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Worldwide: Wicked Lasers to stop shipping high-powered lasers to U.S. on Jan. 1 2015
Wicked Lasers, one of the best known Internet sellers of high-powered lasers, announced November 19 2014 that it will no longer ship lasers above 5 milliwatts to U.S. customers, beginning in 2015. They said other countries would follow “shortly thereafter.”
The sales restriction does not seem to be the result of any particular regulatory actions or other outside forces; instead it appears to be a decision by the “new ownership and management” that was also announced at the same time.
Wicked currently sells handheld lasers up to 2000 milliwatts (2 watts). In the U.S., lasers sold as “pointers” or for pointing purposes must be below 5 milliwatts output power; handheld battery-powered lasers over that power may still be sold legally if they are not “pointers” and if they meet FDA safety requirements for their laser class. All Wicked Lasers sold in 2015 will thus be within the U.S. “pointer” range of power.
The announcement came with a 40% off sale, so the company will still be shipping high-powered lasers through December 31 2014.
The sales restriction does not seem to be the result of any particular regulatory actions or other outside forces; instead it appears to be a decision by the “new ownership and management” that was also announced at the same time.
Wicked currently sells handheld lasers up to 2000 milliwatts (2 watts). In the U.S., lasers sold as “pointers” or for pointing purposes must be below 5 milliwatts output power; handheld battery-powered lasers over that power may still be sold legally if they are not “pointers” and if they meet FDA safety requirements for their laser class. All Wicked Lasers sold in 2015 will thus be within the U.S. “pointer” range of power.
The announcement came with a 40% off sale, so the company will still be shipping high-powered lasers through December 31 2014.
From the email announcement Wicked Lasers sent to customers on Nov. 19 2014 (shown above).