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1W Blue laser for $200

I

IRSmurf

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
2,312
laser.jpg


This laser is powerful enough... to be controversial!

Link to product: http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/Spyder_III_Pro_Arctic_Series-96-37.html

http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=18681
http://gizmodo.com/5560206/the-spyder-iii-pro-arctic-is-a-real-life-lightsaber
http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/06/10/wickedlasers-spyder-iii-pro-arctic-laser-burns-all-comers/

You really need to read the blogs to understand why this is such a great deal. I had to own one. The website has been going down since the thing was unveiled... it took me about an hour and a half to get through check out. I could have just called... but who knows if they would have accepted the coupon code I found online.

The first time I got through, online, it showed a price of $257.97. That's more than they are advertising. So I cleared my cart and tried it again, this time armed with a coupon code I found online.

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Your transaction has been processed by RBS WorldPay, on behalf of Energy Technology Development Limited. 

Transaction details:

Transaction for the value of: USD 178.17

The coupon code I used (called a Source Code on the site) was: tip2

1) That's a hot deal
2) I can't wait to show this thing off... using the appropriate eye wear, of course. And what better means to do that than lighting something on fire... or at least melting something.
3) I do not expect a real 1W laser... but even if it's half that this is still a great deal. If they deliver a 1W laser, I'm going to have to start a group buy at the office. :->
 
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mnewxcv said:
too dangerous for me, that thing is scary
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The website takes a great deal of effort to inform the buyer how dangerous this thing is. No skin contact, do not shine the laser around people without the proper eye protection, etc.

I anticipate being as careful with this thing as I would be with a stun gun. Stun guns are fun. But that doesn't mean I'd shock myself with one. :D
 
Certainly not a toy. At least they include safety goggles with it. Price is pretty incredible too...which in turn killed their website.
 
That is an incredibly good deal on a blue laser.

You gotta worry about customs confiscating it though.
 
IRSmurf said:
The website takes a great deal of effort to inform the buyer how dangerous this thing is. No skin contact, do not shine the laser around people without the proper eye protection, etc.

I anticipate being as careful with this thing as I would be with a stun gun. Stun guns are fun. But that doesn't mean I'd shock myself with one. :D
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Have you ever had a high power laser before? 50mw is enough to make your eyes hurt if you shine it on a white wall. This thing is 20x that.

This thing is too powerful to "play" with. You won't be able to shine it in the house safely without everyone wearing goggles - and where is the fun in that?

Sometimes, more powerful is not what you REALLY want.
 
robble said:
That is an incredibly good deal on a blue laser.

You gotta worry about customs confiscating it though.
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I bought with an American Express card... they're pretty good about protecting the card holder.

Check it out... they actually tear it out of a projector:
http://www.wickedlasers.com/laser-tech/arctic_series.html

They probably just over volt the diode. I regret not getting that 2 year warranty for an extra $100, now. >.>
 
IRSmurf said:
I bought with an American Express card... they're pretty good about protecting the card holder.

Check it out... they actually tear it out of a projector:
http://www.wickedlasers.com/laser-tech/arctic_series.html

They probably just over volt the diode. I regret not getting that 2 year warranty for an extra $100, now. >.>
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American Express won't do anything for you if customs confiscates it (wicked lasers is not in the US)

I would check it out but haven't gotten wicked laser webpage up yet. The gizmodo site talked about that though.

What wattage do they claim the laser puts out? The diode is supposed to be rated at 1 watt.

I may have to break out the green laser I bought from there a while back.. was rated at 5mw but they gave instructions on how to boost it. I got mine up to 40mw. One of the forum members over there gave me a "calibrated" led that I was able to measure the output with. My greenie will give me a headache after about 5 minutes of playing with it indoors.There is probably a thread in genmay talking about when I got it and modified it.
 
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If you really want to get an idea of how powerful this thing is, at 0.25km, it is still as bright as a 5mW laser from 1.25m (if you consider equal divergence), so it will still be bright enough to blind (temporarily at least). A 5mW laser should be visible from a couple km/miles away and if you do the math, if you were to point it at the ISS (when directly underneath), for them it would be as bright as a 5mW laser from 1.7km away. So, in theory, visible from space. At that distance the beam width is about 0.5km too. Just remember that the last thing this is is a toy...
 
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Definately not a toy. I've got a 50mw green and it is bright enough to hurt somebody's eyesight if you hit them in the face accidently. Perminantly if you leave it there for a second or 2. 150mw green is enough to pop a dark colored baloon from a few meters away. This blue 1w WILL blind somebody if you accidently hit them. And if you do, say, hit an aircraft or the ISS with it, and get caught. You'll be in more trouble than you would have thought possible from something as simple.

So, if you buy one, be safe, and don't do stupid shit. Read and follow all safety proceedures. There's a reason why these come with free protective glasses.

Now.. all that said, this is a real good deal. I own a wicked lasers Core 5mw green and it's very well built. I just cannot afford the nice toys like this :)

Shane
 
If you have to ask, it's not for you. :p

Honestly, I can't really think of a legitimate use for one of these myself.
 
Playing with this thing is about the same as playing with a gun. You can blind someone off in the distance and not even know it.
 
Blue Fox said:
Honestly, I can't really think of a legitimate use for one of these myself.
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Even with lower powered ones they get boring after a while. They are great fun for a short while.

I could see getting bored with the big one real fast since you can't play with it like you can a lower power one.
 
robble said:
Even with lower powered ones they get boring after a while. They are great fun for a short while.

