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Yeah, of course you can get eye damage from a 1W laser. That article was specifically talking about class IIIa lasers which are 5mW or less. Anything sold lega
by learc83 11y ago
Yeah, of course you can get eye damage from a 1W laser. That article was specifically talking about class IIIa lasers which are 5mW or less.
Anything sold legally in the US as a "laser pointer" is going to be class IIIa.
- bri3d 11y agoPlease be VERY wary of "legal class IIIa" laser pointers purchased in the US. A few years ago, ICE and the FDA started cracking down on the importation of high-powered laser pointers. Instead of fixing the problem, it meant that every single imported laser is marked "Class IIIa" regardless of its actual output power, since the border agents rarely (if ever) test the actual output of the devices. I had a friend test a green laser pointer purchased online in 2010 with a "<5mW" warning label on it using a ThorLabs optical power meter. It measured 41mW. A basic diffraction grating test also revealed a massive amount of dangerous IR leakage.