Hi everyone, in whole my life, I’ve bought maybe 2 flashlights and mainly, it should just put a light on something. Until a couple months ago I bought an Anduril flashlight and it was fun. So my interest to flashlights has been growing pretty fast mostly for “budget” flashlights such as sofirn, wurkkos, convoy and I’m sure there might be more . But 1 step at a time.
I’m currently looking for a good UV flashlight. It will be used for looking at pet stain on a carpet in some rooms, and usually the room is still have a bit daylight (not in complete darkness).
I’ve tried Convoy S2 UV with LG LED, however the hotspot is small and not bright enough (due to the daylight).
Then I bought Convoy C8 UV with Seoul UV LED with ZWB2 filter. The hotspot is bright enough to be used under daylight but it is quite small, so it is a hassle to scan all the carpet for a 16 m² carpet.
Later on found Convoy S12 UV, however I dont find many people covering this flashlight.
My use case is like this:
I’m standing holding the UV flashlight, scanning stain about 1 - 1,5 m in front of me (room might be not in complete darkness,e.g: at the late afternoon/ a cloudy weather).
Go to crouch, cleaning the stain, and repeat.
UV flashlight usage will be more likely a short burst.
So my questions would be:
1.I found Convoy C8 could be modded using orange peel reflector. Any experience how the hotspot looks like?
2.Does it make sense to mod C8 UV using orange peel reflector?
3. Any experience C8 UV vs S12 UV which one is brighter and has bigger hotspot?
4. There are 2 kind of S12 UV in convoy official store in Aliexpress, 1 with seoul LED and the other with SST-10. Which one is better?
I like C8 UV since it could use 2 x 18650 Batteries, which will help to keep the LED brightness so I dont need charge often.
But 21700 is probably has enough juice for a 1-2 hours work with short burst.
My knowledge is very limited. I do have two c8 style lights (c8g and c8l); these are really a thrower design so will tend to have a smaller hotspot. The S12 is more typical of a flooder design.
Thank you,
I did already read this article and it helps me to decide to buy C8 UV.
While C8 UV is strong and bright, the hotspot is quite small. Thus I wanted to check whether S12 UV is also strong and bright as C8 UV but with a bigger hotspot at 1-1.5m range (well hopefully twice as big as C8 with a bit less intensity).
Thanks,
yes I think I just decided to purchase the S12 UV with Seoul UV and ZWB2.
I have also read this article a while ago Convoy S12 UV Review – Simple UV Excellence? – Grizzly's Reviews
But since there is no comparison yet, I’ll need to buy one and test it myself.
I’ll definitely add some comparison pictures here when my S12 arrived.
You have me interested too now. I have a wet vacuum spot cleaner for carpet. I use it for food and coffee spills etc, and sometimes our dog throws up. After removing excess and cleaning with a detergent solution, I can no longer see where the stain was. I use a vinegar solution spray to remove the detergent solution - I usually end up spraying a larger area just to be sure I have the original stain area covered.
Yup exactly, that is also my kind of use case. I have a rabbit who can roam free in a room. Since the carpet is kinda greyish, it is hard to see if the rabbit leaves any stain. I have ordered Convoy S12 and a orange peel reflector for C8. I hope it will arrive in ~2 weeks or so. I’ll then post my test here
I just have received the orange peel reflector for my Convoy C8 UV and the S12 UV. So I want to share a bit my experience with both UV flashlights. Both use ZWB2 filter.
Pro S12:
2 modes available: low and high
very floody
very bright
bigger hotspot
good for searching close/mid range
Cons S12:
it gets hot really fast ( I use it only in short burst repeatedly, 4-5 sec with ~ 10 sec pause)
not sure if the led life span is shorter than C8
Pro C8:
very focused
smaller hotspot but higher intensity
reach more distance
good for searching mid/far range
able to use 2 18650 batteries, thus the brightness is better regulated and less the need to recharge battery.
Another test from both UV flashlight.
I would recommend C8 UV for a longer use and maybe for a medium-long range. Better for searching yooperlite maybe.
S12 UV is for short-medium range and a short burst use.
I have s2+ with LG uv led, 365nm. i thought it was a good led, untill i bought uv drop in also 365nm, for a magite from lumencraft, it just does not compare to s2+, matt’s drop in has more power, things glow a lot brighter, and it makes more things glow. i have about a half a dosen of uv lights, after matt’s drop in, i do not even touch them anymore. btw black glass is very usefull with uv leds.
Are you saying that the drop in uv led in the maglite is a better uv light? If so, do you have a link to that drop in uv led?
yep, it is a better uv light, like i said, i wont even touch half a dosen of uv lights i build, or bought. i still use my s2+ for curing uv resin/glue, it does a great job curing uv resins, but that is about it. I let my friend borrow it for his airsoft game, he immediately bought his own after trying it, he said it worked better than any other uv light his buddies had, throws farther, illuminates stronger, more things react to it, and black glass that blocks almost all the visible light, makes it even better. I highly recommend it. however you need an old type of maglite, so it will be larger than convoy, and heavier even in 2 D body.
Thanks for that. I actually found it after some looking. I have a mini maglite sitting on my desk here which is why I was interested, but that isn’t a contender for this drop in
