Practical Use said:
I should probably apologize in advance.
I have a hard time seeing any value in spending $150 for something that will likely tell me that I have just been exposed to enough bad stuff to kill me or ruin my health.
Well, one of the most important factors in any radiation exposure is how long you are exposed to it. In a bugout situation, would it be useful? If it is showing you upwards of 1 R/hr. in that abandoned building, don't sleep there. It won't kill you, but it won't make you any healthier, either.
As I mentioned before, Time, and add to that Distance and Shielding. You can get exposed to relatively high levels of ionizing radiation, so long as it doesn't last too long (and you don't bring any out on you). Distance is also a key factor, because the amount of energy that can do anything naughty to you drops off with the square of the distance. Shielding is getting behind something solid enough to stop whatever the type of radiation you're working with.
In addition, it helps to know that certain parts of your body can take a lot more exposure than others. Your extremities are extremely hardy, and can take many times over what, say, your eyes can, and not be long-term impaired. (They might feel a little crunchy/snappy in the joints the next day, though. No, I'm not kidding.) For some reason, your brain is also remarkably durable, and can take doses that doses that start turning your guts into mush with little harm. Your intestines are sensitive, and should be shieldied as much as possible. If you're really screwed exposure-wise, you would know it because you'd be tossing your lunch, or at least feel like it, immediately.
The only thing that concerns me about this little device is that the ABS shielding will be more than enough to stop Alpha particles. These short lived forms of radiation are not a huge problem outside the body, they can't penetrate far into the skin like Gamma. However, when a little dust becomes airborne, and you take it in your lungs, it's really not a happy thing.
To be honest though, radiation is a funny thing, and it's hard to do long-term studies on it, because people react very differently to it. There are widely varying estimates for the LD50 amount of ionizing radiation, depending on who you speak to. I figure it's best to just minimize exposure whenever possible, but the average human being has to in some strange circumstances to find themselves exposed to anything significant, other than medical reasons. And people that work in the industry (I'm thinking specifically nuclear pharmacists) regularly get exposed to many times over the "average", and don't seem to suffer too much for it. Wait another 30 years for more studies to come out before you listen to me, though.
I work as a radiation chemist/physicist. I might know a thing or two.
Joe S.
edited to add: some customs agents/security officials do have something similar in a pager-like device, that will pick up even if someone has within the past few days has undergone a medical procedure than involves one of the longer lived radionuclides being taken into the body.
