Where to buy a legal green laser for astronomy use, in Singapore?
Any reliable dealer?
Thank?
Where to buy a legal green laser for astronomy use
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Airconvent
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Try the shop on the second floor, take the blue side elevator, come out, make a left, it will be on your left about 4 shops down, sorry don't know the unit number offhand, but its opposite the battery shop.
Word of warning though, their laser pointers are not cheap, saw the $200 odd dollar price tag and didn't even bother checking the mW rating.
You may be better off trawling Sim Lim Tower, but not sure offhand which shop sells these.
Good place to start would be Continental Electronics (Big shop in the corner on Basement 1.)
Word of warning though, their laser pointers are not cheap, saw the $200 odd dollar price tag and didn't even bother checking the mW rating.
You may be better off trawling Sim Lim Tower, but not sure offhand which shop sells these.
Good place to start would be Continental Electronics (Big shop in the corner on Basement 1.)
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superiorstream
- Posts: 1501
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:45 pm
Hi Shamus, the thread starter asked where to buy a legal green laser for Astronomy use. In Singapore, lasers rated above 5mW are ILLEGAL for use unless you have obtained a license for it. Also, buying high-powered lasers off eBay can be dangerous, as you don't know if it has proper IR filters installed. It can cause permanant blindness if you accidentally aimed the beam at someone else's eye. Also, for Astronomy, there is no need for high-powered lasers because after you have "dark adapted", you will be able to see the beam from a 5mW pretty clearly. To the thread starter, please DO NOT buy any lasers from Sim Lim Square as well, as many vendors are known to cheat customers who are not knowledgable about lasers of their money by selling them inferior lasers which can cause hazard to the user or passer-by's vision. You do not want to lose your eyesight and end your Astronomy hobby, do you? (:
Hi kiwitan, in Sim Lim Square, those shops that are known for cheating customer are usually behind, As in locations of shops. and check price before buying, compare them. after all, Sim Lim Square are the best place to shop for electronic products and moreover sales are all about mind tricks. don't you worry, I'm not brain washing you and making you buy my laser. In fact, I'm Happy with it, not selling it, it's rather rare. A 100mw green laser can lights up match stick and cigarettes if you were to take a look in youtube.
That guy whom I brought from have a range of 30 50 75 100 120 150 200mw etc etc, he also add on that 300Mw are banned in Singapore. Hence, I'm not sure who's right here, Mr. Zephyrus? Or him (:
On the other hand, if you are paying 140 bucks for such a low Mw Laser, why not pay more for a higher one, right? Quid pro quo (: and moreover, if you do get it, w/o a license like me (with reference to Mr. Zephyrus post) the police ain't gonna come over your house or wherever you are and seize you. Perhaps someone really likes to follow the laws, i don't know (:
these photo are taken straight away after i saw you post regarding the 139 Bucks laser with 400 ISO through my LG Viewty phone. and I didn't have new pairs of batteries, if i do, the beam would be brighter.
P.S. >5Mw limitation is just lame, and OH, don't point a 100mw laser directly to your eyes, You do not want to lose your eyesight and end your Astronomy hobby, do you? (:
adopted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safetyClass IIIb
Lasers in this class may cause damage if the beam enters the eye directly. This generally applies to lasers powered from 5–500 mW. Lasers in this category can cause permanent eye damage with exposures of 1/100th of a second or less depending on the strength of the laser. A diffuse reflection is generally not hazardous but specular reflections can be just as dangerous as direct exposures. Protective eyewear is recommended when direct beam viewing of Class IIIb lasers may occur. Lasers at the high power end of this class may also present a fire hazard and can lightly burn skin.
