ArsGeek

Recently we here at ArsGeek acquired an amazing little laser for review. The Executive series green laser from Wicked Lasers. I’ll be following up in a few paragraphs with a detailed review of this product, but first let me offer you an executive summery.

Executive Summery: Holy Crap! This thing rocks!

When I first received my package I ran into my one and only beef with this laser. And actually, it has nothing to do with the laser itself, but the lack of instructions that came with it. I eagerly shredded the envelope, opened the case with the laser in it and clicked the button.

Nothing happened. Being the tried and true geek that I was, and lacking an owner’s manual I resisted the urge to cry and spent the next minute or so tracking down the place where the batteries are inserted. See the image above, where that nice warning label is? Yeah, well it’s the other side. After a bit of fumbling and a wrong way in insertion of the two AAA I finally screwed the cap on. Knowing that lasers of this strength are a bit dangerous, I carefully walked over to my open window before clicking the button again and instantly blinded myself by accidentally reflecting a green laser off of my screen.

After a few seconds my sight returned and I was ready to have some fun with this green laser pointer. I this time stepped out onto my balcony, glanced at the moon (it was about 9:30 pm) and clicked the button.

That’s when my wife heard, from inside, me yelling “Oh my GOD!” She quickly came to the door and asked me to repeat my laser demonstration, and then she said “Oh. My. GOD!” We were both watching a very solid, pencil-lead thick beam of green light shoot towards the moon. It didn’t take long until a number of our neighbors were outside with us. I kid you not, one brought popcorn.

Now, let’s get some specifics on this green laser pointer. From their site:

Size: 13×150mm
Wavelength: 532nm
Laser Body: Black Polished Brass
Transverse Mode: TEM00
Output Power: 15mW - 125mW
Beam Divergence: 0.8mRad - 1.0mRad
Beam Diameter: 1.6mm
Power Consumption: 600mA
Power supply: 2 X AAA 1.5V
Battery Lifetime:90 min
Switch: Momentary On/Off Button
Expected lifetime: >5,000 hours

Our unit retails for $369.00.

The unit that I have is a 95mW output laser. This thing is FUN to use, and actually has some practical applications as well. In bright sunlight we were able to see the dot from this pointer at a distance of about 3/4 of a mile - that is across a golf course and into some trees. At night time the beam is clearly visible and it’s very easy to do things like point out stars, groups of trees or just about anything. We were able to see the beam from a cool mile away and most likely would have seen it from further than that if we had tried.

Here’s some video footage of what we were able to do with this handy laser:

We also found it great for the barbie. We were able to cook dinner with this over the course of several minutes. (Of course, we had the grill on as well).

It does interesting things when shone in a dark room at some glass objects (ice cubes work well also):

Unfortunately, our pics and vids of this laser operating at night didn’t come out all that well. What you’ll see is a series of green dots. What we saw was a very consistent, very bright laser. We’re not talking $50 laser pointer here, we’re talking Yoda’s light saber.

The pics and the videos really don’t do this laser justice. It’s very bright and very potent. Remember those practical applications I mentioned as well? This would be great for any astronomer out for a jaunt during the evening. Pointing out constellations, planets and the occasional UFO would be a snap. Bird watchers or wildlife watchers could use it at night or during the day to point out all sorts of beasties, provided they avoided searing their retina. Anything requiring someone to point out something precisely and at a great distance would benefit from this.

And of course it’s just a damned cool thing to have. I have to admit that in the 8 days I’ve had this laser, I’ve been outside each and every night using it. It’s just plain fun. Get some mirrors and you can have a blast. Same with ice cubes and other clear objects.

Cavtroop and I in our testing were able to burn a hole through a plastic trash bag in about 10 seconds of continuous use as well.

Bottom line, if you’re into this kind of thing, this is what you’ll want to get. It’s a great ‘entry level’ powerful laser to have. While it won’t quite make you Pink Floyd in concert, you’ll be able to impress your friends, and their friends to no end. The 25mW units would be great for presentations in large halls or wowing audiences. As you go up in strength, you get to the point where you can pop balloons and burn plastic.

I’ve owned a few laser pointers in my day, and this far exceeds anything I’ve had the chance to use.  If you’re a laser enthusiast, you can join others at Wicked’s laser pointer forum.

Technorati Tags: laser, wicked laser, executive series, light saber, yoda eat your heart out