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Thread: Resonable items that are now at Wally World

  1. #1
    Senior Member Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Default Resonable items that are now at Wally World

    I like to walk down the camping isle when picking up work clothes and ran across some what appeared to be dumb knock offs of well made products. I checked out the knife - the first thing that I noticed was the para cord and shape lent an ability to lash it to a stick for a spear. but then I saw its stainless steel that's powder coated... with a Ferro rod..

    I checked out the Starflash solar signal device and it too appears to work... I didn't have time today, to totally check it out. But the small size and weight made it interesting. Perfect for a lightweight day pack. For under $5 I can give it a try.



    http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=starflash%20micro
    “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

    Theodore Roosevelt 1907


  2. #2

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    I have usually buy large signal mirrors. Having read that the surface area is important to the amount of light that is reflected towards the rescuer.

    I cut one plastic mirror down for a neck knife kit. But, my signal mirrors for my packs are 3" X 5". I purchased a glass one and already had a couple of plastic ones.

    I think the mirror I purchased was from this site.

    http://www.bestglide.com/military_gl...al_mirror.html

    The glass one is in a case and bulky I wrap it in my space blanket. One of the heavy duty ones that has tie out grommets and a hood. I also have a 3" X 5" plastic signal mirror.

    I walked about 838 feet away (Measured on Google Earth) and signaled with both mirrors to camp. I told the people at camp to let me know which mirror was brighter. They all said the plastic one. I think it might be a Star Flash. But, I could be wrong.

    I think I will buy one of the micros and compare the light reflection to the larger ones. Either way it is something that will fit in most belt kits. The glass one isn't going to make it in most belt kits. Heliographs ranged in size from 1.5 inches to 12" and it was considered that you could signal 10 miles for each inch in diameter.

    I don't like knives with serrations for your bushcraft knife.

  3. #3
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    S.I. Howard and UST both make great mirrors. Unfortunately, UST stopped producing the larger mirror after they purchased StarFlash. I haven't used the S.I.Howard mirror but I've read good reviews on them. I've carried the StarFlash for years and don't have any complaints.

    Batch - I know the Howard is laminated glass so I would think it's pretty tough but does it float? The StarFlash does.

    I have no idea who makes their knives. I don't like serrated either unless I'm cutting steak.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    I agree with all the above and have a reasonable glass one. I was looking this at a weight vs function idea. - lighten the pack. So few have been rescued in my mind with the solar flash method. The last rescue was in Volcano National Park in Hawaii that comes to mind...

    I understand a school locker mirror from a dollar store would be larger and more advantageous. But watched Les Stroud with a similar device demonstrating what to do and clearly doing it all wrong... I think it was working with the Romania Rescue team where he fakes a broken leg in tall woods and he gets the mirror and flexes it into a u shape...maybe it focused on his fingers but not much else. A flat mirror with a aiming device is far better.
    “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

    Theodore Roosevelt 1907

  5. #5

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    Signal mirrors ? I go to the woods to get lost, not to be found ! But really, I just carry and old CD for that purpose.
    Lamewolf
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    Roadkill, its whats for supper !
    www.angelfire.com/electronic2/qrp

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    Senior Member hunter63's Avatar
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    You know....have a 1" square mirror from a Christmas tree decoration....have carried it in the big belt hunting pouch since the 1970's after I saw an article on PSK back when in a Field and Stream Magazine.

    Does reflect sun light.....but can't say I ever used it......
    Guess I never gave "size" a thought.....a mirror was/is a mirror, right?.....LOL
    So bigger is better?
    Geezer Squad....Charter Member #1
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    First 50 years...worried about the small stuff...second 50 years....Not so much
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  7. #7
    Senior Member Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    yes bigger can be better just like a telescope.
    “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

    Theodore Roosevelt 1907

  8. #8

    Default Signal Mirror rescues in the news

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    ...So few have been rescued in my mind with the solar flash method. The last rescue was in Volcano National Park in Hawaii that comes to mind...
    I've seen news reports of two so far this year, the latest being Tim Gorske, this July.

