DIY Laser Safety: How to Test Pointers and Save Your Eyes

[Analog]

@Analog - I wonder if they ship 50mW lasers to the US. I'm not sure what the exact rules are, but saw another company that won't ship >5mW to the US (and >1mW to a few other countries.)

For a research experiment, we bought one of the 50mW violet lasers last July and they shipped with no problems. I don't know if things have changed since then.

 

[Minerva]

Try Optotronics.

http://optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=Opto5

You can get them a lot cheaper imported but they do get held up in customs. (East coast has a better chance of NOT having any issues)

Also cheapies don't have IR filter and tend to put out more than 5mW. A lot of that is IR too which is bad because you cannot see it.

That Opto will last very long. Oh another thing to remember is you don't want to put it in a pocket because the lens will get lint and crap on it making the dot fuzzy.