Please be VERY wary of &quot;legal class IIIa&quot; laser pointers purchased in the US.<p>A few years ago, ICE and the FDA started cracking down on the importation of high-powered laser pointers. Instead of fixing the problem, it meant that every single imported laser is marked &quot;Class IIIa&quot; regardless of its actual output power, since the border agents rarely (if ever) test the actual output of the devices.<p>I had a friend test a green laser pointer purchased online in 2010 with a &quot;&lt;5mW&quot; warning label on it using a ThorLabs optical power meter. It measured 41mW. A basic diffraction grating test also revealed a massive amount of dangerous IR leakage.