Red Laser, Green Laser, and NVG...

[Zombie Axe]

Sometimes you try something that is full of hype and find out the claims are not entirely true and in the process of testing it you find something out you never knew...

I have been very interested in the claims of the highly visible Green Lasers on the market that claim they work well in ALL lighting conditions. The green lasers are notably brighter than their red counterparts but does it justify that extra money???

First of all, this is not a criticism of LaserMax products as I find they are extremely well made lasers. It is a unbiased totally unscientific test. I used my eyes as the testing equipment and that was my only basis for the test. If it looked brighter to me then it looked brighter to me... nuff said.


The green laser is noticeably brighter when you can see it. I don't care what the claims are, the green laser washes out in bright sunlight and is not easy to pick up even at close ranges IN BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.



I tried many different takes to capture an image of the green laser in bright sunlight, but they did not turn out. The only one that turned out was the one above when I aimed the laser in an old shed that provided enough shade to see the green dot. This was walked off to about 25 yards. It shows up well in the shade.


Now you take away that bright sunlight and change it to overcast/dusk/dawn and it becomes visible at significantly longer ranges.



At night, the green laser has an extremely bright dot and visible beam and is very easy to pick up. As you can barely see (about 50 yards away) the green laser is brighter that the red laser. Both will get the job done! The camera obviously does not do this any justice... but I tried!

So in my testing, the green laser beats out the red laser in brightness and all the photos support this...except for the ones taken through a Night Vision Device!!!



The red laser is the one that shows the trail on the left. The green laser would not show up unless it was reflecting on a close object. To get the picture I had to aim the green laser on a tree about 50 yards away.

I suspect that this has a bunch to do with the green image as seen through the Night Vision Device... but still I thought light was light!!!



Above is the red laser by itself. It won in the Night Vision contest so it deserves its own picture!

This really shocked me as I had expected BOTH to do well about equally.

In summary... the green laser IS brighter in all lighting conditions, but is still wiped out in bright sunlight. If you can't get an IR (infra red) laser for your weapon and you want it to show up through through a Night Vision Device then go with red!


Also, before anyone gets all upset and tells me what a dummy I am for using a VISIBLE laser with a Night Vision Device... I know that one can see the laser beam and KNOW exactly where it is coming from. This was purely a test and I thought the results were very interesting... at least to me!

Finally, I think LaserMax Uni-Max Green Laser deserves a little attention so I will throw in a quick review and comments...



I do not understand why these folks who make tactical lights/laser combo's put the laser underneath the flashlight??? Maybe I don't understand technology or engineering, but would you not rather have the laser CLOSER to the bore of the weapon, rather than far away???

I liked the concept of the laser/light combo, but I could never get over the laser being on the bottom...



Then one day I saw the Uni-max which will attach to ANY picatinny rail and it ALSO has a rail below the laser to attach a light. Now the light can be attached to the bottom... where I thought it should be :)



I obviously got the green LaserMax Uni-Max for this test and found it to be a nice and easy to use unit. I tested it on a pistol rail as well as a Carbine rail... This little laser performs BIG!!!

I also have a Streamlight TLR-1 LED weapon light that I mounted below the laser! Very nice setup IMHO.

I will be doing a review of the TLR-1 and Glock Light in the future so stay tuned.

I hope you have found this post interesting and informative tonight. As always, thanks for reading!!!

[Bayou Blaster]

The Good and Bad of Lasers

Great Post Zombie Axe!

As with any piece of equipment there are pluses and minuses. From a military/survivalist mindset:

Laser beams diffuse (appear more visible) in conditions with high moisture and dust; identifying/marking the location of the defender. Not good if the hostile has friends unseen by the defender. Additionally the laser can be seen by others than the intended hostile even during ideal conditions. To remedy this I would personally affix a hollow tube (about 2 inches in length) directly in front of the laser eye. No one will be able to see the laser or defenders direction, unless they are directly in front of it. This trick is best used on long arms with the laser mounted close to the barrel. Make sure it does not block the beam from reaching its target. Probably should not have given that little secret away. Lasers should only be used intermittently as to not reveal your position or reveal that someone is out there somewhere with a firearm.

Unless diffused, lasers for the most part produce a straight beam. The flight path of the bullet will not be straight after a given distance and the defenders shooting techniques. At some point in space the laser beam and flight path of the bullet should reach a convergence point, POI (point of impact) will begin to vary greatly especially at shorter distances before POI and extreme distances after POI.

The closer the laser or scope is to the barrel the more accurate your POI will be at distance and less bullet drop compensating computations for those with rifles will be required. I have actually used laser bore sighters in conjunction with lasers to help sight in the laser at a point I know the bullet will be before its straight flight path limit begins to degrade. Pass this limit I will either make a mental note or affix a bullet drop table to the firearm. I always test fire at a specified distance for final adjustment and confirmation. Sorry this got long winded.

[Zombie Axe]

Great follow up BB... Good trick on the tube :)

My actual use for a weapon mounted laser was the occassional coyote or wild dog pack that sometimes frequent our area.

I totally agree on the intermittent use :)

[Bayou Blaster]

My eyes ain't what they use to be, however I can still manage to pop dragon flies with a BB rifle using open sights from time to time.:) I may go to using a laser on some of my primary firearms as I get older as a back up to some of my long guns for low light SHTF defense/target shooting and as an intimidator for a handgun. Currently for distant low light shooting I use a scope with an illuminated reticle or a Nikon scope with ever thicker crosshairs away from center. I also employ Holo sights at night on my M-4 variant for quick target acquistion. Got the tridium night sights on my Springfield SOCOM II also.

Some people don't like Holographic sights. I like them because you don't lose your peripheral vision and for rapid target aquistion. I also don't put any bells and whistles (Lights, Laser, Strobes) anywhere that would impede my peripheral vision in any way from the front/sides of the long gun. Those items when employed go underneath the long arm.

Also I'm not a big fan of muzzle breaks and compensators under low light shooting conditions (flash blindness). Some firearms really just don't need them.

Again excellent post ZA and love the Night Vision. May have to get some.:D

[Omegaman]

Man what a great hands on reveiw and bayou blasters follow up gave a nice little trick to try. Thanks again

[Awesome]

Great post!

ZA I'd be curious about the results of the glock test

[Diesel]

great post and review! thanks!