Deadly 'Star Wars Lightsabre' Sold To UK

Deadly 'Star Wars Lightsabre' Sold To UK

news.s ky.com

A handheld laser likened to a Star Wars lightsabre and so powerful it can instantly blind and "set fire to skin and other body parts" can be bought online and shipped to the UK.

The device - with a beam 1,000 times stronger than sunlight on the skin - is touted by makers as "the most dangerous laser ever created".

(visit the link for the full news article)

Ok the obvious question has to be why on earth would they make something like this to sell in the first place?

Never again will people take the mick out of a trekkie with a pretend light sabre!

Surely authorities in Hong Kong can do something to shut this manufacturer down?

The consequences of one of these things ending up in anyones hands just doesn't even bare thinking about, the small pen laser pointers are already considered a problem to the likes of aircraft.

CX.

news.s ky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16/6/10 by CX]

reply to post by CX


The answer why is because it's awesome.

I already heard about this and I would love to order one, it's incredible development and a great toy to play with, in fact it's a very narrow beam and they're having issues spreading the laser to a full blade size sadly.

That said this is no different than a gun is it? It can cause harm and shouldn't be played around with. So the question is if you have a problem with this, then do you also have an issue with weapons or other tools?

Originally posted by CX
Never again will people take the mick out of a trekkie with a pretend light sabre!

Hmmm... can you spot the error in that sentence?

I've bolded the parts that matter.

Anyway, cool story. I wish I had the spare cash to import one. No, wait... the Aussie government has already decided that I'm not responsible enough to have one. They have banned them from being imported.

I'm so lucky to have a government to do all of my thinking for me.

[edit on 16-6-2010 by tezzajw]

I want one!!! Are they still selling it or has it been taken off the market?

I want one!!! Are they still selling it or has it been taken off the market?

You can buy hand held lasers from all sorts of places online. I believe the largest I've seen is a 500 milliwatt blue or green laser. Thats powerful enough to etch wood.

reply to post by CX


I don't see the problem with these things. From that news report, we don't even know the range of these things to gauge its possible danger. Regardless, how cool is that? I'm not even a Star Wars fan, yet I find this laser to be extraordinarily cool.

I happen to be of the school that if everyone was armed, or at least the majority of people, crime would go down, drastically. I wonder if they ship to the US.

--airspoon

It's really a laser gun.. put this thing in a gun shape, give it a trigger and man i'm there.

Just think.. if we can do this now, then perhaps in as little as 10 years we can have real blasters and laser guns like you see sci-fi shows.

Yes, these things are very dangerous. I can see arsonists buying them to set fires from long distances. The cops would never catch the perp.

All it's going to take is a few people becoming blind and the company will pull the order form. They cannot seriously think they can sell these without people getting hurt.

reply to post by airspoon


It's a Laser. The range is infinite. But the effective strength is when its up close where the beam is still concentrated before it starts to spread. I too would like to know the specs on this thing.

I sure would like to see the warning label on this device.

That said, I too want one.

I am a responsible adult, so I will just use it to cut down branches on my trees and trimming the hedges.

Oh come on you sad geeks, the light-sabre is a weapon in star wars right!! So, if somebody makes a replica that is getting as DANGEROUS, then it should be treated as a weapon and BANNED!

Oh look I'll sell replica guns, but make 'em realistic by firing a projectile that can still harm you! Imagine the response!!!

It's pathetic really how the producers of these dangerous "toys" thinks they are doing anything but satisfying the the minds of infantile grown-ups.

reply to post by airspoon

From that news report, we don't even know the range
of these things to gauge its possible danger.

The company selling them is Wicked Lasers.

The model referred to in the article is the Spyder III Pro Artic.

There are plenty of youtube videos showing what it can do.

possible danger

EDIT:
As pointed out by Lurkerman in this post it appears that the videos I've linked here are of the Spyder III Pro series of lasers which come in ranges of 50 to 500 milliwatts, and not the Sypder III Arctic, which is a 1000 milliwatt laser. The youtube videos claim a "400mW to 750mW range" so presumably these are the 400mW models. If so, then the laser mentioned in the OP would be 2.5 times as energetic as the ones depicted in these videos. In any case, there are videos showing what a 1 watt laser can do.

Originally linked videos:
If you're a match or a CD case you may be in trouble. Note that it takes 6 seconds to burn through a CD case held at about three inches from the laser.

Dangerous? Sure. But so is a slingshot or kitchen knife.



[edit on 17-6-2010 by LordBucket]

reply to post by john124



Were you one of those kids that always wore his knee pads, helmet, jean pants, and fire-proof racing suit before you got on your bicycle?

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
reply to post by airspoon

 

It's a Laser. The range is infinite. But the effective strength is when its up close where the beam is still concentrated before it starts to spread. I too would like to know the specs on this thing.

It really depends on several factors, one being the shape of the beam of light. It also depends on the collimation of the light, or how long the light stays parallel without diverging. However, due to diffraction, a perfectly collimated beam can not be created. The beam only remains collimated over a distance that varies with the square of the beam diameter and eventually diverges.

There are many different types of lasers that give different types of beams. Some lasers have an effective range of much longer distances than others. So, in a sense, lasers aren't infinite, at least in the way that we know them. Of course light will travel for ever, but not in parallel or identical wavelengths or frequencies.

From this article, we have no idea what kind of laser this is and we have no idea what the effective range is, hence my original statement.

--airspoon


Edite to substitute "together" with "parallel".



[edit on 16-6-2010 by airspoon]

I can already see someone going blind from one of these lasers because people think pointing lasers at peoples eyes is funny.

I think to much miss-use of these would likely ensue.

Likely a lawsuit already in the making, I wonder who will go blind first....

Originally posted by tezzajw

Originally posted by CX
Never again will people take the mick out of a trekkie with a pretend light sabre!

Hmmm... can you spot the error in that sentence?

I've bolded the parts that matter.

Ah yeah....just got that, you can see i'm not Star Wars geek.

I won't edit it, i'll leave it up there for Star Wars enthusiasts and Trekkies alike across the internet to laugh over for years to come.

CX.

Pity the poor pilots, they seem to suffer the most at the hands of fools with these sorts of toys.

PS - I GOTTA get me one of these! I feel the need to bounce a laser off the moon reflectors and verify for myself we actually went there.

Originally posted by Common Good
reply to post by john124

 

What does a bicycle have to do with preventing some chav kid from blinding pensioners under the false impression that their new toy isn't harmful? There's a reason why laboratory lasers say "do not point near eyes", even much less powerful lasers than this.

I'm not advocating wrapping kids up in cotton wool, let them injure themselves, but permanent eye damage is extremely regrettable.

Yea, you need one with more power so you can cut things in half, maybe you could like get ten of them, tie them all together and use some optics, then you could cut things in half.