    Since this forum won't let me post URLs yet, put the text inside the brackets here into Google Search: ["Tim Gorske" mirror]. Amongst all the other hits, you'll see a thread called "Recent Signal Mirror Successes - More wanted - ETS Forums", that collects news reports of signal mirror rescues. The last few there are:

    • 7/15/2015 Tim Gorske, Colorado
    • 5/13/2015 Hunter, Alaska
    • 3/21/2014 Hiker, New Zealand
    • 11/10/2013 Gino Borge, Nevada
    • 6/30/2013 Downed Pilot, Alaska
    • 6/25/2013 3 hikers, Alaska
    • 5/25/2013 5 mariners, Pacific Ocean


    Gino Borge relates his experience in this YouTube Video posted Nov. 15, 2013 :

    https://youtu.be/dZJKVAC9R90
    Last edited by Mirror; 11-28-2015 at 04:00 AM. Reason: Add one more 2013 incident

  9. #9
    Senior Member Wise Old Owl's Avatar
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    Hi Mirror, the Tim Gorske was interesting - no mention of the type of radio he used to signal. Spot etc.... and the Hunter page is gone... could not find that.
    “There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag … We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language … and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”

    Theodore Roosevelt 1907

  10. #10

    Default PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) vs. SEND (Satellite Emergency Notification Device)

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    Hi Mirror, the Tim Gorske was interesting - no mention of the type of radio he used to signal. Spot etc.... and the Hunter page is gone... could not find that.
    Reading between the lines, Tim Gorske used a PLB (personal locator beacon), not SPOT - I infer that because the Grand County Search and Rescue Facebook post on the incident said:

    "GCSAR was notified on Sunday at 10:37 am that a PLB had been activated somewhere west of Monarch Lake. Periodically throughout the day updated GPS coordinates were supplied the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center."

    I believe that SPOT emergency information is routed through a commercial service, not the Air Force. Also, technically SPOT is a SEND (Satellite Emergency Notification Device) rather than a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). I wouldn't count on a reporter getting that straight, but I (naively?) have higher hopes for the GCSAR report.

    For a good comparison of the various options put the text between the brackets here into Google Search: ["The Best Personal Locator Beacon and Satellite Messenger Review"] to see the writeup online at Outdoor Gear Lab, or ["PLBs and Satellite Messengers: How to Choose"] for the more succint article at REI.

    For last-ditch getting rescued, I like a PLB over a SEND. You pay once for a device which lasts five to seven years - no monthly service fee, unlike a SEND. You do have to register it - part of cutting down on false alarms. However, a PLB is only good for rescue, not for status communications. The ACR ResQLink, McMurdo FastFind, and OceanSignal RescueME are three PLBs available in the USA. At a quick look, the RescueME is being sold for $239, and claims a 7-yr (standby) battery life. (I looked at the price at the commercial website landfallnavigation, which carries models from all three vendors.)

    Since I venture out of the metropolis only twice a year, on heavily traveled trails, I haven't sprung for either.

    The "hunter" I referred to was Justin Rasmussen, rescued 5/13/2015 on the Thunder Mountain cliff near Juneau, Alaska. Most reports called him "hiker", but the Alaska Dispatch News referred to him as "Bear Hunter" and the kinyradio posting said "Justin Rasmussen, age 31 of Juneau, had hiked into an area to hunt", so in my list above, I put him down as "hunter". With that tip - can you find the listing now?

  11. #11

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    I picked up the little mirror from Walmart on Friday while picking up camp provisions. Didn't get around to playing around with it at camp this weekend. It was dark when I arrived on Friday and we stayed pretty busy until I left this afternoon.

    I'll try it out on the next trip.

