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?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.margaret2mo ago

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

the_seth2mo 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.

loganhart2d ago

Totally, and I get what you're saying about the blurry edges thing. I actually had a similar experience back when I was trying to ID some tiny sea urchin spines in a limestone nodule. I borrowed a buddy's expensive loupe and it was super clear. But then I picked up a cheap one from a hobby store and the edges were so soft I couldn't tell if the pattern was real or just a smudge. @black.margaret might have gotten lucky with a decent one, but most of those ten dollar lenses are a gamble. For something like a dinosaur bone or a big shell, sure, it's fine. But for the really small stuff like foram tests or microcrystals, you're basically guessing. You ever try using a cheap scope for that kind of detail or was it always just hand lenses?