Fire Up The Beam!
- Thread starter Capt. Factorial
- Start date
Ok, so I gotta share this.
After checking many times over the months, especially on the clearest visibility evenings, my wife and I finally decided to jump into one of our vehicles on Friday evening after the game to see how far we needed to drive to see “the BEAM”. (We usually attend a few games each season but haven’t this season yet)
We were quite disappointed with the result.
We drove I80 West and “thought” we might have an outside chance of spotting it by Citrus Heights and the Greenback or Madison exits. Nope.
We thought, for sure, we’d see it as we passed through Del Paso Heights on I80. Nope.
We then got to Truxel Blvd. in North Natomas and still couldn’t spot it, to our surprise and dismay.
We then took I5 South toward Downtown and still couldn’t see it at Richards Blvd.
It wasn’t until we were almost exiting the J Street exit that my wife says “now I see it”. I was driving and couldn’t fixate, but there it finally was. But very, very faint.
Even as we drove past it on J then again on L as we headed back to I5 — we were quite underwhelmed by the visibility of the “the BEAM”. It looks nothing like it does on TV. Clearly the camera picks up the light much, much better.
The experience surely explained why we couldn’t see it from where we live. There simply isn’t a chance to see it from 20 miles away. But from DPH and Natomas, and even on I5 approaching Downtown? I was quite surprised.
I think part of the issue is the color. Purple just doesn’t show up in the dark sky so easily. If it were bright red, green, or yellow - maybe it could be seen easier. IDK.
Don’t get us wrong, we love the concept of ”the BEAM”. And we’d both been curious to see it. And despite being disappointed by the reality of it, we still love it.
Still, I thought I’d share our experience with others in the area that might be wondering why they can’t see from where they live or might be interested in driving to where they think they should be able to see it.
After checking many times over the months, especially on the clearest visibility evenings, my wife and I finally decided to jump into one of our vehicles on Friday evening after the game to see how far we needed to drive to see “the BEAM”. (We usually attend a few games each season but haven’t this season yet)
We were quite disappointed with the result.
We drove I80 West and “thought” we might have an outside chance of spotting it by Citrus Heights and the Greenback or Madison exits. Nope.
We thought, for sure, we’d see it as we passed through Del Paso Heights on I80. Nope.
We then got to Truxel Blvd. in North Natomas and still couldn’t spot it, to our surprise and dismay.
We then took I5 South toward Downtown and still couldn’t see it at Richards Blvd.
It wasn’t until we were almost exiting the J Street exit that my wife says “now I see it”. I was driving and couldn’t fixate, but there it finally was. But very, very faint.
Even as we drove past it on J then again on L as we headed back to I5 — we were quite underwhelmed by the visibility of the “the BEAM”. It looks nothing like it does on TV. Clearly the camera picks up the light much, much better.
The experience surely explained why we couldn’t see it from where we live. There simply isn’t a chance to see it from 20 miles away. But from DPH and Natomas, and even on I5 approaching Downtown? I was quite surprised.
I think part of the issue is the color. Purple just doesn’t show up in the dark sky so easily. If it were bright red, green, or yellow - maybe it could be seen easier. IDK.
Don’t get us wrong, we love the concept of ”the BEAM”. And we’d both been curious to see it. And despite being disappointed by the reality of it, we still love it.
Still, I thought I’d share our experience with others in the area that might be wondering why they can’t see from where they live or might be interested in driving to where they think they should be able to see it.
Last edited:
Appreciate your thoroughness and agree the purple color makes it very difficult to spot against the night sky, but you can definitely see it from 80.
I don’t know what the area is called, but if you’re heading east, after the freeway splits, it goes high (over rivers I think?) twice…couldn’t see it over the first hump, but could the 2nd. Faint, but noticeable…observed Friday.
I don’t know what the area is called, but if you’re heading east, after the freeway splits, it goes high (over rivers I think?) twice…couldn’t see it over the first hump, but could the 2nd. Faint, but noticeable…observed Friday.
You’re talking about past the Marconi curve and just past Cal Expo? That’s actually heading West, not East, and is considered “Business 80” after the split.
I would think you should be able to see it from there. That’s right on the edge of Midtown.
