Review: UV light shootout, seven lights tested

I received my KD P60 dropin today also.
I also wondered the two emitters under one dome.

Tested it on bills, works fine.
P.S.: Try it on:

- Your watch with Lume on hands

- GITD tailcaps

  • For example shine it to yous other flashlight reflector, LED phosphor may shine some yellow light back :slight_smile:

Definitely cool.

Thanks for the CU6 pics. I think this is now one of only two(?) pages on the internet with any beam shots for it.

The other one I found is: Playing with the new toy: Nitecore CU6 - Field Herp Forum
… and a youtube video which doesn’t really show much: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV1A4-B40Ik

… plus someone claiming that the actual photon output should be around 450mW worth, though I’m not really sure how that translates into a familiar unit like lumens. I doubt the usual 683 lm/W math applies, but if it did, that would mean about 300 “lumens” of mostly-invisible light.

Regardless, assuming the 3000mW figure is correct for its input power, that’s several times as much as the cheap 12-LED 375nm light I have, and at a better wavelength… with a more focused beam and all the other Chameleon extras.

Here's another photo to give you an idea of the strength. The bill is sitting on a white box which is probably treated with some fluorescent. I'm still collecting applications to have this light reviewed.

Yow, UV beam pics are hard. I just tried a bit with my cheapo UV light. Granted, I also have an inexpensive camera and my only UV “filter” is a pair of yellow party glasses… but still.

Here was the light, unfiltered, on a wall. I took this to show the star-shaped beam pattern (which is only visible to the camera when it’s really close to the wall).

This was a 20 GBP bill, with no UV filter (click to enlarge):

… and the same thing, with the yellow party glasses in front of the lens to block UV light (click to enlarge):

None of these show very well what it actually looks like in person. Things fluoresce a lot better to my eye than they do to the camera.

I have this drop in and didn’t notice that it had two emitters, just checked mine - bought a few months ago - and it has two.
It works very well to charge GITD and also works well on “black light” enhanced posters, must be the ageing hippy side of me. :8)
I’m running mine on 18v 6x3v CR123s in a Solarforce L2P with 2 extension tubes, the CR123s rattle a bit but work well, I tried it with a single 18650 fully charged and it was definitely not as bright.
I have several “no name” UV P60s and a couple of Solarforce UVs and the Kaidomain pushes out less visible light and more UV.

I went through my son's toys with a 365nm light (my Ledengin LZ1 mod), a lot of cheap plastic fluorescence like crazy

Yep, looks like the real deal to me. Tried it out last night and it definitely shows stuff that my 395nm can’t.

In terms of GITD stuff, my 395nm one that runs off 2xCR2032 cells only manages to make a toy GITD lizard glow for 10 seconds after charging it for 10 seconds. The P60 off a single 18650 manages to make the same lizard glow for over a minute and then some! Might have found a metric for measuring UV power.

Heh, if glow time is the metric, I’d better avoid testing with my bottle of glow paint. It generally glows all night just from ceiling-bounced mood lighting.

I agree, the KD 365 nm has a lot less visible light than my “no name” 380 nm. At least it does on two 18650 cells, on one cell it is very disappointing.

I need to try two cells as I’m quite pleased with the output of mine. I can get things fluorescing quite well from about 2 metres, and good results charging up the kids GITD stars on the ceiling from about 5 feet. Maybe I got a similar one to DBCstm.

Oops…
Was this intended to be used with 8.4V?
I only tried it with single 18650.
Current draw at about 0.38A, no heat issues :wink:

3v to 18v so it’s quite flexible on voltage but I find the higher the voltage the better the effect.

Hmm, interesting. My 12-LED cheapo runs at about 0.16A to 0.20A (takes ~30 seconds to ramp up, then holds at around 0.2A). It’s not a bad item, for $10, but it’s not exactly a good UV light either.

So, the cheapo is about 0.20A at ~375nm, the P60 drop-in is about 0.38A at 365nm, and the CU6 is probably somewhere around 0.83A at 365nm with specially-chosen glass.

$11 is not so cheap for a cheapo IMO. The 9-LED version is only around $3.80 at BIC.

http://www.buyincoins.com/item/35755.html

I bought one but hasn’t arrived.

I do have several single-LED UV, they’re not bad like you said. Just not strong. I’m pretty sure they use similar cheap LEDs.

mfm, that was an Amazing Review!!!

I am thinking of buying the TK-566, but I would like to see one more photo (comparison if possible) of how well it does on Cat Urine. I have a UV/white light head lamp that I used for night fishing, but it has so much Visible wavelength, it does not flouresce cat pee at all.

Does anyone with the TK-566 have a bad cat and a camera that will catch the result?

Thanks!!!

Does a bad infant also count? I do not have the TK-566 but another 365nm light I have lights pee up clearly.

Thank you djozz!
I have been doing a lot of research on the 365nm lights, but I am curious how the TK-566 with the CREE chip compares to a “365nm” LED. I saw one that looks promising which costs only $18. It’s called “Peedar”, but I have read that cheaper uv “claiming” 365nm is In fact not. $60-$80 for the TK is pricey, but I want to track down this little booger’s Hot Spots and take care of them, even if it costs a lot.

Tiger Fusion, it’s worth mentioning that the original review in this thread was three years ago. I wouldn’t expect to get a response from the original poster.

Also, UV protection glasses help a lot when trying to see fluorescence. They typically don’t cost much; even the yellow party glasses I got at a dollar store work reasonably well.

Thanks ToyKeeper!
I saw something next to the original post that said 12 weeks, but did not pay attention to the date posted….
Thanks for the advice!