Wicked Lasers
Phoenix 80mW Green Laser

Enter "The Green Laser"

  We have all seen the typical red laser pointers, the nice ones and especially the ones you can buy for $5 at your local convenience store. Well, what we have here today is a GREEN Laser, and not just ANY Green laser. This is an 80mW (milliwatt) Green Laser..

 What's the big deal then? If you hunt around you will see that most Green Lasers for sale are a weeny 5mW. This particular Green Laser from WickedLasers.com is the Phoenix 80mW Green Laser and it will make the 5mW lasers look like flashlights for diaper wearing babies.

   
Click to see larger images.

• What's Included?:
• Display\Storage Case 
• Green Laser Module

Available Separately: Laser Protection Goggles (Tuned specifically to protect from a 532nm Wavelength Green Laser)

 The packaging is wild on the outside and professional on the inside. Reminds me of a gadget reviewer I know... Seriously though the slick looking wooden box is very nice. Would make a great gift box for that professional Geek friend or family member.

Design and Features

  *SAFETY*Before we get to looking at this Laser theres a few things we should mention about these higher power Lasers. First of all SAFETY is a Big concern; because of the higher power these Green Lasers can BLIND YOU INSTANTLY (I know %90 of your probably just muttered "Sweeeet").

 If the laser were to shine directly into your eye, you can be blinded for LIFE. Even if it reflects off a mirror and then into your eye, your still doomed.

 That being said, if you have some Laser Protection Goggles, your good to go! You can shine these lasers on whatever you want in relative safety! With the exception of other peoples Eyes of course. (But if they are blind.... how can they find you? Buahaha!)

Almost A Light Saber:

 It doesn't look like much, but this little cannon packs some major power. It will probably be the closest thing you could ever get to holding a real Light Saber!

 As for the Laser Module itself, it appears to be a typical Laser Pointer. We call it a Module because the FDA considers it an OEM Module designed to be used in product manufacturing. Yes that's right, these Lasers can even be considered Illegal under certain circumstances. You'll need to read HERE and Elsewhere to see if you think you can even purchase one.

 Basically anyone can own one, they just don't want little kids running around with these things. They are very bright and distracting, it's easy to imagine the damage a few rowdy, hormone-fueled disgruntled teens with Lasers could cause.. right?

  
DANGER Avoid Direct Eye Exposure
(A lesson learned as children, Anything you shouldn't look at MUST be good)

 If you take a look at the above pictures you will notice it looks every bit like a normal Laser Pen\Pointer except the class rating reads Class IIIb, that's what makes all the difference in who can own it. 

 Legally if your a scientist, educator, OEM product integrator, etc you have a right to own this product. It's you who decides your one of those, you don't need to show a license or anything. But if you do get one, some good advice would be to not go shining it around in public, especially around cops or airplanes.

What's so Sweet about a Green Laser?

 We won't bore you with explaining what a Laser is in technical detail; All you really need to know is that a Green Laser is typically much brighter than a Red one. Even the lower wattage Green's are more visible than the common Red Lasers you can buy and can be seen at distances up to 35 miles.

 As a consequence of the technology that goes into making Green Lasers, they are also more expensive than Red. Currently the bottom dollar Green Lasers go for $99 and up.

 So why would you want an 80mW Green Laser? Being extremely bright, they are even more visible than your usual 5mW Green Laser. There are not a whole lot of practical uses for a Laser, but with one this powerful you can Pop Balloons at a distance and even cut some black vinyl tape in half, I am sure you can think of plenty of Geeky uses =D. Now lets get to testing it!

Performance and Testing

Your very own Portable Star:

 On a rare occasion, we are genuinely surprised with a products performance or features. Our experience with WickedLasers product has been one of those occasions. This 80mW Green Laser has to be THE most impressive and amazing product I've reviewed or even seen for that matter.

 I first activated the Green Laser in a dark room, thinking I needed it to be dark so I could see it. The Laser was SO bright it HURT my eyes just looking at where it was hitting the wall!

  
These pictures do NOT do the laser justice. Click to Zoom in.

