The Best Black Light Flashlights (Reviews): Plus 7 Reasons To Own One

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Ultimate Guide To The Best Black Light Flashlights (Reviews)

Black light flashlights can be a lot of fun. I remember as a kid growing up in the Phoenix are of Arizona, using black light flashlights to hunt for scorpions at night. I also remember going to a rock and mineral museum and seeing minerals glow brilliantly under UV lights.

In this post, I’m going to go over a few of what I believe to be some of the best black light flashlights you can get.  Now, I’m not saying there aren’t even better ones out there…but what I’ve done is found those UV flashlights that combine both quality AND affordability.  So if you’re wondering where you can buy a blacklight flashlight, I’ll point you in the right directions.

So lets get right to it. 

Below is a list of the black light flashlights I’m reviewing in this post.

Black Light Flashlight Quick List!

The Best LED Blacklight Flashlights

Here’s a look at what I’ve found to be some of the best LED black light flashlights for the money. There’s a wide range of quality in the flashlights that are out there. I’ve put together a list of some of the better ones for you here.

1. UV BEAST V3- Black Light Flashlight (Top Pick!)​​

The Best Blacklight Flashlight For Commercial And Personal Use (Best Professional UV Flashlight)

• The UV Beast LED black light is incredibly bright and can even be used in ambient light. The UV3 Beast boasts 3x SMD LEDs powered by Li-ion instead of alkaline used by other models. This change is most noticeable in the throw of the UV beam. They’ve successfully tested the fluorescence of UV beam out to 135feet!
• The UV Beast V3 black light flashlight is powerful enough to inspect indoors and during the day. The power of this UV light makes this UV flashlight ideal for all light environments.
• With the Integrated floodlight that shines effectively up to 135 feet, you can inspect entire rooms for pet urine stains quickly. The powerful UV light allows you to easily locate the source of odors in carpets and bedding.
• The UV Beast LED black light flashlight can quickly and easily cause scorpions to glow from 135 feet away!
• Rock Seeker’s top pick due to its beam strength and high rating from real users.

2. Escolite UV Blacklight Flashlight

Why The Escolite Is The One Of The Best Overall Blacklight Flashlights

• This LED black light flashlight emits a powerful 395 nm wavelength UV light that will easily make things glow.
• Great for inspecting hotel rooms, rodent contamination, pet stains, fluids, scorpions or counterfeit money, the Escolite LED black light will easily get the job done.
• 3 AA batteries, which aren’t included, the Escolite will work for a long time, approximately 16 hours, before needing to replace them.
• The LED black light bulbs are well constructed and have a lifespan of 100,000 hours.
• This black light flashlight has 51 individual LED bulbs, which covers a very large area.

​3. KOBRA UV Black Light Flashlight

Best Black Light Flashlight For Cat Urine and Scorpion Hunting (Best UV Light For Urine Detection)

• The powerful 18 watt Kobra LED black light flashlight emits 385-395nm UV light to will make it easy to unveil anything hidden from the naked eye.
• Pinpoint the origin of cat urine odors and other stains left from other pets of any kind with this LED black light flashlght. Hands down this is the best UV light for urine detection on this list.
• Long battery life. Typical lifespan of batteries in the Kobra LED black light flashlight is approximately 20 hours.
• Metal housing is made of durable material and can more than withstand being dropped.

​4. Vansky UV Black Light Flashlight

The Best Small/Compact Black Light Flashlight

• Constructed of high quality materials, making it strong, durable and long lasting.
• Powerful UV LED bulbs emit a strong and bright beam from distance.
• Easily causes pet stains like cat urine fluoresce so you can apply stain remover where needed.
• This powerful LED UV Flashlight works great on carpets, curtains, furniture, rugs any many other fabrics.

5. The UVP 95-0158-04 Mini UV Lamp (Best UV Light For Minerals)

Best Black Light Flashlight To Make Minerals Glow

Unlike the other blacklight flashlights reviewed in this post, the UVP light emits short wave UV light. 

The UVP Mini UV Lamp is currently one of the most affordable portable short wave UV field lamps. It’s a basic, no frills black light field lamp.  It’s small and lightweight size make it ideal for taking it along with you out into the field. 

The downside, however, is that it is only a 4 Watt UV lamp, which means you will need to be close to the minerals with the UV lamp to see them glow.  This is not the best UV lamp if you simply want to walk around shining your UV light on the ground to find minerals that glow.

• 4 Watt
• Short wave Ultraviolet Light
• Small/ Lightweight
• 4 AA Battery powered

7 Reasons To Own A LED UV Black Light Flashlight

1. Make Minerals glow.  I love doing this. And I’ve thought its one of the coolest things ever since I was a kid.  Just remember that there are a limited number of minerals that will glow with these long wave UV light black lights. The UVP shortwave black light flashlight is the best option for minerals.

