I now understand why some fields ban green lasers...

[akiraspeedstar]

I just picked up a PEQ replica with a green laser and that is a strong *albatross* laser. I aimed the laser at that building with the green roof and saw the beam and laser end point without any effort.

 

[ninja master of coffee]

Yeah, unregulated Chinese built lasers in the hands of idiots is a really bad combination.

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

I definitely agree. I've always been uneasy around lasers, and people with lasers - I'm sure that there are a lot of people who're responsible to use them 'properly', but all it takes is one short pass over an eye to cause lasting damage.

[NonEx]

My Sig Sauer STL900L weapons light (red laser) reaches 500m without breaking a sweat, my jaw dropped. Measured on Google maps...

 

Lasers are not to be *fruitcage*ed with, red, green or whatever.

[hitmanNo2]

Like airsoft in general, when playing with lasers, use a bit of common sense and don't act like a twat and they are fine.

[akiraspeedstar]

Yeah I've ran a red laser PEQ unit for a long time, always keep it away from people's faces and honestly rarely use it. Just shocked how powerful this laser is, it's kind of unfortunate as I'm now going to be even more cautious with it.

[T3CH]

I had a pistol laser that illuminated a church tower nearly a mile and a half away. Mind you the red one did as well but nowhere nearly as brightly.

 

Decided not to use them in game after seeing that. The local cats however were knackered

[renegadecow]

Actually noticed a decline of people using lasers of any color at my field. I guess it's because the guy shining lasers gets spammed to hell with bbs the most. Especially green ones as it really gives away their position.

[ninja master of coffee]

Having encountered some real morons usi.g them at CQB sites, I'm not too sad if they get restricted. I know a lot of sites have rules regarding use like you can only turn them on as you get ready to shoot, I only aim centre mass, all fine with sensible, responsible players. The problem is at bigger games you only need one dope running around with one, shining them in people's faces to end up causing someone permanent eye damage. Given that I still occasionally encounter people at walk on games who think its ok to have a loaded side arm in the safe zone (the "this is my safety" brigade) I just don't feel comfortable with military grade lasers in the hands of randomers. Bit of a shame but as RC says, most people don't even use them to their own advantage.

[DWZippy]

A guy in my squad uses a laser and swears by it, but there's no real defence on the field for you if players want to shine lasers at face height, so i'd be all for them getting banned in Skirmishes. 

 

In my mind, your eye prot protects you from eye damage when someone is a *rickroller* but if someone decides to pass a laser at eye height, you've very little defence but luck. 

[T3CH]

A guy in my squad uses a laser and swears by it, but there's no real defence on the field for you if players want to shine lasers at face height, so i'd be all for them getting banned in Skirmishes. 

 

In my mind, your eye prot protects you from eye damage when someone is a *rickroller* but if someone decides to pass a laser at eye height, you've very little defence but luck. 

 

I find a nice loud 'GET THAT THE F*CK OUT OF MY EYES YOU TWAT OR I'M GOING TO COME OVER THERE AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR *RSE!' seems to convince them to shine it elsewhere, if complaining to the marshals doesn't stop them..

[Danke]

Any laser I have is used for aiming or movement drills. On a fields it's either off, or off with batteries out.

[intinerious]

There are real steel PEQ's in HK from what I understand.  I'm more afraid of those guys with the real PEQs running the IR laser than the idiots with the fakes that shoot out a green beam of light.

 

At least the ones that do it with the fake PEQs and green lasers are more susceptible for being called out on its use and having them banned from games.  I'm pretty sure most marshals and airsofters here in HK don't know jack about the dangers of the real PEQ IR lasers.

 

That said, I haven't actually heard one being used in a game, but the fact remains that there are people in HK that have them for airsoft (it's not like we can own RS long arms here) and the general ignorance of the population (probably including those that might own one) could have disastrous results.

[akiraspeedstar]

I use them for CQB and usually only in situations where I can't get a good sight in on my red dot. I also use them to suppress people without firing, I've held down three people once just by shining the laser on the wall next to them. Though to be honest 99% of the time its for looks.

[thatguy404]

I use the red laser on my PEQ for marking targets in CQB to team mates.
It's not very powerful, but I'd hate to shine it at somebody.

"Two guys behind that door"

"What door"
*Lazes door*
Sorted.
About all they should be used for, although as the poster above says, you can wiggle it around at crotch height and it scares the bejebus out of people trying to break from cover.

