Hi Guys,<br><br>I recently purchased a StarFlash 2X3" signal mirror and was surprised at how much distortion there was in the mirror. Just looking at my face in the mirror I could see a lot of waves and distortion. Shining it on a house across the street I could see the reflection pattern was distorted and several feet across. I bought two mirrors and both are about the same amount of distortion. By compassion the mirror on my Silva Ranger compass is quite flat and produced a small square reflection pattern. <br><br>Is this distortion acceptable for a signal mirror? Will the reflection be so spread out after several miles as to be useless? Or is this beneficial? Are all plastic mirrors like this? <br><br>Thanks for your help.

I have a Starflash from military service and the old Silva ranger compass. The Starflash is service issue, and no it isn't on par with the silva mirror and wasn't meant to be. You may want to try the rescue reflectors Inc. mirrors ( listed on site.) they cost more, but are a virtually handmade product.

The distortion is normal for plastic mirrors. Rescue Reflectors uses an aluminum sheet bonded internally to adjust each mirror individually to eliminate as much distrotion as possible, but the cots is much higher. At SHOT Show last week the guys at Survival Inc. expained how they were working to improve their mirrors using improved and thicker sheet material that is stiffer and offers lower distrotion and via some other means. No time frame on when the improved mirrors will be available. In the meantime, the mirror you have is the best bang for the buck by far, best of all the plastic mirrors except Rescue Reflectors and will work quite nicely out 15-30 miles with no problems.

Thanks Doug & Chris, <br><br>That puts my mind at ease. If the StarFire can be seen from 15-30 miles out, then my chances are pretty good. <br><br>Also thanks for the ETS website. Excellent articles and reviews. This goes way beyond my Boy Scout training and I am now much more confident that I will be equipped and prepared to survive in wilderness situation. I have had great fun putting together my mini-PSK as well as a kit for my plane. Keep up the good work. <br><br>David Koelzer