Home > Consumer Reviews > 20mW Green Beam Laser Pointer EL20

I got mine within 2 business days, and when it came i got the flashlight and cloth w/it. the laser works perfect i used it in the day and it was very visible and then at night it was really amazing in the fog. you could clearly see the whole beam for a good half mile, and it may have been further i just didnt have a long enougn target to hit. If i had to find a con about it, it would be that when your inside and your pointing it the end dot fades withing a couple of seconds but its still really bright,but it isnt really noticable outside so no harm really. i would recomend it to everyone

The black teflon-ish coating flakes and peels off after a while.
30mW is plenty bright with good alkaline batteries.
It drains other batteries fast.

I purchased this from Hottest Deals Ever. It arrived in just a few days. For about 30 seconds, it was one of the coolest toys ever, then it just stopped working. I had noticed that, upon arrival, the batteries had slipped out of their intended position, as well as the pointer, and all 3 had obviously been banging around for a while. I am POSITIVE this was the problem. My replacement did not suffer the same problem.

HDE was very quick to handle the problem, and even upgraded me to the 30 mw for free. I have since also purchased the 5 mw from them as well. Both have performed flawlessly for the last few weeks.

Did I mention how well I was treated by HDE?

I purchase items on the net very rarely, but these folks really went the extra mile for me. I plan on purchasing from them again in the future.

Please see my comment on the "50 mW" model [same seller] of this green laser in the rather excellent review by M. Byer but since I own the 30 mW model, I thought I would re-emphasize my remarks in a review of the model that I own but where the same 'cautions' duly apply. I also stated in that comment that while I ran the risk of my remarks being interpreted as a 'lecture', I felt the risk was worth it if 'only' because of the safety issues and cautions involved.

First and foremost, these are not toys! To reiterate -- these devices should be kept out of the hands of small children! While children may marvel at the effect the laser beam 'spot' has on household pets, particularly dogs and cats, as the pet tries to pounce on the spot or chase it, there is also the problem of the spot being unintentionally directed at the eyes of the pet or children just as unintentionally pointing the laser device at their own eyes or the eyes of other children and these lasers, especially the more powerful and brighter 'green' lasers, can cause serious eye damage with protracted laser beam focusing on the eye.

So too, be careful where you point such devices because other folks, and 'rightfully' so, I'll add at once, may not appreciate it and, worse, may let you know about it in no uncertain terms! Ditto pointing these devices at low flying aircraft or moving vehicles [et al] where 'legal' ramifications can enter the picture. The beam always tracks back to the source. Bright lasers to the eyes also temporarily destroy one's night vision in an instant and the higher the laser "mW" rating, the more risk is involved in terms of eye injury.

That all said, this 30 mW laser is 'very' bright although I noted that the laser label [on the front of the device] says: "Wavelength 532nm -- Max Output <30 mW" which of course means "less than" 30 mW although it's advertised as "30 mW" -- see the testing results the reviewer for the 50 mW model got on that allegedly higher powered model. These devices have all sorts of uses and I'm presently doing some outside experimentation with the device for mountaineering emergency 'location' purposes as the device has the capability of cutting through [rather than 'reflecting back'] dense fog, mist, falling snow and can produce a veritable light show if beamed on solid ice but thus affording rescuers a 'location' direction or 'beacon' if you will for the laser user who may be in trouble. Others use these devices for pointer presentation purposes [although I'll add here that a 5mW power laser should be sufficient for this purpose] or, indeed, giving their pets some fun in chasing the 'spot' and hence getting some indoor exercise for their pets. The key though is using the laser device 'prudently' while keeping in mind that it's not a toy and should never be given to small children to 'play' with nor focused on the eyes which can lead to serious consequences. BTW, and this comes as news to some folks, myself included by the way, both AAA [which this laser uses] and AA batteries are available in 'lithium' versions and these lithium AAA/AA batteries can have a much longer life-span than the standard AAA/AA 'Alkaline' types.

One last thing, if you do have small children [or grand-children] in the house, put the laser device out of easy reach! To a child, it's simply a neat looking green [or 'whatever' laser -- red or blue varieties] supposedly 'harmless' light show kind of thing but what YOU don't need is an ophthalmologist informing you that the child's eyes have been damaged! Secure the device! Fun and quite useful for multi-purposes it can be but a 'toy' it's decidedly not!

Doc Tony

WHY odes it say 30mW if it is only 20...and i have this laser it is great love it, and it does say max output 30mW so I'm kind of confused but is a good laser...i recommended it to my history teacher cause he loves them just as much as i do...