Hi! I’m looking at 12 - 30 W, 365nm UV flashlights on Amazon. I imagine the lights are significantly overrated. I see 2 types - One with 3 LEDs and another with 4 emitters on a single substrate (I hope I’m saying that properly). All of them have a filter but they don’t specify the type.
What are the pros and cons of these configurations and if there’s a particular light you’d choose please let me know.
Thanks!
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What’s the usage? I have 2 types, just little keychain lights but with different usage in terms of wavelength. Quote here from the sellers site, they sell GITD paints, inks, and pens.
405nm work great for charging up our Glow in the dark paints (smaller areas obviously), just hold them near our paint for 20 seconds or so and the paint is charged.
Also makes our UV ultraviolet range of paints glow well as well as other supplies and other fluorescent objects.
365nm this is the version you want to see invisible UV visible inks and paints as used for security in money notes and tickets etc.
The Sofirn linked to above is a good bet. I have the SF15 which is a 2x AAA penlight white or UV, but it’s not listed on the Sofirnlight.com site anymore.
Sofirn SF16 for throwy, Convoy S2+ for floody.
Don’t recall reviewing a S2+ though. I bought the black one with ZWB2 filter and transplanted the guts into a purple host. Suave.
Sorry, I’m looking for a 365nm light. Along with the specific product recommendation I want to know the differences between the lights with 3 single LEDs vs the 4 diode on 1 substrate in terms of intensity, runtime, etc. I’ve edited the OP.
Thanks.
The S2+ UV has a tiny hotspot, only the spill is fairly wide. Wouldn’t call it floody. A S12 UV is floody.
Maybe you can link to the specific models you’ve been looking at? That way we can better judge if they would make a good purchase or not.
Also depends on other aspects of the flashlights: what quality (brand/type) of LED, how (hard) are they actually driven.
Impossible to judge ‘if 3 or 4 LED’s are better’, if we don’t have more information of the specific light.
Also: what are you going to use it for? (Close by or a bit further away?)
I agree with LightBringer, both are nice but different. One thing I would mention is the debacle with Convoy involving the filter and some patent-happy dingdong that thinks he owns the rights to it… For that reason I refuse to support Convoy.
Sofirn SF16 all the way
What has Simon done to warrant your refusal to support him?
Vaguely recall I got that light from GB, and that it came with the filter.
No. Negative.
I’m a fan of the Sofirn brand, but unfortunately,
I don’t think it’s Sofirn sf16 a good choice.
This uv flashlight is too weak.
I recommend paying attention to these two models.
Convoy m21a sbt-10x uv
Convoy s12 uv
I built my own using a S2+ host, a lobotomized 1 mode 7135x3 driver and a Noname UV emitter.
Later I might swap the emitter to a Seoul 365nm from Convoy and a ZWB filter.
It’s simple and it works. Don’t need bells and whistles in a UV light.
Not sure of the quality but this 21700 battery UV flashlight I spotted on Amazon and it looks interesting enough so I have ordered one. 3 LEDs and a claimed 20 watts output with UV filter for under $20 currently. From Darkbeam.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CNZ3B9K2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
Isn’t the S2+ a 1-mode? Been a while, but don’t recall it being multimode.
I didn’t buy a pre-assembled light from Convoy. I used items I found from my spare parts bin to make one. A host, a old Nangj driver which I managed to remove the MCU and short out the drive pin to positive and a 395nm 3535 emitter.
The $19 filtered 20 watt claimed Darkbeam UV flashlight arrived yesterday. Three UV LEDs and it includes a claimed 4000 Mah 21700 Joinsun flat top battery and UV safety glasses. Looks to be decent quality, especially for the price. Dead simple UI, a on or off single mode light. Powerful enough so can feel the beam heat when aimed at the palm from about a inch or so. The cover on the USB port came completely off during first charging and was a bit of a pain to get reinstalled. IMO worth the price for a very basic but decent power ZWB2 filtered UV light.
How much visible light is there? Got any photos?
Here are 2 examples. I’m sure they’re over rated, but I don’t know if it’s 1/5 or 1/2 as powerful as they say.
The separate LEDs
https://www.amazon.com/DARKBEAM-Flashlight-Ultraviolet-Flashlights-Rechargeable/dp/B0CNZ3B9K2/
4-core 365NM UV LED
I can’t make an informed decision until I know the pros and cons of the UV sources. The light will be used for multiple purposes. The first will be trying to read labels with faded ink. For that purpose minimizing ambient light is important. In general throw is better than flood but I can’t use a laser. The more powerful the UV the better within budget. I do notice the price of the lights has gone up on Amazon. 
I forgot to mention in the prior post on the light from Darkbeam that the USB charging only works with a USB A source to USB C input style cable. A USB C source seems to be incompatible with the light’s C input port. The port is C in shape but not in function so does not meet the international USB C standard. The second time I have seen this with UV lights from China.
No pictures but the visible output is very low when pointed at a non fluorescing cream color painted wall even from only a foot away in a semi darkened room.