 Our camera was not sensitive enough to show the Green Lasers true intensity. In a dim or dark room, the walls are bathed in a green glow from the laser.

 Because of our digital cameras low sensitivity, we had to set the ISO setting higher to capture a good image of the laser, this then forced our shutter speed to be slower. With a slow shutter speed, if we didn't have the laser real still, then the camera would show it as a wide swath of light instead of the narrow beam it really is. See below.

 
Though it actually turned out to look pretty cool in a picture =D

 We decided to strap the Laser down to a ladder so we could get a clearer picture of it. Click on the Leftmost picture for the best image of the beam itself.

  
We had to add in the "Lightsaber" and "Shooting a Phaser" poses.

INTENSITY:

 When you see a Green Laser this powerful in person, it is JAW dropping. Especially when you take this baby outside and into the dark night! It will CUT through the sky like BUTTER!

 Fortunately being located near the foothills of a small mountain I was able to easily shine the Laser from our location up to some trees which I knew were approximately 2 - 3 miles away. The Laser beam was visible the whole way, though it does disperse and get larger the farther away you shine it. We were able to see the spot it made in the trees but at night we could not take a picture that would show anything near visible at that distance. So instead we took some closer pictures, but these do allow you to see how intense this little Laser is.

  
I was sure the FBI would be heading to my house at any moment.

 As you can see in those pictures, the Laser when shone into the sky just seems to go on forever! You can't really see the end of it no matter how hard you try. Seeing it in person it appears to reach up and touch the Stars.

 Pictures don't do it justice, but we can guarantee you that anyone nearby or even a block or two a way will be dropping their jaw, and maybe yelling "WHERE DID YOU BUY THAT??".

 Not shown in the pictures, but during the daytime the point where the Laser strikes a surface is still highly visible. You cannot see the beam all that well during the day, but the dot is very very Visible. Actually even during daytime, if you are indoors the beam is fairly visible.

*Note the Laser can also burn through black vinyl tape, and burn into most black surfaces such as thin black leather. Currently our video quality is not good enough to handle showing a Laser burning up close, so all we can do is tell you that it can do these things.

A Laser Is as a Laser Does:

 How do you use the Laser? It's very simple to use, you place two AA batteries in the end of it and push the button! Not a complicated mechanism by any means.

 Now with all of our highly scientific tests (wandering around shooting the Laser at everything),We have had No issues except one. It does get pretty Hot after a few minutes of use, this is because the circuits inside generate a lot of heat in a very small contained area. From the information on WickedLasers site, we understand that it's not mean't to be operated any longer than TWO Minutes at a time. It should then rest for approximately the same amount of time to cool off.

 Any Laser this powerful requires cool off time, or a Big heatsink. WickedLasers chose to not include a large heatsink on their design so as to allow a smaller size.

Review Summary

  It's hard to judge a product when there is not much to compare it with. WickedLasers Phoenix 80mW Green Laser functions perfectly as far as we can tell. We are Laser experts by no mean, but then again neither is the general public. So if you are looking for a Extreme Laser to show off or for your own whacky purposes, this one would do just fine. Just remember not to use it for longer than two minutes at a time, let it cool off in between "sessions".

 This amazing gadget will impress ANYONE, and it can also Blind you! So safety is important if you get yourself one. TechAbsorbed HIGHLY recommends this product no matter what your purpose is. Though we are not responsible if you blind yourself. =)

• PROS 
• Extremely Bright
• Extremely Impressive, amazing to behold in person
• At night , Laser is visible at very long ranges, up to several miles in our testing.
• If you have the money and love gadgets, well worth the $260 - $300 price  
  CONS
• Only safe to use two minutes at a time or you could damage the Laser
  It then needs to cool off for a few minutes.
• If you shine directly into your eye, you can blind yourself permanently
  (Of course you could poke a stick in your eye and be blind too, but shining the Laser is ultimately easier to do on accident. Unless you run around holding sticks in front of your eyes on a typical day. And I would suggest NOT doing that.)

RATINGS

Product Available at: WickedLasers

We would like to thank WickedLasers for providing their amazing product to review. Check out their site at www.wickedlasers.com to see their other Lasers, some even up to 125mW in power!