Safe green pointer for presentations?

[JJohn]

Hi,

I am sure it has been asked many times but there is such constant change in the pointer business. I am looking for a green laser pointer that is fully IR filtered and as safe as can be when used responsibly. It will be used for technical presentations (typical pointer for powerpoint projected talks) in small auditoriums sized rooms and high end projection system. Are any of the current e-bay options any good? I assume 5mW is sufficient power. Do these cheap options have low beam divergence? Are they reliable? What brands are recommended and safe?

Thanks!

 

[Kenom]

You want to stay as far away from ebay as possible when it comes to buying lasers. for the most part they are cheap and worthless. Unless you know the company or the brand or the name it's a gamble every time you purchase a laser on ebay. No IR filters or shoddy workmanship that falls apart when you sneeze. It's a lot easier to come to places like this and get recommendations on where to get a good quality laser. So you have taken care of hte first step.

here are a few recommendations from me for a good quality and innexpensive laser pointer in the 5mw range.
Leadlight Glp-105, Glp-110. you can find these on ebay for fairly cheap $30-$50 I got one from Vital_spirit.
DealExtreme.com They have an assortment of laser pointers in the green spectrum. Dissadvantage: they take a long time to ship 2-5 wks.
The core http://laserpointer.com/ it's a leadlight but under a different name.

Hope this helps. You will undoubtedly get other recommendations from others on this forum and to be honest there will be nothing wrong with the recommendations they make. I'm fairly new to this stuff too.

 

[nero_design]

Sounds like you just need a normal <5mW 532nm green laser pointer .

Technically, all lasers over 4.99mW but under <400mW are considered to be Class IIIB. Lasers in Class IIIB are considered to be capable of outputting "hazardous specular reflections" which makes any laser over 5mW a legal liability for lectures since the whiteboard and screen is designed to reflect light and is often glossy in nature.

For this reason, go for a <5mW green pointer for maximum effect and minimal legal and moral considerations. It will be the brightest of the 'safe laser pointer options available to you. Fortunately, it's the most common output these days for green lasers and the price seems to have come down dramatically recently.

Cheers!

 

[Aseras]

Pick up a leadlight. < 5mw retails for around $40.