The Best Ultraviolet LED Flashlights

Ultraviolet LED flashlights

The Details

Ultraviolet light is the preferred light source of TV crime scene investigators on the hunt for body fluids. Distinguished by its trademark purple glow, it has a wavelength that is shorter than visible light but longer than X-rays, in the range of 10 nanometers to 400 nanometers. It is useful to make fluorescent substances glow that can’t otherwise be seen by the naked eye. Portable UV light used to be too unwieldy and expensive for consumer purposes, but that all changed after ultraviolet light emitting LEDs were introduced in 2006. They are now widely available in flashlight form.

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These flashlights are most often used to detect fraudulent documents such as fake IDs, see watermarks, read invisible ink or investigate crime scenes. They can also be used to “fluoresce” scorpions and certain types of minerals, and charge “glow-in-the-dark” object like fishing lures. Use them to protect your businesses from counterfeit money and your home from pointy tailed pests.

Gallium Indium Nitride UV Flashlight

Ultraviolet LED flashlights

This Gallium Indium Nitride UV flashlight gets great ratings from Amazon buyers, so we thought we’d include it here. Reviewers were impressed by the flashlight’s durability, and the fact that it emits 365 nm UV light, which is at the very edge of our visible range. The light from this flashlight appears as a dim purple-blue to the eye, but when it shines on items that fluoresce they light up brightly.

It uses three AAA batteries — we recommend using low self-discharge AAA rechargeable batteries like Eneloop Pros in this flashlight.

10 thoughts on “The Best Ultraviolet LED Flashlights”

  1. uvBeast is a very useful uv light that I have ever found. But It is not the only one exists in the market. I have reviewed other few uv flashlight also along with uvBeast. Hopefully that will make sense for you. Thanks in advance. h

  2. I/we are currently using a UV-365nm-1W light for our applications. What would you recommend from your list of products that would be just as effective for our inspection criteria. If you had a product that met the specs desired, where could we purchase that light?

  3. Hey Patrick,
    Love your product info about the Scorpio 51 LED 395 NM UV. Would like to buy them wholesale for our shop “Area51 Smoke Shop” in N. Chesterfield, VA, but can’t find a reputable wholesaler that sell the real Scorpio and not copycats. Can you direct me to a wholesaler in the USA? Thanx.
    Maria Liberatore
    GM

  4. Hi Justin, thanks for these LED flashlight recommendations. Another note on the Boost FP AA/AAA batteries. We recently tested them against the Eneloop White, Eneloop Pro and Energizer Advanced and the Boost FP batteries maintained a relative LUX brightness of 100 for over 100 minutes, whereas the other 3 batteries dropped to less than 80 after just 10 minutes, and then down to below 40 after 80 minutes. A LUX reading of 40 and below is considered very dull. Please let me know if you would like us to test any of the flashlights you reviewed, or any other battery-operated device featured on your site.

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