2. Hunt For Scorpions. This is another fun activity if you’re ever in a part of the world that has scorpions. It’s amazing how these creatures literally glow under black light. Just be careful…don get too close when you do find one! The KOBRA UV Black Light Flashlight will be the best for heading out to the desert to look for scorpions.

3. Look For Pet Stains.  If you’ve ever had pets live indoors with you, then you know how difficult it is sometimes to locate the source of pet odors. With the KOBRA UV Black Light Flashlight your fight is over. Pet stains will glow under the UV light!

 4. Inspect Hotel Rooms.  Have you ever watched those specials on TV where they walk into a hotel room, turn out the lights and turn on a black light flashlight.  Only then are you able to see the horror of stains left behind by other hotel guests.  Take one with you on your next trip and make sure you have a thoroughly clean room! The blacklight flashlight made by iLumens is the best for this use.

5. Look For Bed Bugs.  Now, I’ve never done this myself, but I have been told that you can use a black light flashlight to look for bedbugs.  The idea of this creeps me out, and may be just another reason to take a black light along with you on your next hotel stay. iLumens makes the best blacklight for bed bugs as well.

6. Check For Counterfeit Money.  Have you ever seen cashiers use a black light to inspect large denomination bills?  They are looking for counterfeit money.  Real bills are designed with special anti-counterfeit characteristics that will glow under the light of a UV light. Counterfeit money will be easy to see with the Escolite UV Black Light Flashlight.

7. For Your Next Party. Some of the neatest parties utilize the glowing effects of UV lights. Next time you throw a party, adopt this system. Turn out the lights, turn on the black  lights and turn up the music! Watch everyone and everything around you glow!  A great party idea is to buy compact black light flashlights for all the guests! The Vansky UV Black Light Flashlight not only compact, but they’re very affordable too, making them the perfect party gift.

What Are Black Light Flashlights

Black lights are llamps that emit an utraviolet light. Ultraviolet light is a type of electromagnetic radiation, just like radio waves, infrared, X-rays and gamma-rays. Ultraviolet light is not visible to the human eye.

Electromagnetic radiation is transmitted in waves or particles at different wavelengths and frequencies called the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s on this spectrum that we find UV light, X-rays and gamma rays.

Ultraviolet light, or black light, falls in the range of the electromagnetic spectrum between visible light and X-rays.

When it comes to black light flashlights, there are two types. There are the more expensive short wave black light flashlights, and there are the less expensive long wave black light flashlights. I wrote an in depth post explaining the difference between long wave and short wave ultraviolet light.  Wikipedia also has a more technical description of what black light is here.

How Do Black Light Flashlights Work?

When it comes to talking about black light, there are typically two types of UV lamps available.  There are florescent black light bulbs, and there are the newer, more common LED black light bulbs. Typically, your less expensive long wave UV light flashlights will use LED black light bulbs.

Of course the effectiveness of the UV black light bulb depends on its construction. For the best black light, look for bulbs with an output between 365 to 368 nm. Again, this falls in the long wave UV range, which makes whites and fluorescent colors glow.

Fluorescent black light bulbs are within this output range, and it only takes one bulb to get the black light effect. LED black lights on the other hand usually have a higher output of around 385 to 400 nm. This too falls into the long wave UV light range, but is a little more powerful than the florescent bulbs.

What Is The Difference Between Short Wave UV Light And Long Wave UV light?

 

Long wave Ultraviolet Light

Long wave UV lights have filters which screen out a lot of the visible light they produce, but not all.  These filters are generally inexpensive to buy for that reason. Because of that, the black lights we use as hobbyists are a great way to produce long wave UV light.  In nature, long wave UV light is present in sunlight and is not harmful to humans.

 

Short Wave Ultraviolet Light

There are two types of short wave UV light; filtered and unfiltered. As you can imagine, unfiltered UV lights allow a large amount of visible light through, rendering it useless for making many minerals glow.  Too much visible light passes through and drowns out the “glow”.  

Filtered short wave UV lights on the other hand, filter out almost all visible light, allowing only shortwave ultraviolet light to pass through.  These filters can be somewhat expensive which is why high quality shortwave UV lights are so expensive when compared to unfiltered long wave UV lights.

Since most of the visible light is filtered, and only UV light is passing through, short wave ultraviolet lights are the best black lights for minerals.

 

Conclusion

I hope these reviews of some of the best blacklight flashlights has helped you narrow down your search, or at least answer some of your questions about blacklights.  

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Don’t hesitate to shoot me a message or leave one below with any additional information or tips you want to share with us!

 

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