One of the guys at the office got a blue laser pointer.  I'm colorblind so red has never worked for me, green is a ton better, but the let me tell you what... the blue is where it's at.  With my not so great eyesight, I could see glowing quite easily about 35-40 yards.  



I did some quick searches but didn't see much in the way of a tactical laser, but I'm sure those will be coming down the pike sometime soon.



We're going to make a star trek phaser using a blu-ray drive optic and a toy phaser.  We saw a vid of it and it looks pretty simple.  I'm wondering if you could just take an existing laser and replace the optic with one from a blu-ray player.

Blu-Ray writer lasers are quite potent.  You can make a laser device out of them, but I doubt you could make one that could stand up to recoil, unless you have access to a good machine shop.  It's not quite as simple as just swapping out a diode.

Have you come across any tactical blue lasers that could be used?

Blue lasers are far beyond the legal 5mW eye safe level that is allowed... but then again so are most green lasers.  I thnk you will not get a laser at all if yo uwait for a blue laser.

Also wanted to point out its the POWER, not the color that you are seeing that makes it so bright.  Try pointing that thing at your hand in one spot for a good 10 seconds and see what happens.

You are making me want to tear up something expensive and start fabbing things.

On the phaser... it stupid juvenile humor stuff, but I sit in an office all day... I need something to keep me entertained.  



The only reason I was thinking blue was due to the fact I have a harde time seeing red.  I haven't had a whole lot of experience with the green lasers but it is better red.  Blue I can see perfectly.  

Not necessarily; the human eye is most sensitive in the blue-green range of the spectrum.  All else being equal (power, focus, no color bias in surface reflectivity, etc.), a blue or green laser will always appear "brighter" than a red one when viewed with a typical human eye.  

Further, many people who suffer from color blindness will perceive blue much more easily than red and even green.  So, in the case of the original poster, a blue laser could very well be extremely helpful. (It sounds like he has protanopia or deuteranopia, either of which would make everything except blue appear as different shades of yellow to most folks.  Tritanopia would allow him to see pinks and reds, as well as blue, but green would be tough.)

But, as others have stated, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a blue tactical laser to appear.  Given the current cost of blue lasers, it will probably be a while before they become practical, assuming anyone ever sees fit to produce one.

My colorblindness is especially difficult with red on a dark background.  For instance, one of our cars is an Audi with the red on black instrument panel...I can't make out anything.  Unless I really focus it all looks sorda like a muted glowing blur... until I really pay attention.  Red on it's own is fine.  Green isn't as bad, just certain shades.  The earthier the shade the worse it gets.  



I was just amazed at how I could clearly see the blue dot the full stretch of our office corridor.  I'm sure at some point blue will become available.  It was the same with green and now it's become rather prevlant.

I right there with you, man.  I hate it when people say, "Oh, you're colorblind?  What color is this?"  It makes me want to ask them if they run up to tonedeaf people and ask what note this is? "LA LA LA!!"
Everytime I attend a presentation conducted by someone using a red pointer, I'm wondering why the hell can't they make one that cycles amber-red-amber-red a few times a second.  Or red-blue would work.

I perceive my amber Reflex to be brighter than Aimpoints unless you crank the Aimpoint up so much they flare.  A TA-31 with an amber donut, or a blue donut was on my wishlist for a long time.  I wish Aimpoint & Eotech would give me an alternative to red, too.  

Wiki says that colorblindness appears in 5-8% of males.  Not much less that the 7-10% lefthanded population.  We see all sorts of accomodations for the lefties, even in the AR world.  Why nothing to cater to the colorblind?  
Especially since it seems to me, in the ACOGS & Aimpoint at least, that it would just be a matter of changing the color of the fiber optic, or the LED?

Is the chevron/donut very faint, or is it black, when you look at a red one? They have green coming out now, not sure if it will reach the TA31's though.

ETA: Not trying to be a dick and ask "Can you see this?" just wondering if people who are color-blind may not enjoy my optic :(

Some people are curious about it, cause they're curious, others just want to make fun of the person. My  buddy is color-blind, and he can't see green very well at all. I think a blue laser would definitely have application. I think someone on here with disposable income should experiment and try  it out, then create an extreme sticky for how to do it.

Explanations of what I perceive remain difficult.  It's hard to say what it looks like.  The shape is there, but the color is vague and often tends to just resemble whatever surrounds it.

The only explanation I've ever used that seems adequate to 'normal' vision people is my musical note reference.  Most people can't identify a F, or an A by listening to a note.  You can tell that it's a note, just not *which* note.  That doesn't mean that all notes sound the same to you, or that you only hear in two or three notes.  You simply have difficulty identifying which note was just played.

However, if someone where to play an A and tell you it's an A, then play an A-sharp, you might be able to determine which note was played just because it sounds about one step up from the A you just heard.  But, without that reference, it's just... some... unknown note.


