I seem to be the one that ends up with items that fall in to the “why in the hell did this get made?” category. and this is the second item from company Wicked Lasers that falls into that area.  The first was the “Torch” – the flashlight so bright it could set things on fire.  While the Torch was maddeningly crazy, it was something that you could justify because it could be used for survival…somehow.  The S3 Arctic 1 Watt Laser however, is something that is purely for those of us out there who dream of being able to hold a lightsaber – and for those of us who really don’t comprehend how powerful 1 Watt really is.  I first requested to review this laser, because my geek side took over and I thought it looked “frickin cool”.  I mean, come on – it’s a blue laser!  Little did I realize (despite numerous warnings on their site) how crazy this laser really was.

To look at it in pictures just doesn’t begin to do it justice – yes, the pictures make the light that is emitted look bright, but no where near bright enough.  Look at the projected dot on the wall for more than a second, and you’ll inadvertently be seeing dots for the next few minutes.  The brightness though isn’t where the real danger comes in – after all, if you’re dumb enough to stare at a laser, chances are you’re too busy drooling and dumping hot coffee in your lap to actually play with one (or read this); it’s just common sense not to stare at bright lights.  The real danger in this bad boy, comes from not realizing what happens when you leave a 1 Watt laser shine on something for too long.

It takes literally two seconds of having it shine on your skin before you will feel it burn, and it’s not a normal burn either – but one that you’ll feel under your skin.  I let human curiosity take over with my friends when they didn’t believe me, and shined it at each other; I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard as they inflicted pain on each other because they just didn’t believe me.  It’s not just skin though – I’ve used the S3 Arctic to set paper, cardboard, and pieces of wood on fire with little to no difficulty at all.  Powerful?  Damn straight.  It’s that power that makes me keep the thing locked up in a safe lest my son get a hold of it and think it’s some kind of toy and burn the house down.

Thankfully though, the people at Wicked Lasers have something called the Smartswitch 2.0 on the laser in order to prevent little hands from figuring out how to work it.  Once you hit the large power switch on the bottom to turn the thing on, you then have to know how to work the Smartswitch to actually get the laser to shine.  It requires a certain sequence of short and long button presses, and once you accomplish that feat the beam finally shines.  The laser also has a number of different firing modes – low intensity strobe, low intensity constant, high intensity strobe, high intensity constant, and distress.  In distress mode the laser shines “S. O. S.” in Morse Code, which could be extremely useful if you ever get stranded and happen to have the S3 on you.  You see, the beam of the S3 Arctic can go OVER 6800 meters.

Before we continue, let’s take a second to just let that number sink in….

There we go – yes, over 6800 meters, or just over four miles.  I have to say that I went into the country with this, and was able to at least say that from on top of one hill, a person two miles away was able to see it without any issue.  I didn’t have any areas around me that I could test the full four miles however, so I can only assume that figure is accurate based on the brightness level at two miles (still too bright to look at for an extended time).  One of the neatest things that I got along with the S3 Arctic, was a case full of different focusing lenses.  There was one that made an “X”, one that made a straight line, one that reduces the beam’s power by 80%, another that makes the beam work like a floodlight (very useful), yet another that causes it to act like a very bright flashlight, and finally my favorite (and one I wish I had when I was a young party animal) – the galaxy lens.  The Galaxy lens basically turns everything into a party by splitting the beam into a few hundred little dots – yes, it is as cool as it sounds.  I live directly across from Allegheny College in Meadville, and I mess with drunk college kids almost daily with this – it has provided me with literally hours of entertainment in that aspect.

Editor’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The Bottom Line:  The S3 Arctic 1 Watt Laser might be an insane purchase for insane people, but I can’t complain about its functionality one bit – it works exactly as advertised; there might be no practical reason to buy one, but if you have the extra money this is quite the eye turner.

Pros:

• The battery seems to last forever – in the time I’ve had this I’ve had to charge it twice, and I’ve had it running for hours
• Unlike some other lasers (or the Torch), you can leave the S3 Arctic on as long as you want and the casing will never get hot
• If I was able to take ONE item with me to a deserted island, this would be the thing; fire starter and signal flare all in one, the S3 does more than you would think

Cons:

• The price is pretty expensive for what some might consider a high tech toy
• It is EXTREMELY dangerous if you don’t show the laser the respect it deserves – seriously, you can hurt someone bad with this
• I can see how a person with no kids might hate the Smartswitch, and not being able to disable it can be frustrating

You can grab the S3 Arctic 1 Watt Blue Laser from Wicker Laser’s site for $299.95, but before you do be sure to read their “Blue Light Hazard” page – I swear it’s not about shopping at a K-Mart.  You can also pick up the lens kit for another $49.95, and really if you get the laser you NEED this accessory.

2 out of 5 stars

If there’s one thing that could be said about humanity, it’s that our incessant desire to build something bigger and better than something someone else has built which caused some crazy creations. It’s from that deep pool of wanting to do things better that the Torch Flashlight from Wicked Lasers was birthed.

While your average household flashlight is perfectly content to come in at 100 lumens or less, the Torch dwarfs them all.  Pumping out an astonishing (and blinding) 4100 lumens (yes, four thousand one hundred), the Torch claims the title of “World’s Most Powerful Flashlight” – a claim I surely won’t dispute.

