Some of the cheap pointers use Super Luminescent LED with optics to make the beam parallel. These and many other laser pointers are often pulsed to minimize average current as well as to reduce the risk of thermal damage to the source. I doubt if you could modulate them to produce short enough pulses, if you are thinking of laser radar like arrangement. Perhaps a camera mounted next to the laser could look at the laser spot and use triangulation to give distance - check out Keyance website. They have such distance sensors. Method you choose would depend on what distances you want to measure and how accurate it needs to be. But the cost?? Vetri -----Original Message----- From: pic microcontroller discussion list [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of rad0 Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2004 9:32 PM To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Subject: [OT]: Laser question I've recently got a couple of cheap laser pointers. And I was wondering if there is a way to measure distance with them? I have a crazy idea, but I'd like to ask the question first and see if there is a standard answer to this question. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.