[Yuri]

Another problem with green lasers is that they are actually infra-red lasers that pass through a crystal of some sort that halves the wave length. With cheap green lasers this setup is not very good and the laser bleeds IR light. Since the IR light refracts differently from the green, it will be unfocused; there's a halo of IR light around the green dot. So if you point a cheap green laser at someones chest, you are unknowingly shining an IR laser into their eyes. I'm not sure if the poorly focused IR light will be enough to damage anything, but it's something to think about.

[akiraspeedstar]

That is something to think about

[Inari]

The thing about airsoft and lasers is that it is made increasingly more dangerous because of the eye protection we wear - it can act as a magnifying glass and focus the beam even more onto your eyes. I have personally found that when I am wearing glasses that when a laser is shined into my eye (thank you 12 year old nephew), it is much worse than without glasses (once again, thank you 12 year old nephew). Could be fluke, but I've always thought that it stands to reason

[DWZippy]

Thing is, it only takes one event of passing a laser over someones eye to do some serious damage - It's a bit like playing a round of airsoft with no eye protection, chances are you won't get hurt but it only takes one error. Eyeprot doesn't save you from a laser passing over your eyes and you can do some serious damage to someone if you're unlucky. 

 

Compare that to  the reasons for using a laser in the field [easier snap shots, and pointing at doors when your teammates are a bunch of numpties who want to assault the wrong room [it happens]] don't justify the risk of potentially trashing your eyes for a lifetime. 

[hotelkilo]

what if you are looking through a telescopic sight when someone shines their laser into it? not cool i would imagine

 

the only valid reason for using a laser in airsoft imo is to point stuff out to your team,  ofc that will certainly give away your position, whilst using language effectively is not only safer for everyone, by doing so you will not telegraph your position to the enemy. ( pro tip - learn to speak more efficiently )

 

lasers do not make u a better shot, they do not make you a better 'snap shot' - if they did then they would be used more in rs shooting competitions where time to engage is critical.

 

the reason they are not used more in shooting competitions is that the laser actually 'slows you down' because your brain has 1 more thing to process between realization that there is a valid target there and actually firing the shot.

 

for people who 'speed shoot' competitively muscle memory is king,

 

in order to aquire muscle memory you need to spend a good amount of time raising and lowering your gun into and out of the firing position and engaging targets, (pro tip - learn where your gun is pointing)

 

imo lasers actually impede new shooters for 2 reasons,

 

1) they give u a false impression of what u can hit at range

2) they exaggerate the slight wobble or movement that everyone has when holding a gun on target

 

in short, lasers in airsoft are pretty pointless.. 

[Azubi]

Lasers aren't always pointless in airsoft. An IR laser set up on a gun for use with helmet mounted night vision does indeed help you out.

[hotelkilo]

and if the enemy also have this magical 'night vision' ? 

 

Q will your ir laser telegraph your position to a similarly equipped enemy ?

 

dont bother answering

[Azubi]

You know it will.

 

I'm not trying to state that it will be invisible to all but me. Not everyone has night vision, however.

 

I am stating that it will aid me in target acquisition when using NVGs that can make aiming a little bit harder.

[FireKnife]

To be honest they are like rubber knives, pyro and bolt actions firing over 350fps.

 

In the right hands they are fine, in the wrong ones they are not and the only way to keep them out of the wrong hands it to blanket ban them.

 

The same went for some sites with the heavier BFGs that banned them due to people hurling them, sadly in a hobby like ours where excessive physical injury is all too easy banning them is often the only way to go.

 

Though really I am sure you could do damage with an AEG too, so maybe we hould not ban the RIFs and other items but ban stupid people / have an IQ test to be let on site .

 

'FireKnife'

[hotelkilo]

"I am stating that it will aid me in target acquisition when using NVGs that can make aiming a little bit harder"

 

and if u had developed muscle memory as i have pointed out then you would not need any sighting aids.

 

also having a laser dot on your enemy and squeezing the trigger does not automatically mean the person is eliminated from the game, but with the laser to bolster your case you may mistakenly think that you 'should have' or 'must have' hit them and we all know where that can lead

 

stop willy waving about your nvg and ir laser, u are not gaining any tactical or gaming advantage and u might well be harming other ppl without their knowledge