Today, laser display systems can be bought very cheaply. Whereas before, the only affordable” laser displays (> £200 / $300) would be purchased by an amateur DJ for parties, today £40/ $50 systems are readily available to the general public. These systems can be purchased from a range of local shops or over the internet, especially around the holiday time such as Halloween, Christmas and New Year.
When buying such a product, users expect it to comply with the Laser safety product standards, either IEC 60825-1:2014 [1] or ANZI Z136.1:2014 [2]; however, as we are all aware from experience with laser pointers, this might not always be the case. So, can we assume that low cost laser displays always meet the standards? Or do we get more than we expect - not only for power and emitted wavelengths but also strobing of the laser patterns displayed.
This paper considers a number of low-cost laser display systems and compares measured parameters with the information provided by the manufacturer.