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Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by crankylinuxuser on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @09:39PM (#19987528)
Sigh. There's no way they're getting a 50w out of a single diode. 50w is what our co2 laser is at our hackerspace, and requires a 1.5' tube, specialized PSU and watercooling.

These pictures look like the 2w and 2.5w variants on Aliexpress.

Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by DuskStar on Wednesday May 22, 2019 @09:49PM (#19987572)
Yeah, sites like that are pretty much in the sweet spot of uselessness - lasers too powerful to use as laser pointers, too low quality optics to use for engraving or other laser CNC projects, too cheap to actually deliver the rated power, and too outside the law to give a fuck about false advertising.

There are less-sketchy looking offerings in the 7W range for a similar form factor, though - see [0]. Of course, I'm still not sure if there's such a thing as a 'reputable' site in that segment...

0: https://www.sanwulasers.com/