Work Continues On the LightRanger to Bring Lasers into Gaming
January 13, 2014 by dracs
Some of you might remember that last year we talked about the LightRanger, a new concept being worked on to help gamers with measuring using that coolest of all things; lasers.
Work has continued since we last saw it, with a website now up for the project showing off the Mk. II.
The LightRanger is continuing to develop with the Mk III prototype already being worked on. Apparently, the plan for the Mk III include improvements like the laser components will being closely integrated with the tape measure, a third laser for line of sight and a LED digital measurement readout.
Brad, the guy behind LightRanger, was kind enough to send us some of the concept sketches so we can get an idea of what he plans for this thing.
The LightRanger is an interesting project with some ambitious plans for the future. The inclusion of the line of sight laser and digital readout would make it something of an all-in-one tool for gaming. We of Beasts at War are of the opinion that more lasers in our gaming is never a bad thing, so I look forward to seeing the final product.
What are your thoughts on the LightRanger? Which of these designs do you like best?
Totally pointless and has no advantage over a standard tape and inherently inaccurate unless you hold it dead level.
I wouldn’t call it totally pointless (the idea, at least), but there is the problem that if it’s not held totally level it will actually be less accurate than normal measuring. I can think of ways a laser could be used to help measure distances on the tabletop, but none of them involve a tape measure, and none of them are cost-effective with current technology.
I also think that one day Little Wars will be awesome when we can replace the pop guns with actual laser guns. Be awfully rough on minis though.
All you’d need to hold it level is a spirit level on top, sure it won’t be mm accurate at long ranges, since the tape will flex, but when you need to check 12″ through scenery, or models etc its much closer than eyeballing it with the tape floating above the table somewhere.
I feel a laser rangefinder miniaturized enough would be more a more functional and elegant solution in that direction.
Current range finders that have an accuracy of +/- a meter or so are about £100, and the size of a camcorder, upping the accuracy and shrinking it down to a dice bag friendly size probably isn’t feasible.
I was reading about some that have +/- 10 cm, still too much for wargaming, but the gap is closing.
To measure the range I’m not sure, but a laser would be awesome for LOS.
Nice, clever bit of tech but it doesn’t seem very practical imho, normal tape measures do just the same thing at, I imagine, a fraction of the price. The only use I could find for lasers in wargaming is (like @matthias said) for line of sight.