UV flashlights on Ebay

[mapson]

Newbie here, gotta a question about uv flashlights, looking to get one off Ebay and need advice on perhaps a comparison if anyone's tested out these. The only one I have seen a review is the 7 led listed 385nm leds over at LED Museum, as well as some discussion here.

Ultra Violet Mini Keychain Flashlight (385nm)

Ultra Violet 6 UV LED Flashlight (UV-620)

Ultra Violet 7 LED Flashlight - use 385nm LEDs

Ultra Violet 12 UV LED Flashlight UV-1203

Ultra Violet 16 UV LED Flashlight (UV-1603D)

 

[Raybo]

Ultra Violet 7 LED Flashlight - use 385nm LEDs


I will let you know.........this one looked good so I ordered it. Call me a sucker /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif

 

[markdi]

the 7 led 385nm uv light is pretty nice for the money
the shorter wave length makes a big difference over the 400nm models

 

[The_LED_Museum]

I'll add to the general consensus in this thread so far...get the 7-LED 385nm one, if you have to get a NUV or UV LED flashlight.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Ditto here... 385nm is "blacker" blacklight than 400nm.

 

[mapson]

Thanks everyone, I'll try the 7 led model, another question, do I need any safety glasses/goggles to use this? I won't be looking at the leds themselves, only at what I am pointing the light at.

 

[GoLightly]

Wearing UV glasses is a really good idea. Depending upon what you are using it for, you will get some degree of reflected light.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

You should not need to use safety glasses or goggles when using the light to illuminate UV-reactive materials. Just don't shine it directly into your eyes at all.

However, I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV or on the internet, so please take my recommendations with plenty of crystalline sodium chloride.

 

[hpcjerry]

My personal experience with that exact model 7-led uv light was that my eyeballs sunburned very quickly.

I used it to go cat-urine and other organic material hunting in the basement, so I had the regular lights off and relied on either a white-light flashlight or reflections from up the stairwell to navigate. My pupils were probably fully open and within 10 minutes my eyes felt itchy and dried out, as if I had spent the entire day on the ocean without sunglasses.

People here recommended uvex-brand eye protection, I happened to have a clear pair I bought for protection from flying debris, but they work just as good for UV filtering too.