My married woman is curious .
“ So what do you do with it ? ”
“ It ’s a optical maser . ”
“ Right … ”
“ Very powerful , and fits in your hand . ”
“ So , you may use it giving intro and stuff . ”
“ Not really . The balance beam is so bright , you could hurt someone if it reflected into their eye . ”
“ … pop balloons … ”
I am not a optical maser expert , unless you count watching Real Genius five times as any sort of real world school . Sure , I ’ve done my fair share of field - testing with a blow up glass and the sun , but tagging a monolithic fleeceable dot on a building from 100 railway yard away is a different beast entirely . I ’m just a simple guy who wanted to hold back what may be the most powerful consumer laser in the earth – and burn something with it .
For those who have n’t seen their ads , Wicked Lasers makes very powerful hand-held optical maser . Their newest model , the Spyder II , is what we ’re looking at today . It ’s the new manakin they have to offer and among their most sinewy , which excuse the hefty waist . This Spyder II is much big than the pen - sized Nexus model I was using for comparing , more along the short letter of a torch . In fact , it ’s the perfect size to keep back with two hands for lightsaber battle well grip . It looks life-threatening , like a Mag - lite from the wrong side of the tracks and has excellent build character with its anodized black aircraft - grade atomic number 13 shell .
A texturized , rubber button on the back toggles the laser on and off , which proves to be a nice feature when you want to break away the optical maser for an extended full point of time . The spec sheet claimed 60 minute of arc of runtime from one of the two package rechargeable Li ion .
The optical maser itself is sun bright . gravely . I wore packed protective glasses for most of the examination , not only because of the danger of a immediately reflected eye shot , but because look into the optical maser ’s point of impinging will leave spots in your eye . While ab initio testing outside , the Spyder II was in no way intimidated by daylight , and appeared roughly 2 - 3 clock time promising than the highly bright Nexus model . ( Note : for some reason while testing Spyder II , its laser stopped shooting brighter than the Nexus . I swap the batteries , and still I do n’t love why , but I doubt that it ’s my imagination ) . In darker rooms , you’re able to make out the ray of light of light source , which almost sparks when contacting subatomic particle in the air .
But enough with the glamour shots , you need to know how this bad boy performs .
Test 1
Leaf Burning
Results : SUCCESS
Braving the arctic wintertime that is my backyard fire pit , I shoot a dried folio from about 2 understructure away . Within 5 seconds there was a midget plume of heater , though I could never start a fervency . perchance such is the nature of lasers – to cleaning lady instead of burn .
trial 2
Balloon
With the balloon about 4 ft away , I turn the laser on and then gain over to the television camera to tape . It was too late because the balloon had already popped . Then … well , just keep an eye on the picture .
Yes . That is my sissy hand .
mental testing 3
Popcorn
Results : FAILURE
I ’ve been thinking of raw material to test for a week before my epiphany : a laser pop a sum of Zea mays everta . I imagine such a video distributed to the hoi polloi as family huddled around their computing gadget and incarnate execs referenced the ikon for small-scale lecture during power lunch . unluckily , while the lighting effect was striking as the carapace envelop the brightness , after 5 minutes there was still no delicious collation . I touched the nitty-gritty , and while part of the eggshell was warm , it was not burning hot .
Test 4
My Hand
“ Did you try it on yourself ? ”
“ No ! ”
“ … ”
“ Ok , I did . ”
“ I knew you could n’t aid it . And ? ”
This is just another daytime at the bureau for Gizmodo writer , risk life and limb for the Big Story . I did n’t bear my hand long enough to smell blacken flesh , but after about 7 instant there was an odd sentiency : not heat , but very loose almost prick feeling . The hand is okay , or it ’s red and filled with pus , so I ’m not showing it here .
The Verdict
I savour playing with the $ 1,700 Spyder II , and even as I type occasionally pick it up to check a faint greenish beam of wakeful shoot across the way . But I would probably never buy one for the grounds that makes it great : the Spyder II is all inappropriate for most design , sitting on a bubble between “ gift for mom ” and “ seal the metal door exclude before the Klingons get us ” that my wallet ca n’t justify . That being said , Wicked ’s New optical maser is still an incredible production , and I ca n’t wait to see what their next exemplar can do .
Product Page[wicked laser ]
optical maser
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and civilisation word in your inbox day by day .
newsworthiness from the future tense , delivered to your present .
Please select your desired newssheet and submit your e-mail to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
