Wicked Lasers was kind enough to send me a green Nexus 95mW laser to play with. This laser has 95mW of power and a range of 38 miles! Operational voltage is 3V and it is powered by 2xAAA batteries. As you can see from the images, the Nexus is about the size of a normal ink pen and measures in at 143 mm long and slightly larger than the diameter of a dime.

The duty cycle of the laser is 100 seconds on and 10 seconds off, which means for every 100 seconds of use the laser will need 10 seconds of cool down time. This laser is bright enough to be seen inside the home with the lights on and you can easily see it outside in shadowed areas and moderate direct sunlight. The real fun with this laser comes at night; I used it to point out stars, planets and constellations with my kids. They also got a big kick out of being able to see the green dot o n tress about as far away as you can see at night. It is also a blast to use the laser to melt bags, burst balloons and cut tape, though you have to have a very steady hand to do so.

This thing has such a long range I could just imagine the people driving home looking up at the cloudy sky a few weeks ago and wondering what exactly that glowing green dot was floating on the clouds. My 5 year old son was positively giddy with the thought that we would scare some “old person” (meaning to him anyone over the age of 15).

Wicked lasers also included a set of goggles with red lenses goggles to keep the laser from harming your eyes with extended exposure (this thing is that bright). I also had lots of fun shinning the dot on the floors and ceiling while the kids tried in vain to catch the dot. I would image this could bring someone with a dog or cat many hours of amusement as the animal scurries about, just don’t shine it in their eyes.

The coolest thing I liked to do was shine it in this big mirror my wife has in the hall that has until not had no useful purpose. I found that I could bounce the laser off the mirror and hitting things in other rooms from the comfort of my office chair. Plus I scared my wife a few times when a green glowing dot suddenly appeared in the kitchen, which is certainly a bonus.

You can melt plastic and pop balloons with the Nexus, but it is very hard to do if the plastic isn’t dark colored. This isn’t fire ant season here in Texas right now, but next summer I plan on using it as a high-tech magnifying glass to burn some ants as an example to the other ants that might try and sneak into my home.