rear mounted LASERS for bike??
 

Rechargeable 7-Mode Red 5-LED Safety Bike Tail Light with 7-Mode 2-Red Laser Beam (35mW)
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/recharg...eam-35mw-90117

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7rnQdFBexM

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ist-Visibility

like anything from DX, it's weird with weird specs - "Wavelength: 300~1100 nm"

my first question: can the lasers angles be adjusted? or is the width of the laser "lanes" dependent only on the light's height above the ground? looks like a fail on that count.

i can't tell yet if this is worth the money, but i'm sure we'll only see the technology get better and cheaper in the near term.

if it can paint lanes (visible to a motorist) alongside of a bike, i suspect most motorists would unconsciously give more space. what i'm suspicious about is under what limited/ideal circumstances will this device paint lanes that are visible to motorists.

if anyone gets their hands on one of these...

My guess is no. I'm no going to buy it just to find out of it's good -- I'll do that with a $3 light, but not a $50 device.

Note that 35 mW worth of lasers is enough to get the FDA's attention (if it's even accurate.) These things might have a hard time getting into US customs, and then you're just out of your money. (I don't know the exact rules. I know that laser pointers over 5 mW are prohibited without a license of some sort, but laser *modules* are OK. And of course, the actual customs people who check packages often err in both directions.)

Lasers are power hungry - but with a blinky circuit it should work....

Although I really do love it and want to buy one, dougmc's post concerns me about the limitation of 5 mW since the taillight puts up 35 mW. I just might get in trouble for the first time without the license, even just to improve safety for me and visibility for everyone in the road, including sidewalks.

The police are not going to give you a ticket for having a 35 mW laser rather than a 5 mW. The concern is getting it through customs -- nothing bad will happen to you if they stop it, but you just won't get it and won't get your money back.

And knowing DX, it may just be a 5 mW laser but they slapped 35 mW on it because that sounded better.

right, the police don't enforce FDA regs for lasers. it's not within their jurisdiction, training, concern, etc.

i think DX just labels everything "electronics" or similar, so the chances of getting snagged are low.

No, they'll label things more descriptively than that. In particular, laser devices will say laser in the customs declaration, and customs often does open things up to look at them. In this case, the name of the device says 35 mW, so the odds of a problem seem high.

i've ordered glow sticks, mechanical toys, and things made of wood from DX... and IIRC, the form listed the contents as "electronics". YMMV.

being DX, what would concern me more is that it doesn't work... or it works, but it's still useless.

And I've ordered all sorts of stuff too, and sometimes it says electronics, sometimes gadgets, sometimes R/C parts, sometimes batteries, sometimes laser modules ...

I recently ordered another flashlight from them (it arrived two weeks ago), and I have the package right here. The customs declaration says "18650 FLASHLIGHT" and "BATTERIES". Which is exactly what was in it. (The light is a Romisen RC-C8. For $20, it's not a bad secondary bike light -- the focus is adjustable, but the light pattern isn't much good for close up -- but it's great for far ahead down the road.)

(To be fair, the light will also accept 3xAAA's, but 18650s are so superior I ought to just throw that adapter out.)