Laser pointer selection help needed

S

Sid Post

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Oct 14, 1998
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I never would have thought I would have ergonomic problems with a laser pointer but, guess what - that day has come.

I had a presentation that lasted about 2 hours which was 1 hour longer then anticipated thanks to a heckler who gave me the opportunity to demonstrate I really did my homework. Anyway, I had one of those laser pointers that everyone else seems to have. Normally I use a stick pointer but, this screen was about 16 feet high and ~40 feet wide and that was not an option. I was given a laser pointer which had a little silver ball on the barrel to turn it on. A few hits here and there were no big deal. As the presentation got buried into details, that little ball seemed to loose continuity in the circuit causing the beam to turn off. Beating the barrel in my palm helped marginally but, I found myself pressing harder to keep it lit. My thumb still has some numbness 3 days later but, each day the feeling gets better.

I am looking for the following features in a laser pointer:
  • One that has a large surface to turn it on for momentary contact
  • A model that has a constant on
  • A model that will burn for at least 2 hours continuous use without overheating or cutting out
  • One with good ergonomic design
  • One that won't slip out of my hand under hot lights
  • One with a beam bright enough and large enough to show up on a bright screen
  • Reasonable price

Your help is appreciated!
 
Surprisingly, Sid, while your list or requirements seems fairly reasonable on the surface, I'm afraid the first three alone are putting you in the upper stratosphere of currently available laser products. Let me start with the disclaimer that I'm no expert on this subject. There is, however, a forum at Candlepowerforums, that is specifically dedicated to lasers. This may end up being your best resource.

In the meantime, I can suggest that you begin by looking into purchasing a green laser. Compared to a typical red laser of equal power output, the greenie will appear to the human eye to be about 30 times brighter (has to do with sensitivity to wavelengths and all that). Of course you also see the difference on the price tag. Whereas red laser pointers can be had for $10 or less, I think the greenies start at about a $100 and go up from there.

5Mw is supposed to be the max power output for lasers sold over the counter. In reality, however, there's evidently a huge disparity in the actual outputs of the lasers that are imported to this country. Most are far less powerful than 5Mw, but some guys seemingly make a living out of sorting out the brightest and reselling them for even more moolah. I personally think that the very fact such a resale industry exists is prima facie evidence for the fact that they're all poorly constructed Chinese junk. But that's just sour grapes from someone who spent $160 for a supposedly "premium" laser from one of the respected dealers at CPF, only to have the thing crap out after about a dozen uses (we're talking maybe 5 minutes of total run time).

I think the hardest requirement to meet will be the continuous run time. Try CPF and do a search on "PGL-III". IIRC this laser runs on C cell batteries and may have adequate heat sinking to run for extended periods of time. Be advised, however, I think $400 or thereabouts is the price of admission for one of these.

Hopefully a CPFer will chime in with better advice than what I'm able to provide. You can also check the following links. I believe one of these gents also does laser reviews:



http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/

http://www.flashlightreviews.com/index1.html
 
Here are some more links that might interest you, Sid. Some of the products represented in the links are probably a good deal more powerful than what you would actually require, but they would definitely get people's attention. It is incumbent upon you, however, to understand just how dangerous some of these more powerful units can be potentially. I'm not sure where exactly the danger threshold lies, but these units can range anywhere from 35Mw to upwards of 200Mw or more.

http://www.optotronics.com/

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/ub...6331&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=186&fpart=1
 
First, the Homer Simpson "doh!" for not checking CPF first. On the flip side, there seems to be a lot of business professionals who visit this forum so, I was thinking they probably had this figured out since I am looking for a business tool and not a toy.

Thank you for the great links. They have provided a lot of good reading. I am going to stay with the Class IIIA rated lasers since I will be using these in auditoriums and conference rooms with "bright" surfaces (reflection concerns) and it will most likely be shared with other people who will not honor special considerations with a laser pointer that is not eye safe. This is a business presentation and not combat by PowerPoint after all :), so eye damage and other potential negative effects are not something to play with - ethical and legal consideration are a whole different class of reasons why I am limiting myself to the 5mW and under models.

The GP5 is $94 shipped and looks promising but, the crappy pictures show what appear to be that :eek: EVIL :eek: brass bead momentary contact.

The GPL-105 here and on Ebay, looks promising at ~$60 delivered.

Being unable to test drive either of them myself makes this a little bit of blind purchase since I cannot get a feel for the ergonomics other then what I can see in a really fuzzy picture taken at bad angles.

Thanks for all the help so far!
 
By all means, if you're not going to be the sole operator, I would steer clear of the ultra high powered units. I can say that, even at just a claimed output of right near 5Mw, the green pointer I had was exceedingly bright during those glorious 5 minutes when it actually worked. It does appear, however, that the specific units you're currently looking at fall squarely into that 'cheap Chinese piece of crap' category that I referenced earlier. That's not necessarily a problem, but it would concern me enough to find out all I could about the return/warranty policy of the seller.

FWIW, Coast is a company that I first noticed selling lower end (but very serviceable) LED flashlights in many of the hardware store chains. During a recent visit to the local Fry's Electronics, I noticed they now make both red and green laser pointers. Just for giggles, I picked up a miniature red one for about $10 that works really well. I believe the greenie was selling for $99, but I didn't handle it personally. I mention this only because there might be some advantages in terms of honoring warranties and customer service if your dealing with a somewhat larger, more established company. This is where the CPF experts could really help out.
 
E__WOK said:
Plus you can weapon mount it.
Click to expand...

I dunno, Sid. Bet it would take care of the heckler problem awful damn fast. ;) :D


I does make you wonder though why SF would use a red laser instead of a much more visible greenie.
 
http://www.abeland1.com/

These are Atlasnova lasers. Ask for the one not listed on his site that has AGC. He is listed on Ebay as well but, I ordered direct from him via his toll free number. They just showed up today. In full daylight the green and red both looked good. The 650nM model was a little weak as expected. I think I will go outside now since it is well past sunset and give them a test run in darkness.
 
The Red635nM looks really good.

The Green 532nM looks good as well. I can see the entire beam run out to point where it is so small my eyes loose the dot. I think this one is enough to get people arrested if they use it inappropriately.

The 650nM is enough for most presentation rooms but, the dot is smaller and duller in appearance.

For ~$25-28 the 635nM red is a good deal for most folks.
 
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