REVIEW – I knew as soon as Julie reviewed the Olight Arkfeld last August that I wanted one. It was a new form factor that I thought would feel great in the hand and looked like a perfect pocket size. Luckily, the Olight Arkfeld UV came up for a review and I got it! This version of the Arkfeld has a different trick up its sleeve when compared to the original. Instead of a laser pointer, this one has an ultraviolet light built in. Keep reading to find out more about another fantastic product from Olight.
What is it?
The Olight Arkfeld UV is a dual-source EDC flashlight, 1 natural or cool white LED and 1 UV, in a lovely anodized green finish.
What’s in the box?
- Olight Arkfeld UV flashlight
- Magnetic USB charging cable
- User manual
Hardware specs
GENERAL DATA
- Beam Distance – 278 ft (85 m)
- Max Performance – 1,000 lumens
- Charging Type – MCC1A Magnetic USB Charging
- Compatible Batteries – Built-in 1050mAh Lithium Polymer Battery
- Max Light Intensity – 1,808 candela
- Light Source – High-Performance Neutral White LED (4000k~5000K), High-Performance Cool White LED (5700K~6700K)
- Mode Operation – Central Button & Selector
LIGHTING LEVELS
- Turbo – 1,000~300 lumens
- Run time Turbo – 4 + 110 minutes
- High – 300~60 lumens
- Run time High – 140 + 20 minutes
- Med – 60 lumens
- Run time Med – 12 hours 50 minutes
- Low – 15 lumens
- Run time Low – 41 hours
- Moon – 1 lumen
- Run time Moon – 8 days
- Optical Power (Typ.) – 580mW
- Max Runtime – 4 hours
- Wavelength (Typ.) – 365nm
TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Waterproof – IPX7
- Weight – 3.07 oz (87 g)(Battery Included)
- Height – 0.59 in (15 mm)
- Length – 4.33 in (110 mm)
- Width – 0.98 in (25 mm)
Design and features
The Olight Arkfeld UV is a little beauty of a flashlight. That green anodized finish is great and I love the rectangular form factor. It really fits the hand well. You’ve got a selector switch and power button that are placed perfectly to operate it with your thumb.
When you turn it on, a row of LEDS light up to show you the battery level.
Not the best picture here but you get a better sense of the brightness of the battery-level LEDs.
Here you can see both the LED and UV lamp in the business end of the Arkfeld UV.
Another change to this new version of Arfeld is the pocket clip. Now they use the two-way pocket clip giving you different carry options.
The rear of the light has Olight’s magnetic charging base. This is so much nicer than plugging in a cable.
Performance
Like pretty much every flashlight made these days, the Olight Arkfeld UV flashlight’s power button is multifunction. The selector switch toggles UV and LED flashlight modes, and of course, the power button turns it on and off when pressed once. If you hold the power button down while in flashlight mode, it cycles through low, medium, and high levels. Press and hold the button while the Arkfeld UV is off and you activate moonlight mode. You want turbo mode? Double-click the button. And everyone’s favorite: strobe. Perform a triple click and you can give someone a migraine. If you’re in UV mode, there are no other presses you need than one to turn it on. Additional clicks and presses do nothing here. Check the pictures below to see the different modes.
What I like
- Form factor
- Size
- Magnetic charging
- Cool UV light
What I’d change
- Not a thing
Final thoughts
In case you couldn’t tell, I really like the Arkfeld UV flashlight. It fits well in a pocket and is easy to operate. The addition of a UV function is cool too. If you travel a lot, you might want to shine around your hotel room. If you’re a maker and use UV resin, this would be perfect for curing it. Did your sketchy brother-in-law just give you a $3 dollar bill? You can use it to check the validity. The Arkfeld UV flashlight has earned a place in my backpack and will go with me wherever I travel.
Price: $79.99
Where to buy: Olight
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Olight.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
Am I the only one who doesn’t like special adapters (bases) to charge a device. This may be nice at home, but you travel or are in two places, it means carrying another base or having a second one.
I have seen similar arrangements for Shokz bone conducting earphones and that was a reason for me not to buy one.
Just one simple USC-C cable is so much easier.
Showing $79 for me. Not on sale as the article mentions.
The sale ended at midnight last night. I’ll go update Kenneth’s review.
its nice,love form factor and specs, agree w Ruud, i dont thin k battery is user replaceble, can olight chg batteries if it died??
One use no one mentions is for identifying Uranium Glassware in antique shops The UV makes the glass glow green. Plus scorpions glow green under UV.
Junk light. You can’t replace the clip or battery. uses a silly magnetic charger. It’s expensive for what it is. I see these review and I only wonder how much the reviewer got paid.
80 USD, may be?