That guy whom I brought from have a range of 30 50 75 100 120 150 200mw etc etc, he also add on that 300Mw are banned in Singapore. Hence, I'm not sure who's right here, Mr. Zephyrus? Or him (:
On the other hand, if you are paying 140 bucks for such a low Mw Laser, why not pay more for a higher one, right? Quid pro quo (: and moreover, if you do get it, w/o a license like me (with reference to Mr. Zephyrus post) the police ain't gonna come over your house or wherever you are and seize you. Perhaps someone really likes to follow the laws, i don't know (:
these photo are taken straight away after i saw you post regarding the 139 Bucks laser with 400 ISO through my LG Viewty phone. and I didn't have new pairs of batteries, if i do, the beam would be brighter.
P.S. >5Mw limitation is just lame, and OH, don't point a 100mw laser directly to your eyes, You do not want to lose your eyesight and end your Astronomy hobby, do you? (:
Hi Shamus, indeed, police are not going to arrest you if you own a laser above 5mW unless someone reports you to the police or make a complain about using the laser in an inappropriate way. But, the thread starter specifically asked for a legal green laser, and the only legal power rating in Singapore for lasers is 5mW for owners without a license. And if comparing prices, in Australia, only lasers under 1mW are legal for use now as they banned all other lasers. People are paying a lot more for lasers which are under 1mW in Australia, so it's not always about the power rating. It's about the purpose of the laser. If you're a laser hobbyist, yes, maybe you want a higher powered laser to play with and burn stuff.
Other than that, like I have said. For Astronomy uses, a 5mW green laser is more than enough once you have adapted your eyes to the dark. I own a 5mW laser myself, bought it at S$70 from coherent. I have no problem seeing the beam at night, and it's perfect for Astronomy use. Also, it has been said by most of the other astronomers here in Singastro that if you were to get something higher than 5mW, around 20mW is the highest you should go. Any stronger beam may affect night vision for Astronomy.
Going into lasers, do note that laser hobbyists are very particular about lasers. If you do enough research into lasers, you'll know that hobbyists uses a coherent power meter to measure the real power rating of a laser. Most lasers from unethical retailers are rated at PEAK power rating, which is not a true measure of a laser's output power. Good quality lasers from good dealers rates their lasers at AVERAGE output power. While cheap "no-brand" lasers may state a power rating of 100mW, it may never hit that high. It could be at 50mW, or even lesser. While lasers that are rated at AVERAGE output power, they give more or less the stated output power. It can be more, or less at times depending on the ambient temperature as laser diodes are rather sensitive.
And regarding IR filters, some lasers are rated 200mW, but the actual fact is that, the infrared output power is at 200mW, but not the green light power output. Sometimes people buy "200mW" green lasers, but notices that the green light isn't strong at all, but yet the laser is able to burn stuff and light matches/cigarettes. That's the reason why. Also, as infrared beams are invisible to the human eye, uncollimated/focused beam of such high power, may reflect off objects and get into your eyes without you knowing as you cannot see the beam. It will cause immediate blindness as radiation at that power is very strong and hazardous. That is why lasers are built with IR filters, to collimate and focus the beam. You can Google for such laser-related topics and you'll definitely be able to find many topics regarding dangerous lasers, and why you should avoid buying cheap lasers that promise you high output powers if you do not know how lasers work.
And example would be: http://www.felesmagus.com/pages/lasers-cheap.html
So far, NOVAlasers is one of the best choice for lasers as recommended by laser hobbyists. They have great quality control on their lasers, and do not mode-hop. Their stated rating is also an average rating, instead of a peak rating. The WickedLasers CORE (5mW model) is rather decent too, but try not to buy their higher powered ones, as they mode-hop quite a lot.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I shall stop here as I don't want to hijack this thread by going into a further debate with you, Shamus. Anyway kiwitan, I have a friend (coherent on Singastro and several other local forums such as HWZ and VRZ) who is a laser hobbyist and brings in lasers, but he's probably busy serving his NS right now and so I have not been keeping in contact with him. If I manage to contact him, I'll let you know. Otherwise, it would be better if you buy your laser online, from reputable retailers (with high quality control on their lasers) such as either from NOVAlasers, or from WickedLasers (only the CORE model). And as I've said, 5mW is the legal power rating for Singapore unless you own a Class IIIb license. Although, if you choose to buy a higher output power model (which is illegal without a license, as weixing would have said), please try not to exceed 20mW as it will affect night vision (which is very crucial for Astronomy).
