Photon 3 UV or Arc light UV?

When it comes to LED's I dont know jack. Id like to get a UV light just for fun. Which brand is brighter? The Photon UV light is $33 and the Arc UV is somewhere in the mid $40 range. I know Arc has good quality stuff but is it worth the extra money? I bought a Arc AAA White a few weeks ago and love it. Too bad I sent it back the next couple days for warranty. Still hasnt came back yet. Anyways, what do you guys think?

should this be in the general flashlight talk forum?

Hey FNG, you do know that you cannot see UV light unless it is used in conjunction w/ a night vision camera or cam sensitive to UV light? You will probably see nothing but a dim purple/red glow when you look at it directly (not sure if that is safe?).

Im pretty sure thats valid, but please correct me if im wrong anybody

I thought it shines a purple light onto the wall to illuminate colors in white and other stuff. Are you talking about Infra Red?

Ohhh, i see....black light...thats interesting. Yeah i guess i got them confused, sorry

FNG, I have your return here and it should ship by Friday.

About the UV question:

It would be nice to also hear from the resident LED experts on this...

UV= Ultraviolet
IR= Infared

UV is above the visible spectrum (beyond the violet). Ir is below the visibile spectrum (below the red).

UV is also called "black light". UV makes some materials flourescence when exposed.

The photon uses the Nichia 375nm unit with a 1mw rated output power. The beam angle is 10 degrees.

The Arc-AAA UV (which we make) uses the Cree 395nm unit with a 12mw rated output power.

Both are similiarly overdriven. The Arc puts out about 6 times as much light as the photon.

The Arc also uses a commonly available AAA cell.

The Photon is less expensive and smaller.

Peter Gransee
President of Arc Flashlights

the photon's brightness also degrades really quickly as the battery is worn down. The Arc will have keep it's brightness until the battery is pretty much fried because of a voltage step up and current regulator. Oh yeah, you can get AAA batteries at 1.00 each at the most. Lithium CR2016 batts are around 1.25 each at walmart, and u need two for the UV photon.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gransee:
The Arc-AAA UV (which we make) uses the Cree 395nm unit with a 12mw rated output power.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Peter...

With my apologies, for I must have missed some information that you undoubtedly posted about this in another thread.

Does this Arc UV have more output than the earlier Arc UV`s? If so, by approximately how much?

I bought two of them from you about a year ago, but I may get one or two of your present ones if they`ve been upgraded since the time I made those purchases.

Thanks.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Carpe Diem:
Hi Peter...

With my apologies, for I must have missed some information that you undoubtedly posted about this in another thread.

Does this Arc UV have more output than the earlier Arc UV`s? If so, by approximately how much?

I bought two of them from you about a year ago, but I may get one or two of your present ones if they`ve been upgraded since the time I made those purchases.

Thanks.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Your right I posted it on page 16 of the main Arc thread on Sunday. In fact you posted on the same page. I guess that shows that forums make for poor reference tools.

The old Arc UV's used the Nichia 375nm unit rated at 1 mw optical power (the same UV LED used in the photons, styluses, etc). The new Arc UV's (shipping to dealers next week) have the new 395 Wilycon/Cree units rated at 12mw optical power. You'll notice a big difference in actual use- not just in the specs. They also are more power efficient making them run longer on a battery change. All in all it was a good change.

We also added the new 3.0 features (HA finish, Chemkote interior, battery, blister pack, etc) to the UV all without changing the price on them (still $44.95 like before).

Here's a list of uses for UV.

Peter Gransee

Thanks for everyones replies. I hope to get the Arc UV sometime this summer. I still wanna get the PT Surge and the Inova 5X first. The Arc AAA is the one that started it all.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gransee:
Your right I posted it on page 16 of the main Arc thread on Sunday. In fact you posted on the same page.

I guess that shows that forums make for poor reference tools.

The old Arc UV's used the Nichia 375nm unit rated at 1 mw optical power (the same UV LED used in the photons, styluses, etc). The new Arc UV's (shipping to dealers next week) have the new 395 Wilycon/Cree units rated at 12mw optical power. You'll notice a big difference in actual use- not just in the specs. They also are more power efficient making them run longer on a battery change. All in all it was a good change.

We also added the new 3.0 features (HA finish, Chemkote interior, battery, blister pack, etc) to the UV all without changing the price on them (still $44.95 like before).

Here's a list of uses for UV.

Peter Gransee<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Peter...

I sure did miss that post. Sorry about that! But thanks for again providing the update.

I`ll be ordering some of the new UV`s from you.

ARC or Photon? Hmmmm. I have to admit that I'm a skinflint but not when it comes to quality. ARC all the way for me.
Peter. I sent you an email about ordering the new UV and the new high rank turq AAA. Let me know when you have time and have recovered from the SHOT show trip.