How to check UV features at home?
Solid advice on the UV flashlight - grabbing a 365nm unit is definitely the way to go. I've tried both 365nm and 395nm, and honestly the 365nm gives way better contrast on modern UV features because it doesn't have that visible purple washout that 395nm throws off. The cheap Amazon ones around $10-15 work fine for basic checking, just make sure the LEDs are actually 365nm and not some mislabeled 395nm - some of the budget ones advertise as 365 but the spectral output is all over the place. If you want to be really accurate, look for one that specifies a narrow bandpass, but for home checking the cheapies are good enough.
When you're looking at the UV elements, don't just glance and move on. The state seal is usually the biggest UV element, but there's almost always micro-UV text tucked into the borders or behind the portrait that requires a close look. The good UV details have sharp, clean edges - no fuzzy bleed or uneven glow. Some states also have UV overlays that change color or disappear under different wavelengths, so if you have a 254nm light too you can sometimes catch those, but 365nm covers what most bars and bouncers use. I'll shine the light at an angle too, not straight on, to catch any UV ghost images that might only pop at certain angles.
Now, since you're already checking UV, you might as well run through the other security features while you have your gear out. For the hologram overlay, look at it under a bright desk lamp or direct sunlight. You want to see crisp movement - when you tilt it, the image should smoothly transition from one design to another without sticking or having dead spots. The hologram itself should feel slightly raised and have a thin, even lamination over the card stock. Check for microtext inside the hologram that's legible under a 10x loupe - that's a tough feature to fake well.
Ghost image clarity is another thing to eyeball. That smaller version of the portrait should be visible as a faint, sharp outline - not blurry or washed out. If it looks like a bad photocopy of the main picture, that's a red flag. I usually hold the card up to a light source and tilt it so the ghost image reflects directly at me. The transition between the ghost and the background should be smooth, not abrupt.
For perforation pattern quality, you need more than just a flashlight - grab a loupe or even a phone macro lens. The holes should be perfectly round, consistent in diameter, and evenly spaced. Run your fingernail over the perforations; a real card will feel a tiny bit textured but not rough. If the holes are ragged or there's leftover paper dust in the edges, that's a sign of cheap die-cutting.
Scanner test results are something I'd only trust if you're using the exact same scanner the venues use (usually a specific model of bar scanner or a mobile app that simulates it). But at home, you can test how the barcode reads under UV vs. regular light. Use a barcode scanner app on your phone and see if it picks up the 1D barcode cleanly. A legit card will scan every time with no misreads. Also, if your UV flashlight has a blacklight mode, hit the barcode area - sometimes the UV ink used for the barcode will fluoresce just slightly, and a fake might have that area glow too brightly or not at all. The key is everything working together - if one feature looks off, the others might be compromised too. Start with the UV check you're already doing, then run the rest of the list and you'll have a solid home inspection routine.