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7 watt blue laser I bought for shits and giggles. Didn't realize just how stupid powerful that is. Now I feel like I have a highly effective long range weapon in a country that bans almost all kinds of weapons. It won't blast through skin but I guarantee if someone points it at you and keeps it on you're going to run, and FAST.
If I ever get bothered by illegal drones, I can also use it to destroy the camera from far away. One fraction of a second and any optical sensor is 100% toast.
One concern I have with those things is people casually using them outside. I mean, I'm not a big fan of heavy regulation in general, and I also think that lasers are cool devices, but even if someone's got eye protection -- which I would be using if messing around with something at that kind of power -- and is not trying to aim at someone, it's damned easy to flash that across someone else's eyes, and that's way outside of the range where your blink reflex is fast enough to avoid permanent eye damage.
I mean, most people won't take a firearm and go blasting the thing randomly in a city or something. They register that they can mess up whoever the thing is being aimed at. But there are people who will be dicking around with seriously souped up lasers without regard for who might be downrange.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety
Like, that's 1 mW that's listed as the max for safe exposure before the blink reflex is no longer able to protect a human eye against permanent damage. You're talking about a 7,000 mW laser, almost five orders of magnitude up the scale.
And that's not even considering the fact that there are various reflective surfaces that can be hit, can be riccocheting the thing all over.
Like, at that kind of power, if a laser isn't in some kind of confined case or something, that's something where I'd want someone using it a room with eye protection on everyone in the room, only adults present (so some kid doesn't yank off their eye protection or something), an access-restricted door, and a warning sign on that door telling people that high-power lasers may be in use.
Here's a laser engraver that uses less than half of the power of that laser:
https://www.amazon.com/Bisofice-Engraving-Accuracy-Household-Woodwork/dp/B0BVVRFN5L/
You're absolutely right. I don't play around with that thing lightly - it actually requires a physical key to unlock before use. I also don't intend to mess with wildlife or whatever, or risk any kind of fires. It'll be used indoors, in a shielded basement, while wearing the appropriate safety gear.
Many years ago, some guy was trying to impress my girlfriend with his super powerful laser pointer by shining it on a building a few miles away. He shoved it in his pocket very fast when she told him he was shining it at a hospital.
An unkind part of me was pleased when less than 30 seconds later it was revealed that he forgot to do whatever he needed to do to prevent it from turning on accidentally, and bumped it, burning his pocket/pants slightly, and getting soot inside the lens.