Lasers and snow.

[Longwinters]

I live in Alaska, a major problem I have when snow-machining in flat light, it removes all depth perception.

This can create some serious problems when trying to negotiate uneven terrain.

My question is, do blue or green Lasers reflect off snow better than red?
I have a low power red pointer and it literally disappears when pointed at the snow,
I am not sure if it's the power of the thing or if red laser light and snow don't mix, so to say.

I am considering buying a blue laser with a filter, lenses might be a better word, that makes a dot/grid pattern.

So the question is: Do blue or green Lasers reflect off the snow? Has anyone ever played around
with one and seen a fair amount of reflected light from a snowscape?

[FRITZHID]

i know the green lasers reflect quite nicely, not to mention they are dead center of the human eyes visual spectrum.

[rustlerdudr987]

Try lookin at a power rock from optotronics the 50mw version should be perfect because it has multiple lenses that come with it

[Longwinters]

It's like you read my mind, that was literally my next question.

Unless you have expierenced true flat light it's hard to describe.

I have stopped at the edge of what I thought was a severe drop off and roll snow balls off to try and discern the angle
and depth, only to see it's a mere slope.

The inverse has happened too, I have thought I was going down hill only to hear my motor load and realize that I'm
going up, a few bright green dots on the snow would put a stop to that non-sense. (I hope)

Thank's to you and FRITZHID.

Try lookin at a power rock from optotronics the 50mw version should be perfect because it has multiple lenses that come with it

[CKOD]

The grid of dots from a laser is made by a diffraction grating, I believe is the term for the optical element, just to use as another search keyword.

Could you also use a focused aspheric lens and LED to project a square (or turn it 45 and do a diamond) and the moving of the diamond could indicate the ground to you?

The TIR optic I used in my SST-90 mag light build also projects a square http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...ht-mostly-done and I believe I measured it at ~14 degrees width so it could make a good driving light when not needed in the snow, if aimed right also.

A bridgelux LED behind an aspheric would also project a bunch of dots from individual dies. See the beam shot midway down the first post here http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...000-PICS-ADDED!!!!!

An SSC-P7 or Cree MC-E would project 4 individual die images too.

[kaichu dento]

It's like you read my mind, that was literally my next question.

Unless you have expierenced true flat light it's hard to describe.

I have stopped at the edge of what I thought was a severe drop off and roll snow balls off to try and discern the angle
and depth, only to see it's a mere slope.

The inverse has happened too, I have thought I was going down hill only to hear my motor load and realize that I'm
going up, a few bright green dots on the snow would put a stop to that non-sense. (I hope)

Thank's to you and FRITZHID.

The uphill thing brought back a memory of cruising along at a pretty good pace only to find out a moment later that the guy on the Alpine I was passing slowly, was actually stuck!

Out on the river at night in the spring is another really tough one for telling what you're looking at - especially with lots of black wherever the water or glare ice is - danger looks the same as the safe stuff.

[Steven13]

Definitely green, and you should get something off of lazerer.com. so far they have great customer service but right now they are on holiday like most places over there.