There were also a few times which lasers were discussed on Singastro, and one example would be:
http://www.singastro.org/viewtopic.php?t=6927
http://www.sintecoptronics.com/lasersafetySG.htm
Other than that, like I have said. For Astronomy uses, a 5mW green laser is more than enough once you have adapted your eyes to the dark. I own a 5mW laser myself, bought it at S$70 from coherent. I have no problem seeing the beam at night, and it's perfect for Astronomy use. Also, it has been said by most of the other astronomers here in Singastro that if you were to get something higher than 5mW, around 20mW is the highest you should go. Any stronger beam may affect night vision for Astronomy.
Going into lasers, do note that laser hobbyists are very particular about lasers. If you do enough research into lasers, you'll know that hobbyists uses a coherent power meter to measure the real power rating of a laser. Most lasers from unethical retailers are rated at PEAK power rating, which is not a true measure of a laser's output power. Good quality lasers from good dealers rates their lasers at AVERAGE output power. While cheap "no-brand" lasers may state a power rating of 100mW, it may never hit that high. It could be at 50mW, or even lesser. While lasers that are rated at AVERAGE output power, they give more or less the stated output power. It can be more, or less at times depending on the ambient temperature as laser diodes are rather sensitive.
And regarding IR filters, some lasers are rated 200mW, but the actual fact is that, the infrared output power is at 200mW, but not the green light power output. Sometimes people buy "200mW" green lasers, but notices that the green light isn't strong at all, but yet the laser is able to burn stuff and light matches/cigarettes. That's the reason why. Also, as infrared beams are invisible to the human eye, uncollimated/focused beam of such high power, may reflect off objects and get into your eyes without you knowing as you cannot see the beam. It will cause immediate blindness as radiation at that power is very strong and hazardous. That is why lasers are built with IR filters, to collimate and focus the beam. You can Google for such laser-related topics and you'll definitely be able to find many topics regarding dangerous lasers, and why you should avoid buying cheap lasers that promise you high output powers if you do not know how lasers work.
And example would be: http://www.felesmagus.com/pages/lasers-cheap.html
So far, NOVAlasers is one of the best choice for lasers as recommended by laser hobbyists. They have great quality control on their lasers, and do not mode-hop. Their stated rating is also an average rating, instead of a peak rating. The WickedLasers CORE (5mW model) is rather decent too, but try not to buy their higher powered ones, as they mode-hop quite a lot.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I shall stop here as I don't want to hijack this thread by going into a further debate with you, Shamus. Anyway kiwitan, I have a friend (coherent on Singastro and several other local forums such as HWZ and VRZ) who is a laser hobbyist and brings in lasers, but he's probably busy serving his NS right now and so I have not been keeping in contact with him. If I manage to contact him, I'll let you know. Otherwise, it would be better if you buy your laser online, from reputable retailers (with high quality control on their lasers) such as either from NOVAlasers, or from WickedLasers (only the CORE model). And as I've said, 5mW is the legal power rating for Singapore unless you own a Class IIIb license. Although, if you choose to buy a higher output power model (which is illegal without a license, as weixing would have said), please try not to exceed 20mW as it will affect night vision (which is very crucial for Astronomy).
There were also a few times which lasers were discussed on Singastro, and one example would be:
http://www.singastro.org/viewtopic.php?t=6927
That's the key point I want to highlight. Yes, chances of you getting caught isn't high, but when you do get caught, that is the consequence. Also, to back up my statement, here's an article regarding which laser classes are legal for use without N3 license and which are illegal unless you have an N3 license:weixing wrote:Any one found using class 3b & 4 lasers without licence in Singapore would be charged for violating the Act and could be fined up to maximum of not than $10,000 or imprisonment for a term of not exceeding 12 months or both.
http://www.sintecoptronics.com/lasersafetySG.htm