No worries.  I should have said "it amuses me" instead of "I hate it".  It just seems like an absurd thing to do.

From a manufacturing standpoint blue would be easier than green.  To make green an 808nm diode excites a material that makes 1064nm light and then that goes through a crystal and is turned into 532nm light.  For blue it is a simple diode like 635, 650, 780, 808, 850nm etc.

If you could draw a line in the photo below were the color appears brightest we could pick what color would be best.  If you can't draw a line just say pick a line 1, 2, 3 etc...

Roptics

This might be a bit off topic, but I remember seeing a news report years ago where people who were color blind could receive treatments where they would see all colors, and it would last for a while (few weeks or so?).  I think it involved painless electic impulse therapy.  I remember they cut a watermellon open in front of the patients and they were blown away by the colors...might be something worth looking into?

That site is has just crazy stuff. I guess they have my blue laser though:

http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/Spyder_II_BX-28-0.html



$1700...hmmm... for now I think I'll just stick to building my Star Trek phaser for about $80. Perhaps LaRue will consider making some sort of quick release, James T. Kirk edition, mount for it.

I am not as bad as most people, but "mildly colorblind" as the doctor says.
My wife on the other hand says he full of it, and Im more colorblind than "mildly"
When I bought my first house I painted my bedroom a neutral green. later to find out by the woman I would soon call my wife that the room was really "PUKE GREEN." Maybe that is the reason my parents and the paint people kept asking me if I was sure that I wanted that color for my bedroom. Hell I liked it...

The kicker to this story is that Im a designer now, I use a lot of computer programs and have to pick colors for products. It is very difficult for me to pick a color, because I fight with my self knowing that when the color swatch pops up that looks brown and says red. I have to give in and go with what it says and not what it looks like on the computer.

I now tell my wife what color I am looking for and she picks it out for me.  

Ever get that glittery refracted light shining back into your eyes with the red lasers?   This is for the non color blind people.

Well, green lasers often times being both higher power as well as in a spectrum of light that the brain perceives as brighter, you may wind up doing damage to your eyes.   Never mind the accidental direct into the eye shot, that is likely to defintiely cause problems.   But refracted light coming back at you could cause problems as well.

Blue laser?   Might just cause liberals to wet their beds and babies to cry, but that would be a reason to get one, a reason not to get one is that it may be even less "eye safe" than either of the red or green lasers.

Would it be fun to play with one a bit?   HELL YEAH.   But my eye sight is something that I don't want to F- up with something so stupid as playing with a laser.


Don't even want one for an optic.    Better would be if manufacturers would start offering green and blue LED based optics.   Forget which company offers a switchable green/red dot laser sight, maybe it's a bushnell but then I can't remember.    That would be the way to go in my mind so as to not project anything down range anyhow, all contained in the sight.

I agree with this, although Im sure there is a psychological effect if you see a laser on you and a gun pointed at you. I guess it depends on the situation?

Some general optics info:

Your eye is a detector and it is more sensitive to some colors. The graph below shows the eye response to color. It peaks at ~ 550nm which is a green/yellow and has less sensitivity everywhere else. From the curve you can see that if you had 1AU of power at 550nm it would "look" like 1AU. If you had 1AU of power at 610nm it would "look" like 0.5 AU so it would look half as bright to your eye. Any laser will burn your eye with enough power. In the VIS ranges (400 - 750nm) you can see the light so you have a natural blink response and you will blink or turn away hopefully before you damage your eye. Above 800nm you can't see the light anymore so you don't know to blink or turn away and this is why the NIR/IR sources are controlled so that people don't burn there eyes out.

Also there are two states of vision photopic and scotopic (day and night). When your eye is day adjusted it peaks at ~ 550nm and at night it shifts and peaks at ~ 500nm so at night you see blue better than red. The reason they use red lights is that if your eye is dark adapted (night vision) you can use a red light for extra illumination and it is LESS likely to disturb your night vision. It take your eye about 45 minutes to fully dark adapt.

Also this is a neat "trick" when light levels get really low you lose your color vision. The rod cells in your eye are the low level detectors and they don't see color only intensity. So if you really dim the lights at night and look at a color photograph it will eventually appear BW.

When light hits something and bounces back it is reflecting.  When it sees a material with a different "density" it slows down and refracts.  So the light hitting the top surface of water or a block of glass and bounces back is reflecting and the light that bent or slowed down when it entered the material ir refracting.


roptics

blue laser

As found on another post here.

Who is going to be the first to buy it and give reports?

ME  I put an order request in when I shipped back the green with the stripped threads for repair...

Man just when i decided to buy the green one there's something new.....

I just went back to the link I posted and now the blue laser is not listed.

For the guys that ordered one, I hope you get it and post a review here.