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Most of the reviews for UV LED flashlights in the low price range are more negative than positive. The Abco Tech 9 LED fell in the middle-to-lower end of the price range and has a light spectrum that is also in the middle range. The lower the Nm rating (365 is the lowest I've seen) the less visible light and better a flourescing object will stand out from non-flourescing objects. High Nm ratings (400 for example) are really nothing more than ordinary flashlights with a purple light beam that will make it difficult to identify fluorescing objects because they light everything around the flourescing object. This flashlight is in-between.
There is a trade-off when making your decision. In the low price range flashlights with the lowest NM rating also have the shortest "throw" (working distance) with some reports stating that the ideal throw is about 1', good for inspecting currency, passports, etc. but maybe not so good looking for scorpions and things you prefer to be further than 1' from.
With a NM rating in the middle at 375 and a price of about $10, this flashlight seemed to be a good choice.
When it arrived it was packed in a plain white box, no batteries, no instructions, no belt pouch. None of that meant anything to me. The flashlight seems relatively solid, made mostly of metal. I like a few things about it, such as it using standard AAA batteries rather than specialized cells. I also like its minimal size. I already have two pocket-sized LED lights plus another that is more tactical size, and a UV light is not something I will use every day, so I'm glad it is of compact size.
For the price, it is actually pretty well made. The switch is on the rear and has a positive click to it. The endcap unscrews with reasonable precision and there is a plastic carrier inside for the 3 AAA cells that fits snugly, no rattling or shaking when it is in place. Both contacts for the carrier have decently strong springs to assure good contact and no movement of the carrier.
The beam is a bit more focused than some similar flashlights. I consider this an advantage to help concentrate the UV light on the target. It is reasonably smooth from center to the edge of the circular beam.
I spent a lot of time researching this purchase and could not justify the only low-price 365 Nm light costing 3-1/2 times more and the reviews of the cheaper models were not that great. Although this is one of only a few reviews for this product, I think overall it may be the best buy. The only thing that needs attention is the product page description which describes this as a 12 LED lamp with "white brilliance". I think they took that off the wrong spec sheet and I have sent an update to Amazon.
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One of the strongest UV emitting lights I now own. I can easily hunt scorpions from about 10' away and even further if I use UV filtering yellow glasses. The flashlight's ability to cause objects to fluoresce is amazing but there's just one problem. There is a huge amount of visible light coming out. The purple light that this flashlight gives off is what I would expect from a 400-420 nm light. True 375 nm light should be barely visible at all on non fluorescing objects. The bright purple light makes it very difficult to see what is actually fluorescing and what is just reflecting the purple light. Needs to come with a light filter that only allows UV to pass through. Interchangeable lenses would be great options to improve this product. UV lights should make fluorescents glow bright but at the same time be very dark with no visible light coming out. Good amount of UV, but terribly high amounts of visible light. Does OK for checking $5, $20, and $50. Doesn't work so great on the redish orange color of the $10 bills and I haven't found anything that works for the $100 bills. Works for checking ID's. Scorpions glow from at least ten feet away with a very wide coverage area, about five foot wide coverage at ten feet away. This is just an estimation of distance, haven't actually measured but it's the widest and brightest fluorescing flashlight I have found. Yellow tinted glasses are a must have to make this into the ultimate pocket sized UV fluorescent flashlight. I still haven't found any UV LEDs that show pet stains even with colored glasses. If someone is looking for a decent UV LED flashlight with very little visible light, check out the Ledwholesalers Gallium Indium Nitride 365 Nm Uv LED Ultra Violet 9 LED 3 AAA Blacklight Flashlight, 7301uv365. Doesn't fluoresce objects as well as Abco Tech 9 LED 375 nm (actually has 12 LEDs, not sure why they label it with a "9 LED"), but the 365 nm has very little if any visible light. Both good UV but Abco has the stronger fluorescing flashlight.Seller should include an optional combo package of this flashlight with a yellow tinted UV enhancing glasses to give consumers the best experience possible.
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This light is great for what I use it for. I use it nightly doing security in a busy nightclub, checking IDs for UV marks and checking wrist stamps for the UV reactant stamp ink that we use. I use this UV flashlight heavily throughout the night and it's really held up through the usage I put it through. I bought it a couple months ago and thought I'd wait until it saw a fair amount of use before I reviewed it. I have to say; for the money this light is most definitely worth buying. I can spot reactant UV ink from at least 10 feet away in a moderately lit environment and can spot reactants from at least 40-50 feet in low light environments (like the show room). If you're on a budget and need a cheap UV flashlight for usage similar to what I use mine for, I highly recommend this light.My only beef is that I need to shake it sometimes to get the beam to become brighter, but I could probably figure that out by taking it apart and fixing whatever connection is loose.
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