I’m looking for as low-powered of a laser pointer as I can find. For safety’s sake, as a cat-toy.
It’s surprisingly difficult to find something that is under 1MW.
I had originally tried to find a lower power 18650 laser - one that would last a lifetime on a single charge, but I don’t trust those be low-powered enough.
Then I started looking for low powered AAA lasers, thinking the less battery would mean lower power…but all of them are listed as 1MW.
Any suggestions on a low-power laser for a cat toy?
Colored plastic works fine, eg, even green plastic on a red laser to cut the brightness. No need to get ND gray or anything fancy/expensive.
Or get a pack of these Amazon.com , hang ’em by the wires to make a chandelier of sorts, twirl it around, and make the cats go crazy trying to get each dot. “5mW” is likely quite… optimistic.
5 mW is the legal limit for laser pointers because the blink reflex is faster than the amount of time it takes to damage your eye at that brightness. Your eye will automatically close without harm.
Now if you intentionally stare into it, all bets are off.
Problem is, that on a dark carpet, the dot won’t be very bright at all, but on a white wall or ceiling it’ll be really bright. Nature of the beast. Bright enough to be dazzling if you catch a reflection, but won’t show up well on dark carpets, and Mr Cat might lose interest.
Just gotta be sure to not be a jackass and shine anywhere there’d be a shiny/reflective surface. I was always careful with conventional red lasers. Cats loved ’em. Never ever even came close to letting a cat get a laser in the eye, direct or reflected…
Any kids, or idiot adults, and all bets are off. Just forego the laser entirely.
I’d assume the little keychain button cell ones they sell at pet stores would be ok. As others have said, avoid too much white walls until the battery drains a bit.
But if you have a thrower with a small hotspot, those work great too!
I can recommend the Noctigon K1, and the Manker MC13, both with CULNM1.TG. I have used both with cats and they are definitely safe (obviously as long as you don’t shine directly into the cats eyes). I use them on moonlight or low-medium and they work great even during the day. Mine are white but you could get a colored one which might be fun.
Though I guess all cats are different so YMMV but I can confirm 2 black cats go nuts over them and even seem to prefer them to a laser.
The MC13 is slightly better I’d say because of the TIR. You can get the 18650 tube for it too.
1mW is fine. The regulations say 5mW is safe for general use (dont point directly at your eye though). As you’ve mentioned/complained, it’s rather difficult to find actual low power ones now. Try a dollar store maybe?
If you want to feel better, see if you can either get one with a focusable (defocusable) beam and make the dot bigger, or scratch the lens to diffuse it…
Some come with “fancy” add-on things that make little pictures like butterflies or whatnot. All of these spread the light output over an area, degrading the power. Basically you just don’t want a tiny dot.
Most of your boardroom & classroom laser pointers are like 1mW. I have a certified 4.67 green laser for star gazing, pointing out constellations and such. Your classroom pointers are fine for cat toys. Just use it with some common sense. Frogs and Toads like them too. They think they are bugs and try and attack the dots… pretty funny
