I recently discovered this "double-sided" mirror when looking for the other type with one type of reflective surface only, and I wonder if anyone has tried it?

Safe Signal Day & Night Signal Mirror - $8.95
beprepared.com

Personally, I would like to see a "sighting/aiming" hole in this one.

I handled something like this a few years ago, and I was unimpressed. When signaling at night, I have always used the light directly, no need to go bouncing the beam off of mirrors. The very best signal device for night time use for me was an ARC strobe unit. The chopper came every time.

An aiming hole would be a big improvement.

Stupid idea badly rendered.

Come on. Tell us what you really think.




If you send me yours I will be happy to put a 45 caliber sighting hole in it for you.

OK, I'll bite:

1) Why the red color? Signaling at night = red? That's just stupid silly marketing talk. Perhaps it looks more tacticool. Those who use red light at night use it to preserve night vision, not because it excels for signaling purposes.

2) As Hikermor said, if you've got a flashlight, use that, don't fuss about with mirrors. Harder to aim (close to impossible, I'd say) and less efficient.

3) Let's rehash some laws of physics: You waste light reflecting it (OK, you don't waste much if the mirror is any good, but it's still a loss). But that red color (filter) idea really wastes A LOT of your light. If you've got a LED light, you're also pretty low in the red part of the spectrum anyway. Filtering out only the red color is about the most inefficient way you can utilize the light from a white LED light (those have a pretty weird spectrum, little red in there). If you've got an old fashion incandescent bulb it's not as bad, meaning it is only very inefficient - remember, you waste any light that's not red.

In summary: Silly gadget aimed to suck money out of an uninformed market.

Why is that exactly?

I am not saying I disagree, I am just wondering why everyone thinks it is no good.

Has anyone tried one?

Yes, I tried one - I didn't make it clear in my first post. Bouncing the light from the original source off a red mirror does nothing worthwhile and it was pretty obvious. As others mentioned, you inevitably lose some lumens in the process.

I was just playing around with the mirror in my back yard, but I saw no reason to bother working with it any more. Offhand, there are probably about forty or fifty more effective ways of signaling at night (well, ten or twenty for sure).

I'm still waiting to hear how that guy starts a fire with a magnifying glass and moonlight...

Sue

Yeah the red light thing... I was wondering about how effective that was. Can't really see how that would be any advantage unless you were military trying to keep your signal visable only to a specific target. I got that impression when I was skimming thru the article.

To be honest, I have only ever used a starflash mirror. I never really played with any other types.

Heck, thats easy

Carefully, very carefully, aim the magnifying glass so that a beam of moonlight is focused on the driest part of your tinder pile. Hold the beam in place on the same spot. Do not move or you will mess up the whole sequence.


Then use a match to light the fire.