Blu-ray Laser Gadget

i4u writes, "Wicked Lasers has done the unthinkable. They took the sparse blue laser diodes used in Blu-ray Disc drives and are making cool laser gadgets out of them, called Sonar. You can own one of these very limited edition lasers for $1,999.99. The price is that high because Wicked Lasers buys Blu-ray Disc players and removes the Blu-ray diode for the Sonar laser."

Beyond publicity, is there a point?

[Salvance]

OK, so it seems pretty crazy to junk a blu-ray just to grab the laser, but there must be some reason they are doing this other than the publicity, right? Can someone explain the importance of a blue laser over a regular handheld red laser of the same power that sells for ~$20? Or is it just supposed to be cool looking?

Looking online, I see that the standard price for blue laser pointers is over $1000 (here's the cheapest I found [onpointlasers.com], which has a longer wavelength and lower power than the Blu-ray) ... are these so expensive just because they're expensive to make, or is there massive demand that keeps that the price up (and if so, what is that demand based on)?

Even in China they can't get cheap lasers?

[jeffmeden]

"The cost of a new Blu-ray disc player combined with international shipping, and import taxes raises the cost of obtaining a 405nm diode in China to approximately $1,500." I smell a lie... why don't they go down the street to the Chinese factory churning out these diodes for $5/unit and leave the marketing BS to Sony?

Barely Visible!

[Myriad]

Sheesh, this thing is down at 405nm... that's almost at the bottom of the visible spectrum. The funny thing is, that's so low it's not even blue anymore - it's violet!

Other "blue" lasers are in the range of 473nm. Given the color responsiveness of the eye these already appear darker than their Red and Green cousins even at similar power output. And you can't really get high power blue lasers.

So given that these are only 20mw and super low on the spectrum, I'd expect these are hardly visible in comparison with other pointers. A unique color, if you can see the damned thing.

Seems pretty pointless to me really... why would anyone buy one?!

Spam!!!!!!!!!

[zip0nada]

Ah!!! Slashdot has been invaded by spammers! since when are we interested in $1,999.99 laser pointers that are made from a $1,000 drive? First of all it's a rip off, and second it's not news. This is an ad in disguise.

Re:WTF?

[nietsch]

Well we are being told that it has a 3 Volt lithium battery in it and a 20 mW blue laser, so we can take guesses how long you can play with this blue laser thingie before the battery runs down.

Honestly, this is one of the most hollow slashvertisments I have seen in a long time. They are selling something, but we are not told why it is so good to spend 2K on it. My gues is they have bought 0 (zero) BlueRay players and created a mockup so somebody would pay them to take a blueray player apart (and put it's laser into a useless thingie).

Re:Beyond publicity, is there a point?

[j00r0m4nc3r]

Can someone explain the importance of a blue laser over a regular handheld red laser of the same power that sells for ~$20?

It's blue.

Re:No, it's a publicity stunt...

[jdray]

It makes you wonder if they actually constructed one of these blue lasers, or if it's just vaporware...

Re:Even in China they can't get cheap lasers?

[LesPaul75]

why don't they ... leave the marketing BS to Sony?

Well, probably because if they said "The cost of a blue diode from the factory down the street combined with international shipping, and import taxes raises the cost of obtaining a 405nm diode in China to approximately $8," then they would have a hard time selling them for $2000.

Re:Remarkable comments on the price tag

[Slashcrap]

A lot of Slashdot users are bashing this company because it has created an expensive and sort of pointless product.

I'm bashing them because of the incredible waste of materials that would result if these actually sell (which of course they won't). Apart from all the crap that will end up in landfills, most people simply don't appreciate the amount of energy that goes into manufacturing the components in something like a BluRay player.

I'm not going to suggest that this kind of thing should be banned or in any way prevented.

It's just that I'd quite like it if a truly horrible accident befell the person who thought it up. Preferably something involving rats.