Reflector Guide

Environmental matters

Reflectors are manufactured from different materials. The original hard reflectors are made of polystyrene. No plastic waste arises in the making. The remainder can be recyled and can be used for e.g. buckets. Polystyrene is energy-from-waste. Soft reflectors are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Most of them use softeners that harmfully affect heredity. Polyvinyl chloride is an environmental waste. The third material used is glass bead material (fabric) that has microscopic small glass beads on a glue base. This is why hard reflectors are the smartest for the environment.

Try and see for yourself. Your eyes don't lie!

The impeccable way to check a reflectors effectiveness is to hang it several meters away from cars headlights and look at the object with the cars short and long distance lights. The further the reflector is, the more trustworthy the test is. You can do the same test at home with a flashlight: hang a reflector in a room to the farthest corner and look at it from several meters away with the flashlight. The flashlight should be between your eyes, touching your noce.  A powerful reflector flashes light brightly to your eyes. Throw away bad reflectors. They give a wrong and dangerous feeling of safety and can impact fatefully on traffic behavior.

What is reflection power based on?

The most powerful reflection form is retroreflection. It returns light back to the light source without breaking it. The effectiveness of retroreflection depends on the reflectors prisms. They are hardly visible to your eye. The best prism is sharp and firm, it doesn't let light through but turns it back to the source (like headlights to the level where drivers sit). A bad reflector might seem good, but it does not help in the traffic.

How color effects reflector power

Adding color to a reflective material decreases reflection. Hard reflectors are tested color by color. A bright hard reflectors reflection might be over 3000 CIL (CIL= lights brightness measure descriptive complement). The reflection of colorful hard reflectors is under 3000 CIL, but is much more powerful than soft reflectors. The average reflective values of soft reflectors are only 700-1500 CIL. Soft reflectors can be made colorful by fitting a colorful plastic under the topmost reflective membrane. This decreases their power very much. All colorful reflective soft surfaces are too ineffective for pedestrian reflectors. Still some of them are on the market. Glass bead material suits pedestrian reflectors best as grey.

How prints effect reflector power

Prints decrease reflection. Powerful hard reflectors can be printed on, as long as the coverage is at most 1/3 of the surface area. The safest way to print on soft reflectors is under the membrane, when it does not decrease the reflection.