Features:

  • Find invisible stains: TaoTronics UV flashlight helps detect food stains and pet urine stains on rugs, carpets, and clothes that are otherwise invisible to the naked Eye. Not work well on cat urine
  • Versatile Use: authenticate currency and official documents like drivers licenses or identify unwanted whitening agent in cosmetics
  • High power batteries included: start spotting stains right away with 3 long-lasting AAA in the package
  • Durable, high-quality lads: The 12 tenacious UV light LEDs have a lifespan of 15 years
  • Ultra-compact design: the pocket-size UV flashlight can be carried along to detect stains in your car or illuminate minerals, body art
Awesome Costumer Service!!!

Guess I got a defective one, things happen, I guess. One of the springs on the battery tube, the thing that holds the 3AAA batteries, was not attached and rolled out the package, making this pretty darn useless. Also the cardboard backing to the plastic that seals the package was not attached, therefore the flashlight and the batteries were flopping around in the oversized box it came in. Now, I did try inserting an 18650 battery in, and that did work. But I was afraid such a battery will damage the light, or vise versa, so I decided to just return the light back to amazon. I'm willing to give this product another try seeing how so many people loves it, but this particular one was a let down. ----------------------------------------------------------------- April 24th, 2016 Update: So after I returned the defective one, the company Sunvalleytek contacted me and offered me a free replacement, asking for me to give it another try. I told them that I've already shipped the defective one back and gotten my refund already, but they were really cool about it and still shipped me a brand new one. Just got it in the mailbox today, popped in the batteries, and guess what, the flashlight works. It's quite bright, and it's still noon, just imagine how bright it is in the dark. I have a Ravpower Luster powerbank w/ a uv light, this is much brighter than that. So if anyone has an issue with their light, just contact their costumer service, it only took a few emails back & forth and I got a free replacement. Sunvalleytek's got awesome customer service. Really digging this new light.

I Saw the Light

This might sound funny from a five star review, but it's true. I'm sorry I bought this. Our carpet is 30+ years old. We bought our home as a short sale, and there were plenty of upgrades needing to be done, so the carpet was the last thing on my list. It's pinky-mauve, but if you close your eyes and just let your toes do the evaluating, it's really good carpet. Well, now I know differently. I've had this carpet professionally cleaned several times - once before we moved in and about every 2 years after. We've had a rescue dog and a rescue cat and two more rescue dogs - but no more "messes" than one would expect. There are the days we don't get home for lunch, or don't get off work as early as we usually do... nothing major. I always hand-cleaned any spots, and like I said, we do professional cleaning with well known companies. *gulp* The first night I had this light, I waited till full dark and turned it on. We're getting new flooring as soon as possible.

Good light. Decent price. Why not buy it?

I live in a decent sized city of over 100,000. I can't find UV lights anywhere. I picked this light up after watching a youtube video about it. My main reason for getting this is to find the source of the pee smell in the kids bathroom and kids bedroom. I had cleaned the carpets and cleaned the bathroom but until you get a blacklight or UV light in this case, there is no way in hell you are getting anything clean like you think you are. Period. End of story for that. I will say that I have used the 2 ft long blacklight fluorescent fixtures that plug in the wall but those are a pain to use and the bulbs are exposed which makes them easy to break. The also dont give off the concentrated beam of light that this flashlight does. They are also not portable. After cleaning all the pee in the bathroom that was visible with this light it is smell free like a bathroom should be. This is not a light you play with. This is not a light you let your kids play with. My understanding is that this UV light can do some serious damage to your eyes if you stare at it. I would greatly recommend getting a pair of yellow tinted type safety glasses that block UV light. This will enable you to use the light without worrying it will damage your eyes but better yet, the yellow glasses really do cut out the purple light that can make you dizzy. The purple light can also interfere with finding stains so with the glasses on the things you are looking for really stand out. I went to Harbor Freight and picked up a few pair of their cheap $2 yellow safety glasses and I did the drivers license test. No UV light went through the cheap glasses to make my license light up. I was surprised. And they make a big difference.

Not only for pet stains!

I work at a veterinary clinic and perform anesthetic dental cleanings on pets. I use the light after I've scaled their teeth to see if there are any spots that were missed (some mouths are difficult to get in to). I photographed some teeth prior to scaling. Tartar and calculus appears highlighter orange, which my iphone was unable to capture how truly bright the coloring was. This is also great for using in the bathroom or floors/carpets to see what stains your pets may have left. I bleach the spot my cat pukes on, but apparently residue is still there according to the light - thanks light for telling me I need to get a carpet vacuum or something to get these unseen (but now seen) stains out. On a side note, I did enjoy that it came with 3 AAA batteries. I had another UV light purchased off Amazon that was not LED, but it had died after a 1.5-2 year time frame. This LED light if definitely much brighter for what I need it for. I will occasionally look at my own teeth to see if I've missed spots while brushing/flossing since I have braces.

Does it's job. No complaints

Works very well in the dark at night. I close the blinds during the day to vacuum up food particles dropped by my toddler using the black light and I can see just fine. It has helped me locate and clean several, actually 14 pee stains from my dogs. Many stains that I did not know about. Some that I thought I thoroughly cleaned but still remained although I can't see them with the naked eye. Those stains would not disappear under the black light until I steamed them out with an iron and orange cleaner. I've cleaned and located several stains on my stairs from who knows what. This little gadget works like a charm. I am concerned about whether I should use safety glasses or protective wear since it is UV radiation. My heavy use with it will hopefully be temporary since I no longer have dogs. Restoring my house to the condition it was in before dogs should be an easier job now that I have this as a guide.

