Jetbeam Jet-UV Review

LED Flashlights – General Info 1 x AAA Flashlights
1

!

!

Hey folks today we will be reviewing the Jetbeam Jet-UV this should be a short and quick review seeing as its a specific purpose flashlight. Well it has many uses but they are kind of all the same I guess. I am going to load this review full of pics so you can decide for your self. I always do that any ways but yea! The other thread was for testing to see what LED the Jet-UV has.

As per usual the Jet-UV was sent to me by Gearbest for review they have it for a good price of 12 USD if you use the attached coupon. You can not go wrong at that price!
Jetbeam Jet-UV
Coupon: JETUV Price: $11.99

!

!

So the Jet-UV is a UV flashlight its basically the same size as the Jetbeam Jet-u. No doubt they used the same shell but changed the color to blue or red its your choice. I like the color the Jet-UV comes in! You can actually swap the pill from the Jet-UV and Jet-u around that makes for a cool flashlight. The beam pattern isnt the best once inside the Jet-u it works better with the reflector system then using optics. This is probably the main difference between the Jet-UV and the Jet-u well besides the Jet-UV is a UV LED flashlight derrr.

!

!

So unlike the Jetbeam Jet-u that uses a Cree XPG2 the Jetbeam Jet-UV uses a 3535 365nm UV LED. Jetbeam make no mention of the LED branding that is used in the Jet-UV for a while they said it was a Cree but as far as we know Cree does not make UV LED’s. So the LED is from an unknown company or a generic LED. We do know its a 3535 foot print so basically its 3.5mm by 3.5mm in size. It appears to be a much smaller LED then a standard 3535. I just measured the LED its defiantly a 3535 sized LED but the dome is so tiny. Its hard for me to test the 365nm wavelength so I can only test the LED on things like bank notes and dirt. The actual out put of visible light isn’t that much being a UV LED but when you shine it on surfaces it does a good job and you can see the Jet-UV illuminating object at 5 meters away very clear. Funnily enough Jetbeam did put this 3535 UV LED on a Cree branded MCPB its the same MCPB found in the Jet-u. I am not sure why they done this? Maybe they had heaps of these boards left over who knows. I don’t think they done it to trick people but if you didn’t know LEDs it could be a bit misleading.

!

!

From what I can see the Jet-UV uses the same boost driver as the one found in the Jet-u its just modded so you now only have 1 mode instead of 3. I think most UV flashlight are single modes either way. Doesn’t really make sense being able to select a bunch of different modes in a UV flashlight. Actually I kind of retract this statement the Jet-UV is a tad to bright to use on money when you are close so maybe a mode selection would have been good lol. If your an expert at looking at bank notes under UV lights I am sure you do not have the same issue as me. The Jet-UV uses the same twist activation as the Jet-U so this is awesome if you need to EDC a UV flashlight. It shouldn’t turn on in your pockets! The size of the Jet-UV is perfect for a key ring EDC.

!

!

What are most people going to use a flashlight like the Jet-UV for? I would say mainly hunting purposes for following blood trails. Or maybe a mechainic shop can see a lot of use in this UV flashlight or obviously a bank. Hunting is a great use for the Jet-UV seeing as it is so light and tiny and only uses a single AAA battery for power. Using AAA batteries for a UV LED flashlight like the Jet-UV makes sense seeing as you do not need to output that much light.
The Jetbeam Jet-UV can be used with all standard AAA batteries except for 10440 usually I would try but I know how sensitive the UV LED’s can be. UV LED’s do not have to be run at high power to get good output.

!

!

  • Ni-MH- 1.2v

The Jet-UV will run on.

  • Alkaline battery- 1.5v
  • None-rechargeable lithium’s- 1.5v

Seeing as the Jet-UV will be used outside a lot in the field. Jetbeam has given the Jet-UV an IPX rating of 8 so it should be able to handle most wet conditions. The Jet-UV also get a drop resistance rating of 1 meter which is good for EDC use. Most flashlights with a boost driver don’t come with huge drop resistant ratings.

!

!

Size wise the Jet-UV is probably one of the smallest UV LED flashlight on the market. The Jet-UV comes in at 70.4mm (7.04cm) in length and its head diameter is 14.8mm (1.48cm) in width and the body diameter is 14.2mm (1.42cm) in diameter and the Jet-UV weight a tiny 13.2 grams. So it is comparable to the Jetbeam Jet-u that has pretty much the same specs in the size department. The Jet- UV is using a SMO reflector instead of the optics that are found in the Jet-u after swapping the pills around I can see why Jetbeam went this route. It makes more sense to use a proper reflector system. The Jetbeam Jet-UV uses a standard glass lens because if you used AR coated glass you would lose output. So this is the one case where none AR coated glass is better.
The build quality is awesome it is second to none! Jetbeam done a really good and i love the colors and the overall finish is great. The threads are prefect and match so good you do not even need any lube (That is what she said). The hard anodizing type 3 is thick i have had the Jet-UV for a months and it still looks perfect.

!

!
!

!
Jetbeams listed uses for the Jet-UV

  • Underwear
  • Skin care
  • Baby care
  • Toiletries
  • Counterfeit notes

This list sounds like a good weekend for some people if you connect the dots if you know what I mean lol.

!

!

The real question is does it work? Yes it works and it works very good. If you are a UV LED expert you will have different expectations to me I guess. I have no other UV LED’s to compared the Jetbeam Jet-UV against so we will do our own testing and see what we can find out. The beam pattern is floody but it does have a very bright hot spot so I was having to angle the Jet-UV on the side so the money didn’t look way to washed out. Visible light if I shine it on the table the Jet-UV isn’t very bright to the naked eye I think that is better for a UV flashlight it shows that the LED is actually 365nm.

!

