In THIS town it would be considered a toy, or maybe something for an HVAC type with too much cash on hand. I realize that in LA it is important to
have instruments that can detect IR wavelenths that an engineer can interpret as implying something beyond a brown atmosphere hypothetically exists, or detect a flame source anywhere within a twenty mile radius so the atmosphere doesn't explode when somebody lights up a cigarette. I remember when my brother once got thrown out of a nature photo contest down there for displaying a picture with a blue sky. That was long before Photoshop and the LA judges had apparently never seen a blue sky. But up here further north we ignite subatomic particles with lasers, so nobody believes in purchasing anything that doesn't cost a few hundred million dollars. Probably the thickness of the Dixie cups at the Lab are measured
in angstroms. I have none of that snootiness myself. I'm perfectly happy with my little Pentax spotmeters, but otherwise know exactly the placement of exposures for blue skies from sheer memory; and the only laser I own is so an overweight house cat can get exercise chasing the red beam.
