I’d like something to use for astronomy. So must have a visible beam. Anyone able to suggest one they have. Maybe from somewhere like Banggood or similar. Must be able to ship to the U.K.
Thanks.
If you want a safe, high quality laser with a (I’m told) decently visible beam with, get one of the 532nm <5mw Green lasers from Laser glow (idk about shipping to the UK but this is a legitimate company) Yikes, looks like with shipping it’s about $100. Browse All Products | Laserglow
If you want a more visible beam, decent quality, but not eye safety: get one of these laser 304s from Sanwu 100mw 200mw Green red violet 304 long range visible laser pointers - Sanwu Lasers . Pick the 532 nm one. for highest visibility. If you want something with higher quality, pick one of their 520 ish nm pocket lasers.
If you don’t care about quality or safety, buy two of these 532nm laser 301s from ebay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?\_from=R40&\_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&\_nkw=laser+301&\_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&\_osacat=0&\_odkw=laser+303
Buy two because one might not work, and you’ll have a higher chance of getting a working one. Expect maybe 2 months of shipping.
Let me remind you that anything above 5mw can cause permanent blindness in a momentary glimpse. I recommended that laser from laserglow because from what I know, they are a legitimate company while many companies advertising online have fake ratings to skirt around laser laws.
I have a pocket laser from Sanwu and the build quality is fantastic. It’s just not very eye safe so I am extremely cautious with it and never use it indoors unless I’m wearing safety glasses.
Lasers on Banggood, ebay, and Amazon are either very low power, or have a power beyond the threshold of what’s eye-safe.
Few companies produce legitimate calibrated and tested <5mw lasers with visible beams.
I have the 301 laser (generic product), I think I got it from Gearbest a few years back. In green. it skews very high, if you aim the laser on your skin it will start to hurt, it is that powerful.
We use it for astronomy and with safety glasses.
edit: works with both 18350 and 18650. BAT+ towards tail.
please always use lasers with safety equipment and never ever give it to kids, or people who don’t know how to use them.
Be careful with your safety glasses! Many cheap ones simply aren’t very reliable. What colour are your safety glasses?
Ya…… That laser in particular produce way WAY more power than they claim as there generally is no qc since its cheaper from a manufacturing standpoint and they can get more items sold as its rated “below” danger levels acceptable by most countries. Be VERY careful with these and use REAL laser protective eye wear and no anything that comes with the product…
Worse yet, most laser goggles don’t work with the cheapo 532nm green laser 301s. 532nm is made by using a crystal to convert 1064nm ir light into 532nm light. The conversion is not very efficient and a lot of invisible ir light leaks out. The invisible light will destroy your eyesight if you are exposed to it, and most laser safety glasses which protect against 532nm light do NOT also protect against ir light.
Laser Glow Galileo. I’m pretty sure it was what the observatory worker used when I went to Marfa.
i’ve always been curious about this ‘’invisible light that leaks out’’
is it also in a pencil-thin beam, or does it go out in all directions?
It is parallel to the visible beam to the extent that a different wavelength of light with interact slightly differently with the optics. If the IR light was very diffuse it wouldn’t be a hazard at all.
Get this.
I have that one AND the blue one. Both are natively green/blue so they work in the cold where the IR~~green ones fail. The “high power” IR~~>Green lasers are absolutely useless for astronomy since the frequency doubling crystal stops working below about 40F or just above 0C.
The green one is MUCH easier to see the beam while not being too bright but the blue one can be handy if you’re somewhere REALLY dark.
I’ve had them for about 2 years with no issues at all other than they really only work well with alkaline cells. NiMH rechargables just don’t have enough voltage.
For what its worth, I also had an EXPENSIVE US made, name brand, “calibrated” <5mw native green laser and that one died in less than a day and the US based company did not care at all and refused to do anything about it when they FINALLY responded to my e-mails a week later.
I’ve had excellent luck with Sanwu. I have a bunch of 304’s, blue and green pocket series, and a more powerful green. As others have said, get yourself some high end safety glasses with the correct color lens for the laser you’re buying and always have them on even if you’re just putting the batteries in
Hi,
I had a Z bolt years ago. Now, I’m using a 5mw green pointer. Check sky-lasers (dot) com - they have plenty of those.
Or here’s a good one too: Military 10Miles 532nm Green Laser Pointer Pen Visible Beam + Battery + Star Cap on ebay
Interesting video about these pointers and the IR they might emit.
