Randy, et al; My wicked laser 35mW is about 4 months old and is working fine. Does a great job in light pollution and it is WAY-way too bright for a 7/10 = night at Hovatter Road. I have been careful and it does a great job for = public stuff. You can see tonight. Steve Coe -----Original Message----- From: az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:az-observing-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Randy Peterson Sent: Saturday, May 06, 2006 12:13 AM To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [AZ-Observing] Re: Green Laser Pointer I purchased a 20mW green laser at the RTMC last year, and have used it = for=20 many school and public star parties since then. It cost a bit more = ($190)=20 than the Wicked equivalent, but it seems to work fine for public & = school=20 star parties. Got it from Camera Concepts & Telescope Solutions - made = by=20 Arcturus Optics. I was told that if it quits working it can be repaired = (or perhaps adjusted?) for about half the price of a new one. Don't know if = that is really true or not, but I have had no problems with this unit = (but=20 it has never been dropped either). This 20 mW unit replaced a 5 mW unit = that I used for a few months which didn't show up in light polluted = skies. Based on my experience with this one, it seems that around 20 mW to 35 = mW=20 would be optimal for most conditions. Guess if you want to spend the = money, more would be impressive, but IMHO unnecessary. Randy Peterson ----- Original Message -----=20 From: "George Barber" <gbarber@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, May 05, 2006 8:01 AM Subject: [AZ-Observing] Green Laser Pointer My laser pointer finally bit the dust after a little more than a year of use. I purchased it at wickedlasers.com. It was a really nice 55mW = unit. Another friend of mine had his 20 mW laser pointer die after 6 months or so. I've been shopping on the internet, and ran across a green laser made by = a company called Laserglow. Their unit is a class IIIb, which makes it = legal for anyone to own, as it has safety interlocks built in. The unit is larger than a laser pen, and designed to efficiently = dissipate the heat built up by the I/R pumping diode inside the laser. Thus, they claim, the unit can maintain its power output over time. Their graphs demonstate this. The graphs also show that the high-power laser pens = only output their advertised power levels for a short time, quickly = diminishing the output level. The lasers made by Laserglow are more expensive than the high-power = laser pens. However, if their quality is that much better, you would save = money in the long run by purchasing a unit that will last probably the rest of your life. So, I have two questions: First, does anyone have any experience with a Laserglow unit? Second, how much power is really adequate for your average star party? Sure, the idea of a 100 mW laser is cool! But would it be overpowering = at such events as the Grand Canyon Star party? Such an instrument might be = so bright as to cast green light and interfere with night vision. What do = you think the ideal green laser power level is? I need a laser that can do star parties in areas ranging from downtown lights nearby (like at a school) to a dark area like the GCSP. If I bought their Herculese model (OK, too much to spend...) I might be able to take out those pesky orbiting satellites, ha ha. Thanks for your inputs, George ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get to your groups with one click. Know instantly when new email arrives http://us.click.yahoo.com/.7bhrC/MGxNAA/yQLSAA/2.XolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taaaforum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: taaaforum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and = please send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and = please=20 send personal replies to the author, not the list. -- See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please send personal replies to the author, not the list.