About UV Light

There is much mis-information online about UV light (Blacklight) we’ll clear up a few main points here…

Is brighter really better?

No.  Absolutely not.  UV is invisible to the human eye so ideally you should see nothing!  What you do see is visible ‘interference’ light (known as spill) and is a bi-product of poor quality inferior UV LEDs.  This bright, purple glare is not UV and only serves to illuminate the search area, actually making it harder to see the actual fluoresce you are looking for!

The UV rule of thumb is:  The brighter it is, the worse it is!

This is why our UV PRO range are made with a special UV PRO filter which removes all visible light and only lets the invisible UV light through.  This produces great, professional results.

The more LEDs the better?

Again. Absolutely not.  The greater the number of inferior (cheap) LEDs the torch has, the more visible interference light it produces and the worse the result.

Tip: Avoid any UV Torch with more than 9 LEDS.

Does frequency matter?

Yes. The frequency of UV light emitted determines the quality of results obtained.  There is a sweet-spot for UV which is between 365nm and 385nm.  However, to manufacture LEDs capable of emitting in this frequency range is far more expensive.  The cheap UV torches sold on eBay and Amazon, will use inferior quality Chinese made LEDs emitting in the range of 390 – 410nm.  At this range the UV light is a very poor quality and the visible light output is at its highest (see here for more about UV Blacklight).

GLOWTEC UV PRO Forensic Torches are made using high quality KOREAN made 365-385nm UV LEDs which peak at 380nm with a much lower visible light output. This provides the best balance of quality, performance and price with excellent value for money.

See our short video to see why –> Comparison of UV Torches

What should I expect to see?

That really depends on what it is your are looking at / looking for!

Unlike man-made fluorescent materials such as white fabric, white paper and UV paint which all fluoresce brightly under UV blacklight, natural fluorescent substances such as urine and body fluids, which whilst they do glow (fluoresce) under UV light, do not fluoresce brightly! In fact they are generally quite dim, so do not expect a supernova!

The colour shown under UV light is determined by the chemical composition of the substance, not the UV light itself.