200mW Red Laser Burns Matches, Pop Balloons, Cut Electrical Tapes!

LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. I've always been a great fan of awesome technology and power. It never take much time for this laser to impress me in its power/price ratio. Bought this item for almost half a year now. This is Deal Extreme high power (200mW) Red Laser!

Things You Should Know:

-   What does 200mW means in Laser?

mW is the measurement of miliwatts, which refers to the power level of the laser beam. Higher value corresponds to brighter laser.

-   Laser wavelength?

Light or photon particles do not travel in a straight line, to be exact, in wave format. Wavelength, measured in nanometers (nm) is the distance between each wave. This affects the color of the light. 400 - 700nm display a color range of violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Typically, lower wavelength laser product produces brighter beam with constant power output level.

-   Hazardous?

Red laser are a lot less hazardous compared with green ones. This is due to the radiation projected from these lasers. Red laser does not project infrared radiation, while green one does. These radiation are invisible, and does not cause pain to eyes, since they are not visible, but they can make you blind!

-   Laser Product Classes?

Here is a table of all classes, it's hazard and product example:

Description

This product comes with a short cotton lanyard, and an adjustable focus lens. The focus lens is used to adjust the focus point of the laser, whereby amplifying the power output to burn matches, pop balloons, etc. It is attached to the laser using screw thread. The tolerance in the screw joint is quite high, causes it to become a bit lose when attached. The spring itself doesn't make the condition any better, but I changed the spring into a harder one that fixed the problem.

The laser diode is sealed in the laser compartment, to prevent any unwanted modification, such as removing the safety chip which can overpower it into a more dangerous laser or simply destroy it.

There is a clicky switch on the back end of the laser, also screw lock. Press once to turn on and again to turn it off. In my opinion, this isn't the best place to place a switch on handheld laser. It is not convenient enough to hold it by one hand, whereby you have to keep changing your holding posture to turn it on and back to holding it again. Normal laser pointers would have its button attached on the side of the laser, which you can hold down your thumb to turn it on. On the upside, this configuration allows you to leave it on without holding it, which you can hold it with a tripod holder. Something like this.


The middle compartment of the laser is made of coated metal. They seem to be sturdy and won't get deform easily on hard impact. It uses two CR2 batteries which are sold separately.





Want to see the laser in action? Here is a video made by one of the buyers. He managed to pop balloons (he painted the balloon with marker pens because black absorbed laser heat more than transparent body), light matches, and many more. This shows how powerful the laser is!

Some reader at this point must have wonder, what possible use I could get it out of this? Its a boy's thing, we are easily fascinated by powers and technology. Basically this toy is mainly used to impress other people, create a prank by popping parade party balloons, use it to light cigarettes if forgot to bring lighter, and write a blog review about it (just kidding!). These are just toys, not for small children though, because they can be quite dangerous. Never point it directly into the eye, and never stare at the focused beam for a long period of time, this may cause dizziness.





Before buying this items, please be acknowledged that lasers above 1mW are illegal to purchase or shipped in Australia and above 5mW for USA and Netherlands. For those unlisted, please be sure to check with local authority.

Lastly, price comparison. Some famous branded laser products such as WickedLaser.com and DragonLasers.com, sells laser at same output and wavelength, price ranges from USD 99.90 to 319.00! The one from DealExtreme.com? USD 27.09! The price was USD 27.40 when I first bought it. This is hard to get price in the world, and according to many users, they proved to produce rated output.

So go and have a look, as well as read other user's reviews!

High-Power 200mW Red Laser Pen
Panasonic CR2 5-Pack

Tell me what do you think about these lasers in the comment section below!