With the Torch on, you instantly feel like Helios, harnessing the power of the very sun itself.  Need to illuminate a room in pitch darkness?  Go for it.  Need to immobilize someone trying to break into your house?  The Torch can cause permanent retinal damage.  Need to cook eggs?  The torch can do that too.

Unfortunately, with great power comes great power consumption.  The Torch comes with it’s own super-cell battery, but said battery only provides enough juice for a maximum of five minutes of run time.  It comes with a makeshift charger as well that only takes around 30 minutes to charge the battery (the light is supposed to change from red to green when it’s fully charged – mine never did).  In reality though, using the Torch for more than a few minutes could really be dangerous for the user.

After about two minutes of setting things on fire with the Torch – the intense heat that it produces is more than enough to set fire to paper, kindling, or I would assume flesh (I could see Joe Pesci using it to torture someone in a modern-day mob movie for some reason) – I was seeing spots just from the reflection of the light.  I don’t even want to think about staring into the beam directly; it would probably cook my eyeballs.  The heat that the light produces is also enough to, as I mentioned earlier, cook eggs.  I placed a piece of sheet metal on top, and was able to cook a perfect sunny side up egg (and all the videos online show is scrambled).

Unfortunately the heat is also a bit of a problem as well.  It only stands to reason that, if the beam is that hot, some of that heat will get transferred to the Torch itself.  To combat that, it’s recommended you don’t have the Torch on for any longer than three minutes at a time – and I can definitely attest to that being a wise rule of thumb.  I had mine on for about three and a half minutes, and it became extremely uncomfortable to touch the body at all.  From the lens to about two inches away was so hot that I couldn’t even think about touching it.  Another issue with heat comes from the battery, and not just while operating (pulling that much juice would bake any battery warm).  While charging the battery, you have to pay attention to the charger to make sure the temperature sensor doesn’t go off, which just adds to the danger.

While the Torch may be great for parties, or just something to show off to friends in an “I have a flashlight that can start fires” kind of moment, it’s not very practical.  The extremely limited battery life, and extremely high chance for something to go wrong make this something to really only use in an emergency situation, however the high price makes it something only those who enjoy throwing money away can attain.  For that reason, I give the Torch by Wicked Lasers two stars out of five.

Pros:

• Setting fires with a flashlight is a good party trick
• In a pinch, you can cook breakfast
• Think of how much fun it would be to blind an attacker

Cons:

• Only a five minute battery life
• Extremely dangerous
• Very high price point
• EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

You can pick up the Torch from Wicked Lasers for $149.95

We’re giving away a $600 laser.  Don’t worry, you’ve got a few days left to enter (expires 12/3).

Hit this post and follow the instructions to get in on the action.

Nearly everyone has seen a laser pointer that lets you highlight presentations from a distance. While such lasers are useful, they’re also relatively harmless unless you stare directly at the laser for long periods of time. If wielding a mild laser pointer is too tame for you, then look at the Elite Series of lasers from Wicked Lasers.

These lasers are slightly larger than a ballpoint pen (15mm by 155mm) and made out of chrome finished brass, giving it an elegant appearance. It runs on two AAA batteries, which give the laser a battery life of approximately 90 minutes. This may seem like a short amount of time, but it’s mainly because this Elite Series of Wicked Lasers is nothing more than a low-powered weapon.

At close range, it can easily pop balloons, light matches, and burn exposed skin. Point this laser at a PowerPoint presentation on the wall and you’re liable to scorch the wall. Point this laser at an attacker at close range, and you have a high-tech self-defense weapon.

Its output power ranges from 100mW – 200mW with a beam divergence of 0.8mRAD – 1.2mRAD and a beam diameter of 1.6mm. If you’ve ever wanted a real laser, the Elite Series puts that power in your hands.

Due to the high-energy this laser emits, this is definitely not a toy or an ordinary laser pointer for casual office use. This is a powerful weapon that needs to be treated with care, so you’ll want to keep this out of the hands of children and other unsuspecting people who may play with it and hurt themselves by accident.

If you visit the Wicked Lasers web site, you can read testimonials from soldiers in Iraq, who have battle-tested this unit and praised its performance. If you need high-tech firepower in any situation, the Elite Series of Wicked Lasers will more than meet your demands.

There are a few notable drawbacks to this laser.  For one, it sucks the life out of its two AAA batteries far too quickly. If you use this laser frequently, you’ll churn through AAA batteries fairly often, so the cost of additional batteries will add up. Another problem is that the on button is flush with the unit, so it’s difficult to turn it on by mistake (such as when carrying it in your shirt or pants pocket). However, perhaps a cap or some kind to cover over the lens would be helpful just as one more barrier to protect people. That way if you want to use it, you’d have to remove the cap and then deliberately point it at something. The way it is without a cap, it’s too easy to point it at something and turn it on, only to find out that you’re pointing it at something fragile like someone’s eye or on your exposed skin of your arm.

Pros:

• Powerful laser, especially for its size
• Small and lightweight
• Made from high-quality materials,looks great

Cons:

• Short battery life
• Looks harmless like a typical laser pointer, but is far more dangerous making it easy to hurt someone

Wicked Lasers, Elite Series is available here for $499.99+