I could see getting bored with the big one real fast since you can't play with it like you can a lower power one.
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I'm sure someone on this forum will buy it from me, once I get tired of laser engraving my name into parking spaces... from my cubicle. :)
 
IRSmurf said:
I'm sure someone on this forum will buy it from me, once I get tired of laser engraving my name into parking spaces... from my cubicle. :)
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Engraving? Hell, you could do CNC cutting.
 
So why would customs stop me from acquiring this part?

It meets the class 4 requirements of having some sort of key. The back cap is the key, without it, it can't operate.

(And I'm not asking why they *should*)
 
IRSmurf said:
So why would customs stop me from acquiring this part?

It meets the class 4 requirements of having some sort of key. The back cap is the key, without it, it can't operate.

(And I'm not asking why they *should*)
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even with the safety cap making it so it should pass customs, there have been many stories of them being confiscated anyway.
 
They had to shape it like a lightsaber didn't they...

This thing will be sold out and on backorder for months. The lightsaber-esque look to it will only make it more desirable.
 
I want it so badly and got to the payment page before remembering that anything that's hand held and over 1mW is banned for import in Australia.

FUCK!!!!!!
 
Hypernova said:
I want it so badly and got to the payment page before remembering that anything that's hand held and over 1mW is banned for import in Australia.

FUCK!!!!!!
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This <strike>lightsaber</strike> <strike>laserpointer</strike> frickin' laser can you yours for the low, low price of $1,000 plus airfare to Kansas.

Please note, there is only one way to smuggle this back into Australia. And the laser is big. :eek:

UPDATE: It looks like these won't be shipping for two weeks. And there are legal in the United States.
 
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Comment from Giz:

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"Let me make one thing clear: WickedLasers makes horrible lasers which are very overpriced. I highly suggest not buying from them. Although they advertise their lasers at a certain mW, they are usually much lower. More importantly, the shape of the beam isn't circular (for the blue laser). Instead it's either TEM10 or TEM20 (see the above image). Other companies have the same power lasers with TEM00 at a lower price. Please think twice about buying from WickedLasers."

Also:

"I dont think people understand exactly how dangerous this laser is, any living creature that can be anywhere near this beam needs safety glasses. Mirrors arent even the main issue here. if you point this at your matte wall, and look at the dot, you can go blind from that. And it isn't temporary. its blind for life.. yes the reflection off a matte surface.

Anything above 5 mw can blind you, that means anything that reflects even .5% of the light back in to your eye could cause damage.

Pointing with this or waving it around is not an option.. the beam needs to be controlled at all times"

IRSmurf said:
I anticipate being as careful with this thing as I would be with a stun gun. Stun guns are fun. But that doesn't mean I'd shock myself with one. :D
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This thing is FAR more dangerous than a stun-gun. Really, I'd rather be shot by a .22 handgun then have this thing shined at my eyes.
 
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robble said:
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=167718

It not something to fool around with.
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To sum it up,dude was cleaning his laser and accidentally pushed the button and it shined into his eye,days later still has issues with it and their isn't anything he can do about it.(the laser was only a 31w green)
I was interested in that light saber laser but after reading that,sounds like Im just playing with a loaded gun that is silenced.
 
After reading all this stuff, I really wish they could build a hand held laser with a dimmer.

A 1W laser is extremely dangerous. Then again, so are my firearms. I'll just have to treat this like one of those.

Perspective. Modified.
 
IRSmurf said:
After reading all this stuff, I really wish they could build a hand held laser with a dimmer.

A 1W laser is extremely dangerous. Then again, so are my firearms. I'll just have to treat this like one of those.

Perspective. Modified.
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To compare this laser with a firearm is apt, however, you must think 'every time i pull the trigger, the bullet IS going to ricochet and it WILL hit me (and everyone else who can see the impact point) in the eye.'

So wear your eye protection
 
High-powered lasers are so stupidly dangerous. They should only be given out with a license.
 
Haste266 said:
would be awesome for starting campfires, maybe?
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Yes, actually.

Generate enough heat on dry leaves, and I'm sure you could make a flame. That would take very little time (maybe two seconds) with this laser.

I'm still not convinced it is one watt, though. That is a stupendously powerful laser for $200. I won't believe it until I can test it.

I'm VERY bummed that I won't have this for the fourth of July.
 
I feel safer around guns than high powered lasers. Probably because people with guns usually know how to handle them properly, people with high powered lasers seem to rarely know how to handle them.
 
lol, I can imagine passing it around to friends that goof off, up until one decides to see if it can "really" damage eyesight
 
IRSmurf said:
Yes, actually.

Generate enough heat on dry leaves, and I'm sure you could make a flame. That would take very little time (maybe two seconds) with this laser.

I'm still not convinced it is one watt, though. That is a stupendously powerful laser for $200. I won't believe it until I can test it.

I'm VERY bummed that I won't have this for the fourth of July.
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Well the data sheet for the diode is not available given how they are acquired but they do appear from testing to be nichia NDB7352's in a 5.6mm package. And that IS rated for 1W (keyword 445nm).

One hanging concern right now is that the diode outputs are neither circular nor square but rectangles. WL claims to have corrective optics, but no one on any laser forum's (LPF, PL etc) has received theirs yet to properly test the thing.

Either way given mass distribution of the projectors that are sure to come in the coming years (including green and red) one can always build their own if they aren't sure. Each of the projectors WL took apart contains 24 laser diodes and there are already several ebay listings for them.
 
Hypernova said:
snip
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Holy cow. What would a projector need twenty four one watt lasers for?

Also, if you have found a forum where there is a lot of discussion regarding these lasers, would you care to link it, here? I'd love to hear what other people are saying / thinking about these.
 
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