UK - Police phone call for importing a class 4 !!!!!!!!

[Lasermad]

I ordered a WL spyder in june finally got dispatched november and its been stuck in customs for 6 weeks

Today i get phone call on my MOBILE from local police headquarters asking why i was importing class 4 laser !!!

I explained it was being dismantled for access to the expensive diode and being used in a laser projector , if it had arrived in june maybe that would have been the case and was its intended use , now it will likely be filed away as a peice of laser history !

I do wish i had asked how they obtained my mobile number ?? i did ask WHY it was a police enquiry and not a customs/trading standards enquiry as to be best of my knowledge it was not illegal to import a class 4 laser , he concurred but explained home office had became involved as there was no known use of hand held class 4 lasers and interestingly he mentioned " LEGISLATION WAS PENDING ".

I have heard a lot of "talk" and lot of people concurring theirs a NEED for legislation but no actual details of any legislation on paper being discussed yet

Its good to know things are in hand , but lets face it the reality is the powers that be have fallen for the HYPE surrounding this unit , reality is a class 3 - 400mW green is BRIGHTER and likely more dangerous than 800mW of dark blue.

Anyways .... things are a changing

PAUL

[-bart-]

... reality is a class 3 - 400mW green is BRIGHTER and likely more dangerous than 800mW of dark blue.

What makes you think so ?

A 50mW 532 laser is much brighter then a 1W 671nm laser, does that make it it more dangerous ?

I thinks it's a classical example of cognitive dissonance when people try to marginalise the dangers of class 4 lasers.

[Lasermad]

I think by highlighting the word "brighter" i was showing clearly where my thoughts were aimed at ... i feel in terms of brightness , for pointing a planes , footballers , cars etc ..my OPINION is that blue would not be as effective for the effect that the people who do these things are looking for ... so wont be in use so much in these dangerous situations , ... its clear blue seem to have far greater burning abilities though

Anyways its just an opinion , no need to get all verbose on me

paul

[mixedgas]

Wicked's advertising finished off and destroyed the unwritten rule that you can have anything you like as long as you do not direct market it to the general public.

The Chinese have killed their own markets, and obtained lots of easy hard currency Dollars and Pounds. They flooded the market with cheap junk and kept increasing the output power, due to the western male's psychological need to prove his "engine" is bigger then the other guys. They will move on, while we deal with the consequences.
Lasers went from being a tool to a drug.

With a ten or so times wealth multiplier for every one of those units sold, they made off like a bandit.

It also says something sad about the US attitude to Customs and Border Security and "Free Trade"

It had the nice "lawbreaker" mystique to it as well. Yipee! "I am openly defying my government", when it shows up as a led flashlight or a power supply.

I'm just shocked it took this long.

Steve

[Diachi]

I'm quite glad the government is starting to do something about these. There really is no need for a pointer that powerful, the average person on the street should not have access to them.

I've seen myself how people act with 5mW green pointers when they don't know anything about safety, shinging the things in their own eyes and others eyes. I'd hate to see someone like that get a hold of a 1W hand held.

Although it is a shame that *you* lost it Paul, as you know what you're doing, so there wouldn't be any injuries - so it's a loss in this case.

[White-Light]

Its good to know things are in hand , but lets face it the reality is the powers that be have fallen for the HYPE surrounding this unit , reality is a class 3 - 400mW green is BRIGHTER and likely more dangerous than 800mW of dark blue.

As I understand it, its not the brightness thats the danger but rather the radiation within the beam of photons themselves and the way the excite the tissues making them heat thus causing burns (skin or retinal). Just because the eye doesn't see 800mw blue as brightly as 400mw green, because the eye has more sensitivity to green, doesn't mean the green is safer. In fact the blue is more dangerous because its still 800mw vs 400mw and thus is more irradiating.

[buffo]

the blue is more dangerous because its still 800mw vs 400mw and thus is more irradiating.

We have a winner! Absolutely correct. The "apparent brightness" caused by the human eye's visual response has nothing to do with the amount of damage a laser beam can do to the eye. It's all about how many watts of power you have in the beam. True, the beam quality (that is, diameter and divergence) plays a small role as well. But *power* (or more accurately, irradiance, which is power per unit area) is the most important factor to consider.

This is why leaking IR from a DPSS laser can be such a problem. The leakage can be several hundred mw (or more) even with very little visible light output. So our eyes tell us it must be safe, because it looks dim enough to be safe. But it's not, and you'll never know it until it's too late. (Our eyes have no pain, blink, or aversion response at all to IR.)

Adam

[masterpj]

Wow if these kind of rules keep becoming worse and worse... it might not take long that the only way to get those class 4 lasers is to go to the source yourself and bring it with you on return and that's expensive

[Lasermad]

Plot thickens , they REALLY dont want me to get this laser

Customs letter arrived today asking for copy of invoice of value of goods paid and spheil detailing its common practice for goods from some countries to be undervalued and its an offence to provide incorrect information !

Paul

[masterpj]

Plot thickens , they REALLY dont want me to get this laser

Customs letter arrived today asking for copy of invoice of value of goods paid and spheil detailing its common practice for goods from some countries to be undervalued and its an offence to provide incorrect information !

Paul

If they really not allow it:
Ask them to send it back or allow you to send it back to the source.
Then you at least have a decent money back.

Then try it an other way