National geographic UV sensor cards

has anyone had any experience with the National Geographic uv sensor cards? How well do they work? What range should a bearded dragon be in? If anyone has a solarmeter it would be great if u could test the cards against the optimum range needed and give us feedback. There only a few bucks and while they are no replacements for a good meter they may help judge when to replace our lights. Thanks in advance.

I haven't heard of them. Are they at Petsmart (that's where most of the Nat Geo stuff I've seen is sold)? I have a solarmeter and would be willing to test them out. At peak basking time in the basking area I suggest a UVI of 3-5 or so with a gradient down to 0 in shady areas or hides. They tend to move around a lot and self regulate so it's important to provide them with a nice gradient.

You are correct in assuming they are from pet smart. They retail at a little under three dollars.they are labeled as UV sensors. I tried them under a spot lamp with no change, and under a 160w mv solar glo with the results not so promising for the bulb. ( probably no surprise there lol ) funny thing is, the bulb is new. Thanks in advance.

Three dollars?! I'm skeptical. I don't have a Petsmart nearby but will try to order one and check it out. I'm all for checking out new tech but a few bucks for a UV card vs a couple hundred for a Solarmeter has me skeptical. You get what you pay for comes to mind.

I went to Petsmart's website and found them but it shows they aren't sold in stores but I wasn't able to put them in my cart to order them online. If you can tell me where to find them I'll be glad to try and test them vs a Solarmeter.

Oddly enough, I found them on a shelf in pet smart. I'm just as skeptical. They came to be good for five hundred uses and there is three to a pack. That seems to be enough to test ur UV lights for quite a while. I'll look into finding them for online purchase. There's not a lot out there on them. No reviews or anything as of yet. If they show there worth they could be a vauluble addition to a budget tool box or as a point of reference for anyone how might never have worked up the mettle to purchase a UV meter. I highly doubt they will be of any use decerning whether the uv b produced is " good uvb". Buying a good bulb from a trusted company seems the only logical step for that. However if they helped at gauging how close to the bulb u should set your basking spot or when to replace your bulb, they would defiantly take some of the guesswork out.

It seems u can't order them online, however I see a similar product on amazon. Its called sun meter UV card. Although the card literature is different, I'm thinking the indicator strip is the same. Apparently u can use it to see how powerful of sunblock u should use. I see where u couldn't order it from petsmart's website. I tried changing the quantity, which unlocked the add to cart button, but clicking it takes u to a page that says there is nothing in your cart. I'd be happy to send u one, as they are sold in packs of three, but I'm sure something like that may be against site rules or otherwise typically unsafe in today's world.

If you'd like to send me one I'll be happy to test it out for you against my UV Meter and then send it back. I have the 6.5 meter so I can provide UVI readings. Just send me a PM and we can arrange it.

Interesting! I saw something similar on facebook (for testing horticultural lights).
Cooper, do let us know what you find if you test some. I'll be keeping my eye out as well.

So I picked up a pack of these today to play around with.
After some testing and discussion with Dr. Baines, they are mostly useless and quite misleading.

The card themselves are nicely made, the size and shape of a credit card. The reactive paint (?) is a matte texture and has a "low, moderate, high" gauge. The labeling uses the word "accurately" wich I found questionable. It also cleverly makes no mention of "UVB" just general "UV".



It was a bit hard to get photos showing the color change, I hadn't thought of covering part of the reactive paint at the time I made the first few photos.
Some of the cheep "UV" meters use UVA - these are often labeled as "not suitable for artificial lighting." I mentioned these cards in the lighting group and the response was that they are probably similar, if even more crude. So, my first test was a closed window. UVB is filtered 100% by glass and plastic, UVA is not. According to the cards I'm getting adequate UV for a bearded dragon through my closed window. According to my solarmeter I'm getting (accurately) 0.


Next, about 1-2" from my reptisun 10 T5 the UVI is 13.7. According to the card, it's about the same as through the closed window.


Since it was a sunny day, I popped them out into the sun. The card got the darkest under this lighting meanwhile the UVI is about 6.5+....

They even respond very weakly to the halogen and daylight florescent bulbs.



So... Basically.... Like the cheep sensors these cards are likely responding to UVA not to UVB and are not a meaningful tool for judging the health or strength of our bulbs. They aren't even good for measuring decay, since UVB loses its potency much faster than UVA. Maybe they would be a bit useful in gauging the UVA in our enclosures, but that's about it.

That's great, thanks for posting this! That corresponds with what Dr Baines was saying about the little bracelets that kids wear outside to determine sun exposure being inadequate in these cases and picking up on UVA instead of UVB... I can't say this is a surprising result but I'm very glad to now have some test results down on paper. Hopefully people don't use these to measure lighting.

CooperDragon":3m6npv31 said:

That's great, thanks for posting this! That corresponds with what Dr Baines was saying about the little bracelets that kids wear outside to determine sun exposure being inadequate in these cases and picking up on UVA instead of UVB... I can't say this is a surprising result but I'm very glad to now have some test results down on paper. Hopefully people don't use these to measure lighting.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, they do. They are right in the middle of the lighting section (though I was happy to see our petsmart sells reptisun tubes now!) and the label says "helps indicate bulb replacement when held under light." Unfortunately UVA decay is not an indicator of UVB decay :/ so for most purposes they are misleading junk. They are fun the play with though!

I've seen them mentioned on some of the Facebook groups (as well as the crappy keychain sensors... One poster was pleased with the UVI of 10 she was getting with the little thing)

I'll admit, a big part of my motivation on trying these out was to have some evidence they are not appropriate.

That's amazing. Thanks for your very thorough evaluation of these cards. There aren't any reviews online yet so I suppose I was hopeful they would have some moderate degree of usefulness. Personally I tried them under a megaray lamp, outside, and under a regular bulb. The results were mildly promising but without a meter it was more like a guess. I didn't think to try them under a halogen, as that would have been a sure sign they were reacting to uva as opposed to uvb. Its amazing what companies are allowed print on there labels. They are very misleading and sometimes outright lies.

jasonandmeeps":3trnztiw said:

That's amazing. Thanks for your very thorough evaluation of these cards. There aren't any reviews online yet so I suppose I was hopeful they would have some moderate degree of usefulness. Personally I tried them under a megaray lamp, outside, and under a regular bulb. The results were mildly promising but without a meter it was more like a guess. I didn't think to try them under a halogen, as that would have been a sure sign they were reacting to uva as opposed to uvb. Its amazing what companies are allowed print on there labels. They are very misleading and sometimes outright lies.

Click to expand...

I wonder if I could get away with writing a review...

The really telling thing is to hold them up to a window, or through any sort of glass or plastic. Unless you've got fancy (and expencive) UV transmissive material any sensor or device should peg out at zero when it comes to UVB.

Picked these up today. at 8" from the exo terra reptiglo 10 tubes, it reads not quite 0, but close. lit up under a mvb solar glo