I finally caved and bought a $40 UV flashlight for mineral hunting, and it completely changed how I see my local creek rocks.

I found a piece of calcite glowing bright red under the light that I had walked past for years thinking it was just plain quartz, so has anyone else had a cheap tool totally upgrade their spot?

2 comments

2 Comments

black.margaret21d ago

My ten dollar hand lens did the same thing for fossil hunting.

the_seth21d ago

Did the same thing" is a pretty big claim lol. A ten dollar lens might work for spotting a shell in a rock, but for real detail on tiny structures? I have my doubts. It's not like we're doing brain surgery here, but for some fossil work you actually need clear magnification. The cheap ones often have blurry edges and bad glass. It just seems like a stretch to say they do the same job as decent equipment.