Unfortunately, you can't tell the difference between stains..., but OUTSTANDING customer service!!!

It does show up stains, but unfortunately it is not specifically a urine stain that shows up. I was checking my tile floor for an old pet stain and noticed the front of a cabinet that something had spilled down the front. I know it wasn't urine! Yet it showed the exact same color as the inside of the litter box where someone did not put their bottom down to urinate. Although it shows up stains that are hard to see without a black-light, it is unfortunate that I can't distinguish a liquid splash from a pet accident. Since I purchased it for that exact reason and it is marketed as a urine stain finder, I give it an poor rating. 6-08-2016 I am editing my review based on my experience with this company's customer service. Just hours after I posted this review I received a sincere apology from this company and an offer to refund my purchase price. Neither of which I had asked for. I simply posted a review based on my expectations. Every other online business should take a page out of this company's customer service handbook. I have changed my review to 5 stars based entirely on their desire to make sure their customers leave satisfied that they have been fairly treated!

Clean Freaks Living in Filth

Uh puke. This is a GREAT product. It works really well. Too well. After using this, I'm grossed out to walk barefoot. Check out my photo!!! I have a dog and a toddler. The 2 of them make quite the messy pair. My husband and I diligently clean every time there is a mess. But after using this, it's obvious where we still need to clean. What I've noticed is that where I used Nature's Miracle, there are no more pee spots or spots where my toddler's Sippy cup spilled. But where we used carpet cleaner like Resolve, the spot still lights up. Conclusion: Nature's Miracle works better than I thought it did, and we're living in filth. ;)

Tomato caterpillars worst nightmare

Wait til dark and use this to find the pests who have been eating your tomato plants down to nothing. Incredible i caught 20+ in 10 minutes with the black light.

Check out the updated review! They earned their stars!

*Update* They're sending out a replacement for this unit. They definitely felt I received a faulty unit and were quick to rectify it! Not only did they offer to replace the faulty unit they offered an upgrade! Absolutely amazing customer service!! Rating changed to reflect their awesome customer service and for taking care the problem! Faulty items happen and this kind of customer service is what puts a seller on my A-list!! **My OLD review** Not very strong. Bought for night time bug hunting in the garden but it's so weak that it didn't do any good. Not worth it if I have to keep the light 2 inches from the plants for it to work. If you want something with limited range this will work for you, but if you want to use it for any distance you should probably look for something else.

Ultra-Longwave, not for $100 bills

Update: still working after 3 years with original batteries! I use this for spot checking certain minerals in my rock collection quite often. I JUST used this to help find some old, antique wristwatch hands that I spilled: they were radium-covered hands and they glow nicely under the UV light. So, this helped me not have my house become a radioactive Superfund Cleanup site. Also, I found a weird marble in a junk drawer. I squeezed the marble...and it exploded: it was a neon green paintball (I've never owned a paintball gun) so I used this to find the splatter that was: on furniture, behind hanging pictures on the wall, the ceiling, doorknob, carpets...ridiculous! Now I know how murderers get caught with blood evidence, LOL! Very bright, even in a bit really dark room it makes lint on my beige carpet light up extremely well. Because this is 390-410nm it's not the greatest for most rock collecting. Most rocks fluoresce under shortwave (254nm), and while some rocks fluoresce under longwave, longwave for rock collectors is 365nm. This does trigger phosphorescence in some of my rocks. It also charged up the luminescent markers on my wristwatch. The manual states this won't work on the newer USA $100 bills. I have a forty dollar dual short and long (254nm and 375nm) rock collecting UV light that works MUCH better (for rocks) but isn't as bright. My purpose in getting this was to be able to shine it outside at night without having to bend down while looking for glowing rocks. This would be bright but the wrong frequency for that, however: it's perfect for quickly scanning the road for halite crystals. I live in Michigan and they drop salt on our roads in winter, sometimes to can find awesome huge salt halite crystals but with the snow outside and the street lamps my good uv light is way too dim so I'd have to crawl on my hands and knees holding my other UV light two inches off the ground IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ICY ROAD! Forget that, this thing will have to do. You can shine it while standing up and see all sorts of horrible things on your carpet, bathroom, etc. It's a tradeoff: brighter usually means more non-uv light leaking out. BEFORE YOU SHINE IT IN YOUR BATHROOM, just get the mop and bucket out first because that's how it's going to end up. I'm a neat freak and into order (I'm a librarian) but let's just say after using it in my main bath... well... It almost ended in tears. Lol. Mine came with 3 real Duracell batteries. It's not as good as my other uv light, but it cost 75% less and it seems like you could drop it and it won't break, unlike my rectangular one that has a fancy glass filter along one side and an exposed bulb on the other. I can also light up the ceiling without being on a ladder...but now I'm climbing on a ladder to clean the ceiling. Great quality, robust, bright, fun, you might want to burn your house down rather than go in your bathroom ever again, cheap! A little too long a longwave for rock hunting. Won't work on newer $100 bills. I'm using this way more than my "pro" dual rock hunter one. -mike from Detroit

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