Well it was about a year and a half ago more or less that I was a pretty active member of Pimprig. As such, I was extended the privilege of being a member of the staff as a newsie and sometimes reviewer. Many people are aware that there were some rather grave circumstances that caused me to take a leave of absence from the internet for a time, but now that I have been back on my feel for awhile, I felt it was time to right a past injustice.

Shortly before the series of mishaps that, beginning with the death of my old digital camera and moving onwards and upwards in seriousness, began wracking my life with seemingly ceaseless trials, I was sent a dual UV Cold Cathode kit from PCToys for review. Well late is going to have to be better than never, because punctuality flew out the window a long time ago.

We have all seen cold cathode reviews a million times, and apart from the intensity of the light, clarity of color, inverter electronics and mounting accessories, there really is very little difference between the various manufacturers. "But wait a minute" you say, "ItÂ’s a light, didnÂ’t you just pretty much in a sentence summarize all of the qualities I am looking for in a new cold cathode?" Pretty much. So letÂ’s dig in a little deeper shall we?

First off the manufacturer specifications as listed on the packaging, which incidentally was very nicely packaged. The clear plastic sleeve displayed the product nicely, with a sticker on the side leaving no question about the specifications.

Features

· Covered inverter
· 4 pin female/male Molex connector
· Black rocker switch
· Zip-ties, double-stick tape and Velcro for mounting

Specifications

· Dimensions 300mm x 4mm
· Voltage 620V
· Avg Brightness 2900cd/m2



As I mentioned before, the cold cathodes came very nicely packaged and ensconced in a rather healthy dose of bubble wrap to assure me that I could safely leave my duct tape in the toolbox.

Now back to the four primary concerns that I at least have when purchasing a new lighting accessory for any computer:

First off, the intensity of the light. This unit boasts an average brightness of 2900cd/m. Now this is something thatÂ’s very difficult to gauge, especially when comparing to other non-UV cold cathodes. Simply stating they both have same intensity but the blue one seems brighter, is a rather lackluster stance, however I had no other ultraviolet lights to test it against so I just eyeballed it.

HereÂ’s a pic with both cold cathodes, blue and UV turned on. As you can see from the pic, the blue pretty much drowns out the UV as is to be expected with the different light wavelengths.



A pic without the blue, you can see the UV a little better here, but it is still lacking a little in intensity for my tastes


I have seen my fair share of UV lights, but I must say that I found the intensity somewhat lacking to my naked eye. I installed the lights in a case with UV reactive IDE cables, and while they arenÂ’t the best UV cables in the world, I was extremely disappointed with the lack of much change.



Secondly, the clarity of color. Judging UV color clarity is again difficult, because the colors it gives off are very different in different surrounding. I did like the way it looked in my case and the way it reflected off my candy apple metal flake blue paint.

Thirdly, the inverter electronics. This is definitely a mass produced job, but the quality does not seem to be lacking here. The inverter was housed in a 2 piece plastic housing that came apart very easily, but not so easily as to do so at an inopportune moment. The plugs are all internal to the housing with the wires routed out along a hole cut in the case seam just for that purpose. I was able to mix and match the inverters for my Sunbeam cold cathode fans with the PCToys inverter without difficulty. I tried to take some pictures of the electronics up close for the review but they did not come out very well at all, but suffice it to say, it seemed like a quality job upon my initial inspection and I have had no problems in the last 3 weeks these ccÂ’s have been in use.



Lastly and a very important thing is the mounting accessories for the unit. It came with sticky backed mounting brackets with holes for the included zip ties to be mounted in practically any orientation. I had to use the Dremel to grind down the side of the bracket to fit them in my case, but that was easily remedied inside of three or four minutes. The adhesive seems very strong, and the Velcro for the inverter seems to be sufficient enough to mount in practically anywhere in the case. I did not adhere the Velcro in my case as I have some re-wiring to do in that part of my rig first.



Lastly, a shameless pimping of the rig these lights went into, as you can see, until I install a window the UV cathodeÂ’s wonÂ’t be doing me much good unless I am working on my pc, and even then they would probably be turned off.



Well folks, that is the quick and dirty. I want to thank PCToys for providing the dual cold cathodes for review, they sold for 14.99 last time I checked their prices, but at the time of posting this review, their site was unavailable. I give this kit an overall rating of 7/10.