Proper 532nm wavelength preventing laser safety goggles is in need.
I get a very special 5mW APC green laser pointer. It just keeps permanent 5mW output power emission in all conditions.
This is a totally safe and class IIIa laser. if output power is higher than 30mW, just be cautious and take safety measures as well. Enjoy the laser fun freely.
I've since bought and received the same laser but in blue from Gearbest. This unit IS a firestarter! But it's fairly scary as well, so use caution! Always wear glasses!
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_105699.html
This model is slightly shorter than the green model I already have.
When I received this LASER, the beam woudn't focus into a tight spot, so I had to disassemble the head and adjust the lens focus. Now I'm able to get the light focused into a beam att longer distances, while still being able to focus to a closer point for the burning/fire starting. SO WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES!
I was concerned because I couldn't see the dot at first. When I removed my safety glasses though, I could see the large purple blob of light on the wall. Apparently, this light is VERY close to the 400nm UV side of the blue spectrum. Outside, the light creates a deep purple hazy blur when shined against a remote wall. Very little light is visible when using with my UV/blue filtering glasses. The beam is only barely visible in the air, but is interesting when directed onto the trees, as many of the leaves fluoresce a bright red, making blue/red/orange flashes depending on what the beam hits.
This light will make wood smoke and blacken when focused to the smallest possible point. It will burn through paper, and immediately make any black plastic smoke, etching lines across the surface. I inadvertently allowed the beam to hit my hand, and immediately noticed the heat on my skin. After several tries, I was successfully able to get a match to ignite when held in the beam. I was also able to pop a balloon from across the room, while hand-holding the laser. So you had best be wearing your safety glasses!
The green laser is much more impressive due to it's brighter spot and more visible beam. This laser is more dangerous as it's in a more dangerous wavelength, that is also more difficult to judge due to your reduced ability to perceive that portion of the spectrum. So always wear your SAFETY GLASSES!
If you want a blue laser just for the fun-factor, I would recommend you avoid this high-power 301 and purchase this unit instead:
http://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_107368.html
It has a much bluer color (True blue, less purple/UV) and a more visible and pronounced spot. For $3.79, it's a good option. Even though it has a much weaker emission, it looks more impressive due to the higher visibility.
They have a red laser there also. Have you ordered that one yet?
I’m a total dummy when it comes to lasers, but if you don’t point it at your face ever, how does it harm your eyes?
Honestly wondering.
hint: the bright dot you see is the reflected light 
the more a surface reflects (mirror / chrome) - the less LaZ0rpower is needed to cause damage…
So what about some of the ridiculously bright flashlights we buy/build?
I got a X60vn, it’s 6500 really well focused lumens, the hotspot on turbo is painful to look at from less than ~3m away. Is that causing similar damage, or is laser light different because of it’s coherence?
(which illustrates the difference between diffuse blue sky light and the point source focused on the retina imaging a LED/laser)
laser led eye damage? - Google Search (generally, read a few pages of results)
and do an image search with the above page to see illustrations
and ask your library to get this for you:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584915001586
doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2015.03.034
Abstract from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0891584915001586
It depends on the power and color. High power blue may do some eye damage even without ever pointing it at anything reflective or shiny, due to whats called blue-light-hazard. Photo receptors in our eyes don’t undergo their normal recovery process when hit with bright blue light.
And any color can damage your eyes if you hit something reflective, shiny, glossy. Indoors there are lots of shiny surfaces around. Look around, it can be glass, metal, plastic. Doorknob, metal on a lamp, plastic front panel on dvd player, drinking cup, soda bottle, a plastic pen, glossy fedex box, glossy candy wrapper or bag of chips, hell the surface of my furniture is pretty shiny. When you go into higher powers any glossy surface could hurt you if it happens to be at the right angle to reflect right back at you. Outdoors you have retroreflectors used in car tail lights, road markers, streetsigns. Retroreflectors actually are designed to always reflect right back at you regardless of the angle. You might also have them on the back of running sneakers.
Nope. I just wanted something I could start fires with and I got that one…
So I may get the red one sometime just to round out the set…
I ordered the red one. You made me nervous about the blue one as I do not know anything about lasers and have no eye protection either at this time.
The blue one does scare me… It’s so powerful it pops balloons instantly, and can light a match on fire, but is so far in the UV that it’s less visible… A dangerous combination.
What do you think the real power rating of the blue laser might be, over 1,500mW? Funny how they are rated 5mW in order to be legal to ship.
I had a 2,000mW wicked laser and it took a couple seconds to pop black balloons, if this one pops them instantly then we are talking about a serious high power laser.
405nm bluray lasers can focus to smaller point because they are “single mode” diodes. A smaller more concentrated spot has effectively more energy in that tiny spot so it heats faster, pops ballons, lights matches. High power blue 445nm lasers are “multi-mode” diodes and can’t focus as small. Bluray diodes are single mode because are actually intended for bluray drives and single mode is required for that. Whereas high power blue 445nm is used just as a light source for projectors, single mode isn’t needed there.
Thanks for the explanations Halo.
I came across a picture that makes the point Halo explained in text above:
Note it’s a bell curve. Both the red and the violet-blue end of the curve are low — our visual receptors in our eyes are very insensitive to visible light at both ends of that curve.
But the blue-violet photons we barely see do pack enough energy to knock electrons out of their orbit (that’s what makes fluorescence work) and kill retinal cells photochemically, and the infrared photons we don’t see at all carry enough heat energy to burn.
“With great power goes great responsibility.”
Yeah, but you can buy great power for $10 on the Internet.
Responsibility? hmmmm ….
I got this laser last week from gearbest and am deeply disappointed with the performance. Compared to a 50mW green laser it is extremely weak, and it can’t be compared to my 2,000mW Wickedlaser arctic s2 (this laser burns skin). Even at pitch dark it is difficult to see the beam, and the dot has less reach than a cheap red laser pointer. At 50m the dot simply disappears.
Tried bypassing the tailswitch, tried several batteries with the same result. Direct exposure to a black sheet of paper makes a barely warm spot, it won’t burn anything. Also the color is more purple than blue.
I don’t know if GB changed the stock or if they sent the wrong Laser, but it is nothing like what you guys have described here.
Which one did you get? There's a few different colors/wavelengths linked/discussed above.
I have the Blue 405nm version, & as mentioned it needs some focus tuning to get it to perform well.
I could not get it to perform as well as keltex78 described, but it could differ from the one he was sent.
Maybe the GearBest is such a powerful site. I can see its advertisement everywhere. Is it trustworthy?