We took the “880” route at the split which heads West toward DPH and Natomas.
We thought for sure we’d see it from DPH and Natomas. Perhaps if we got out of the car and really strained our eyes, maybe we’d have seen something. IDK.
All we can tell you for sure is we couldn’t see it from DPH or Natomas — where you can easily see the Downtown buildings — nor did we really begin to see it until passing by Richards Blvd. where it was still very faint.
It’s just not very bright or visible from a distance, nor even near as bright and visible as you’d think passing right by it on J or L. It appears much brighter and vibrant on TV and in online pictures than passing by it.
Just as an FYI, I don’t have vision problems and don’t need to wear corrective lenses. I’ve got 20/20 vision.
I would think you should be able to see it from there. That’s right on the edge of Midtown.
We took the “880” route at the split which heads West toward DPH and Natomas.
We thought for sure we’d see it from DPH and Natomas. Perhaps if we got out of the car and really strained our eyes, maybe we’d have seen something. IDK.
All we can tell you for sure is we couldn’t see it from DPH or Natomas — where you can easily see the Downtown buildings — nor did we really begin to see it until passing by Richards Blvd. where it was still very faint.
It’s just not very bright or visible from a distance, nor even near as bright and visible as you’d think passing right by it on J or L. It appears much brighter and vibrant on TV and in online pictures than passing by it.
Just as an FYI, I don’t have vision problems and don’t need to wear corrective lenses. I’ve got 20/20 vision.
Last edited:
He told the media (jokingly) after they upgraded “the BEAM” earlier this season that he wanted someone to tell Vivek that he wanted to see it up in EDH.
I can tell you positively that we couldn’t see it from the Roseville/Rocklin area (I can see the Downtown buildings from my neighborhood) nor could we see from I80 in Citrus Heights and after the split in DPH stretching into Natomas.
Considering the distance at which we could finally see it, there’s no chance you’d see it in Rancho let alone all the way out in EDH.
I can tell you positively that we couldn’t see it from the Roseville/Rocklin area (I can see the Downtown buildings from my neighborhood) nor could we see from I80 in Citrus Heights and after the split in DPH stretching into Natomas.
Considering the distance at which we could finally see it, there’s no chance you’d see it in Rancho let alone all the way out in EDH.
I believe you, but it’s still a bit hard to understand or explain based upon what we witnessed on Friday night combined with what @midtowner had to say.
We were mere minutes away yet couldn’t see it until almost on top of it.
If Midtowner can hardly see it, if at all, from East SAC — that’s pretty telling.
Visibility is underwhelming to say the least.
We were mere minutes away yet couldn’t see it until almost on top of it.
If Midtowner can hardly see it, if at all, from East SAC — that’s pretty telling.
Visibility is underwhelming to say the least.
I was wondering about this last night. Maybe there's a humidity level where the light has something to hit and refract, but its not cloudy enough to actually obscure vision?
Or maybe it has to do with the street lights of the city washing it out??
The conflicting experiences are certianly weird. I dont think anyone is lying about their experiance.
Im going to ask some friends of they can se it from their house
Or maybe it has to do with the street lights of the city washing it out??
The conflicting experiences are certianly weird. I dont think anyone is lying about their experiance.
Im going to ask some friends of they can se it from their house
I may be wrong, but I do feel as if it would be more visible if the color of the lasers were bright red or green. Purple is our primary color, of course, but I think that color just washes out in the night sky.
But even if the color were more visible, I don’t believe it’d be visible from too far outside the immediate area anyway. It’s no Luxor in Vegas, that’s for sure.
Again, to be clear, the point of this isn’t to trash “the BEAM”. We still love the idea and what it represents. I just wanted to share with others that have also been curious why they haven’t been able to see it, if they live in the area but not within a few miles of Downtown.
But even if the color were more visible, I don’t believe it’d be visible from too far outside the immediate area anyway. It’s no Luxor in Vegas, that’s for sure.
Again, to be clear, the point of this isn’t to trash “the BEAM”. We still love the idea and what it represents. I just wanted to share with others that have also been curious why they haven’t been able to see it, if they live in the area but not within a few miles of Downtown.
