@Chrispydelic 558998 wrote:

Nope, crossbow wins every time!

but during hours of darkness (short of putting up an IR CCTV camera at ground level and using motion detect software as well as listening devices) how do you know if a quiet cat (or any other small creature) is present? There are certainly other creatures than cats visiting my garden especially during winter and they keep out of sight during daytime.

I was one of the first few people to get a laser pointer and only one of our cats would occasionally chase it, the other (the one I ended up meowing with) completely ignored it.

I also obtained a life size foam rubber rat on a string from a chap who lived near Biotech who was selling them (and other nautical type items) to raise money for the families of drowned sailors (even though this was when I lived 150km from any coast), which appeared to have been made specifically for dangling in front of cats to exercise them and encourage their hunting instinct – the cat ran away from it.

more recently I ended up with a class 3b laser with sound to light for £15 but only take it to parties at the housing co-op, if that (or any other laser) was used from my garden the light could easily reach the banks of the Orwell (busy tidal waterway) and I would be nicked for creating a hazard to shipping.

it is a bog standard red one – which may have come from ebuyer, it certainly was from a supplier of computer equipment rather than electronic components or AV gear – I was surprised to see it there (unlike CPC or Rapid/Conrad) and purchased it out of curiosity and the low price.

I was sceptical at first that it was anything other than a IIa but it came with even more safety warnings than a device of that size, including to switch it off immediately if the mirror mechanisms stopped turning, and when switched on inside my house even when pointed to a safe location I noticed immediately it was far brighter than others I had seen to the point it was uncomfortable to look at after a few minutes (I have mislaid the Chinglish manual but I vaguely remember it mentioned 100mW and other similar ones are that rating, and the size of the power supply would be right for a laser diode of this power).

The Chinese now have a red/green model for about £18 with blue LED – which turns up at Amazon and other similar places.

TBH I find it a bit worrying lasers of such power are sold alongside laptops and other gadgets that might be purchased for teenagers’ bedrooms without any special warnings other than a manual which could easily be ignored – eventually someone will put their eye out with that sort of kit! There was one of the rgb lasers at the housing co-op this weekend, but they had sensibly shone it against an “Oriental” type linen screen which diffuses the light and prevents the hazard in a smaller room.

I suspect the Asians do this as well – many East and SE Asians are short sighted and have to wear specs or contact lenses anyway so value what eyesight they do have, they also have the common sense not to shine lasers into the street from the verandah in most Asian countries, as not only will you get nicked for causing a safety hazard, there are armed rentaguards in some areas who will perhaps understandably discharge their weapons at the source of the potential “sniper”…..