UV or not UV, That is the question

I'm looking to buy a portable/pocketable UV light. I'm trying to decide between an LED one, or a UV lens which i can attach to the end of my Flashlight (Pila GL3).

Has anyone had any experience with the UV Lens attachment, and whether it works as well as the UV LEDs.

(i'm not sure which section this should be in, so please move it to anywhere appropriate. thanks)

I dont have any personal experience with this, but i would imagine you would be better off with a dedicated UV source such as an LED rather than a filter, as you lose large amounts of brightness through filters.

You will be better off with a UV LED setup. I have a 360nm UV pass filter I built but it needs a light source thats at least 500 lumens to be effective.

Jeff

A UV lens in front of a incan will also get very hot. All the non-UV wavelengths that the filter stops (which is wasted energy/battery) will get absorbed, then re-emitted as heat. The new generation strong incans are already quite hot, and with any significant length of use a UV fiter would be smoking hot.

A UV led light can be quite inexpensive and effective. Even a UV Photon works well and will illuminate strips in dollar bills and also make all sorts of interesting and/or icky stuff glow fairly well.

SOLD! the little dedicated UV LED light, it is!

thank's for all the responses. Initially, i didn't want to carry an addtional device with extra batteries, so i thought the filter would be a good alternative. might be cool to have a dedicated light for that purpose than waste battery power on something that will waste alot of energy.

now to decide on which one to get.....
can anyone suggest anything better than the inova X1 UV?
i need something which will take common size batteries and small and compact. (might post as a new thread)

thanks

modding a 7 dollar dorcy single 5 mm led - single aaa
aluminum flashlight with a 5 mm uv led is very easy.
pretty bright too.

I have a 3 aa aluminum 7 led 380 nm light that I bought from ebay for around 25 bucks - works great.

Lighthound has a 12 LED UV light for a bit cheaper: http://www.lighthound.com/sales/multi-led_flashlights.php

I'll let you know what I think of it once it arrives.

that 12 led uv light is probably 400nm

380nm is better

thanks guys!

i've just put in an order for 2X 8LED UV flashies with Lighthound last night!
yay!
then i stumbled across the fenix L1 while on the site. i finally see what the hype is about and that might be next on my list (after i get a greenie laser).


This UV torch is 'close to the brightness of the inova X5', and uses an AA batt. can't really get better than that. and affordable too
just wondering what the wavelength on that is....

anwyay, thanks again! wouldnt' have found this beauty without you guys!