pointing that beam at. Star gazing and astronomy can be really enhanced with a high power laser pointer but you need to be careful of any air traffic and keep yourself and others safe.
