This works so well, almost a must have. Harbor freight carries them for 4.99 and some times you can even catch them on sale.

They do work well. Be careful with storage though. I would throw mine in my Plano case and it would bounce around, turn on, and run down the battery. I pop the batteries out now.

Check to make sure the line it projects is actually straight. They are usually pretty curved.

I have only had two but they were both pretty straight.

Check to make sure the line it projects is actually straight. They are usually pretty curved.

How on earth?!

Check to make sure the line it projects is actually straight. They are usually pretty curved.

How on earth?!

Because the laser emits a straight line from the end of the lens... but that shows up as a dot on a surface. So to get it to be a line, it goes through a diffuser. If the diffuser is of low quality control (such as everything at harbor freight), it might not be straight. Here's a picture for visualization.

Ah! That makes a lot of sense. It's something I actually had all the mental pieces to figure out, but have never had the reason to think about before.

Thank you.

Check to make sure the line it projects is actually straight. They are usually pretty curved.

The laser beam curves?

But light still only travels in a straight line. A diffuser is going to fan it out, not curve it. A prism and a diffuser or two diffusers maybe will give the illusion of a curve. I find this thought very interesting. Do you have a pic? Preferably a smoky pic.

I've got one from the Army Painter, and I'm 98% certain it's not completely straight

These things are so nice. They speed up play. They cut down on bumps. They also totally curve sometimes. The line in abc's post imperfect, look close. Still better than hovering with rulers and eyeballing.

Also: lazers in m'spaceship game!

Really dig those rocks and the green squadrons on that particular mat. Perfect environment for some laser pew pew.

If the diffusing lens is off axis it will project an arc.

Using the loose lens I was able to come up with an extreme example:

This is not a time lapse, this is a super extreme example, but you get the idea. The lens is out of alignment so the line projected is an arc. The laser beam is a straight line, but the line projected can be an arc.

This is why Stormtroopers could not hit anything. Their guns had bad diffusers.

Thanks, those rocks are super easy to make. They are just Styrofoam cut out with an soldering iron then glued on some magnets. Cut a little bit out to the stock template and insert a thin piece of metal.

The issue with this harbor freight item is that the diffuser lens is either put in crooked OR is just not true (straight).

There are more expensive products like this out there. I have the Battle Geeks product and it's far superior to anything else out there I've ever seen. BUT it's more expensive. What do you get for that price? A rechargeable battery and wall charger, a laser that is super straight even when projecting from high enough to net you a 12ft line, and it's 10x brighter than most anything out there that is using those watch batteries.

But since the harbor freight one is only $5... as long as you get a straight one, it's a great deal for what it is.

I carry one of each of these in my bag.

Anyone know where to get one of these for a reasonable price in Canada?

Diodes in a line are pretty cheap on eBay.

They're also kinda bright, I went with a green one at 10mW and it's too bright (reds are too dim and for rebels.)

look for "Laser markers"

http://www.harborfreight.com/laser-marker-93242.html

Just picked up two of these, I'd say they are a very nice must have. I plan on using it for all my miniature games now, no more guessing LoS. Also they are pretty straight, straighter then my trying to eyeball with range template.

Our FLGS stocks the Army Painter one and nobody has had any issues with those.