!

Times like this it would be great to have UV paint laying around but instead I will place paper on the floor at certain distances and then we can see how well the Jet-UV works.

!

!

What is included in the pack?

  • Jetbeam Jet-UV
  • Stainless steel clip
  • Lanyard
  • Instructions
  • Spare O-ring
  • Warranty Card
  • Cert of Approval

!

!

Overall its small and tiny and light weight and it does a very good. It its very well built and feel sturdy the jet-UV is very well finished nothing is out of place and the paint job looks awesome. So i really can not complain. Even if i do not need a UV flashlight buy it and use the pill from the Jet-u inside this shell it works so good i will add pics after dinner.

These are all at different angles i went full photography today!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

!

Paper 2 meters away
!

!

Paper 4 meters away
!

!

Paper 5 meters away
!

!

Inside the shed about 4 meters away
!

!

Work light and Jetbeam Jet-UV on at the same time
!

!

This is probably pointless but this is the Jet-u pill inside the Jet-UV the beam is awesome the pattern is really good with the reflector i am using a Soshine 10440.
!

!

With the SMO reflector it reaches 100m
!

!

Thanks for reading!

Regards Chris

2

Do you got any info how much deep UV signs your money should have?

For Euros I know that cheap lights stated to have 365nm did light up deep UV signs very weak as the main output is around 375nm and they have also visible wastelight, while a true 365nm Nichia made em light up very strong, not haveing yellow or white wastelight.

Here an example of cheap 365nm LED vs a Nichia 365nm.

3

Hey mate i found this link.

Fluorescent Ink

A bird, the serial number and year of print fluoresce under UV light.
Highlight of fluorescent ink on the new $5 banknote.
To validate the UV fluorescent features on Australia’s banknotes, it is recommended that a UV black light with a wavelength that is centred around 365nm be used, and that it is done so in low ambient lighting conditions. Many UV black lights that use Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) emit wavelengths between 395 – 400nm, which are not suitable for viewing the UV features

http://banknotes.rba.gov.au/counterfeit-detection/list-of-security-features/

This is from the website. What do you think?
!

!

4

I think its better than some noname 365nm LEDs.
To compare it with other LEDs like Nichia it needs a direct comparism in fluorescense, brightness and how much visible light compared to UV light emitted.

For its size its a useful light with some UV output.

The color of the LED surface is different from high quality emitters.
When I use my camera on the Nichia emitter it shows almost no visible light off the hotspot.

5

imho jetbeam-uv much better then nitecore tube-uv, at least red still shown like review(above) photo.

6

For anything below 375nm you need glass and reflector as the plastic of a 5mm LED absorbs most of the 365nm light

7



Here is a comparison between jetbeam UV and a nitecore Tube UV
Jetbeam has less purple light, higher power output, more throw
Both are rated 365nm, but i think jetbeam has shorter wave lenghth

8

Oops, somehow my image cant be displayed

9

You can dramatically improve the fluorescence by filtering any visible light with a ZWB2 glass.
I filed down a 20mm glass from Simon’s store and installed it in my Jet UV.
The result is as good as my liteON 3535 SF348 with ZWB2 !

The tricky part is to be really careful while grinding the glass because, eh, it’s glass

10

Well, some visible light maybe not so bad

11

The problem is that visible light totally hide some fluorescence most of the time…
I did the test in the bathroom and the difference is huge

12

Well, i am not good at grinding
So, i think i will order convoy s2+ and an UV filter, more power, less effort( and more costing, sadly)

13

Bulkier, also. But yeah, way more powerful !
I did a shorty S2+ with 3*7135 and that is the sweet spot to have both high output and prevent over-heating of the LED. I reflowed the LED on a Noctigon though.

14

can we ask simon to make smaller size ZWB2 lens?

I dont like my convoy UV because it’s bulky to carry

15

The ideal size is 12mm diameter, so it can be used in many AAA-lights. I have not found 12mm ZWB2 filters anywhere sofar.

16

Chris, a tip for taking pictures of 365nm fluorescence: the camera picks up deeper into UV than our eyes do. To make the pictures more like what you really see you can take the pictures with safety googles in front of the camera, it filters out much of the UV under 400nm, so you do not see the purple glare on the pictures (that you also do not see with your eyes).

17

I made a 12mm and a 10mm with my Dremel equipped with a thin cutting disc (standard) and then a grinding Wheel.
Took some patience, but was about 1 hour of work for both.
The key is to make a straight cut at the surface with th disc, then trying to cut deeper. The glass will crack following the line.
You then make about 5or 6 more straight lines to make a rough round shape.
Once you have a round shape, you can finish with the grinding wheel. The key is to remove material slowly, and not over heating.
There still is some small chips on the edge, but once installed in the flashlight there are hidden by the bezel anyway.

18

i found some but they cost $10usd for 12mm whereas 20.5mm cost $1.5USD

dont know why smaller size cost so much but the material is much less

19

ZWB2 filters are extremely cheap to make, you can find manufacturers on alibaba that offer all kinds of sizes. But the demand is virtually zero, so the few sellers that do offer them on Aliexpress can ask what they like, there is no competion taking place. And there’s Simon from Convoy who has ordered a batch directly from a manufacturer (20.5mm diameter), and Gearbest ordered 20mm ones. So those are cheap.

20

I agree. I have both and the security strip on older Benjamins don’t even show up with the Tube-UV. With the JETBeam, you can at least make them out. On newer bills the security strip is easy to make out with the JETBeam. Does a decent job on dog piss too. My daughter just got a new puppy. :rage: :smiley:

I have a WF502b UV (395 nm, I believe). The JETBeam clearly outperforms it. Not quite as good as my UV Convoy S2+ though. Considering the power source and package size, I’m pretty impressed.