  12. #12

    Default Using a streetlight for signal mirror practice

    Quote Originally Posted by Batch View Post
    I picked up the little mirror from Walmart on Friday while picking up camp provisions. Didn't get around to playing around with it at camp this weekend. It was dark when I arrived on Friday and we stayed pretty busy until I left this afternoon.

    I'll try it out on the next trip.
    I posted some training tips in the post: "Tutorials on using a signal mirror with a retroreflective aimer ", post #11 in the thread "Mirror's my name, signal mirrors my game".

    In the city, you can actually train after dark - I stand on the sidewalk on my side of the street, and use the light from the streetlight on the other size as the light source.

    Next to no risk of accidentally dazzling someone, easier on the eyes (I often use sunglasses when using a mirror in daylight, since the aimer can be so bright), and when I come home after dark to find a new mirror arrived in the mail, I don't need to wait until the weekend for daylight.

    The one drawback is that there are a lot fewer things that are retro-reflective enough to serve as a "light up target" to practice with at a decent range. A 3" diameter white bicycle reflector at 10 paces works, though (I just tried it). So - if you have a streetlight across the street, and a bicycle with 3" diameter white front reflector in the garage, you can open the garage door and give it a try!
    Last edited by Mirror; 11-30-2015 at 12:10 AM. Reason: Suggested bicycle reflector

  13. #13

    Default "Aftermarket" thoughts for the Coghlan's 9902 signal mirror

    Quote Originally Posted by Batch View Post
    I picked up the little mirror from Walmart on Friday while picking up camp provisions. ...
    [ Update: Oops - I now think you meant the 1.5"x3" "micro" Starflash. That should be a pretty decent mirror, but some of the suggestions below don't apply as much. ]

    A few "aftermarket" thoughts about the 2"x3" glass "Coghlan's Survival Signal Mirror" No. 9902:

    • Add Lanyard?: The mirror comes with a lanyard hole, but no lanyard. You can add your own lanyard if so inclined. The USAF MIL-M-18371E mirror it is patterned after has a lanyard formed from a 4 ft thin nylon cord formed in a loop. Using a lanyard properly decreases the chance of dropping the mirror on a rock, but also means if something catches on the mirror, you're going with the mirror, so lanyards are a bit double-edged. US Coast Guard practice is to tether all survival equipment (bouyant signal mirror included) to the "Boat Crew Survival Vest".
    • Armor the Foam Case?: some folks advocate armoring the outside of the foam case with duct tape to protect it from abrasion.
    • Dull the Back?: The back glass can cause some annoying glare if the object reflected in it is bright (e.g., snow). The US military has always specified matte black paint for the back of the MIL-M-18371E mirror, which cuts down on the glare. Since the only functional thing on the back glass of the Coghlans (besides the hole for the aimer) are the instructions (which I know by heart), I used black electrical tape to cover all the back of my field mirror save for the aimer. If everyone in your party who might use the mirror is checked out on the mirror, no loss.
    • Get Practice target?: It is nice to practice out in the field where there is no danger of accidentally dazzling someone, but there's also a dearth of naturally retroreflective objects. If you have something with retroreflective material (safety vest, etc.), that's a possibility to take along. For the scouts, we have lots of the white tape that is part of the red-white reflective tape used on semi-trailer trucks on the highway, because we use the red part to make signal mirror aimers. Since we use a lot of it, the fact that $6 at Harbor Freight gets us enough material for signal aimers for a whole troop (120 1"x1" red aimers and 10 4"x3" reflective targets made by cutting a 6"x2" white strip in half) is quite economical. For an individual, $6 is more than half the cost of the signal mirror, and way more reflective material than you need, unless you have another project in mind. If you do have some white "truck tape" around, though, the 4"x3" target is brilliantly obvious when hit by the sunbeam from a signal mirror at 50 yards. We buy it at Harbor Freight in stores and online as HFT Item #97562: 2 in. x 12in . Red and White Reflective Strips, 10 Pk.
    • Get Signal Mirror Case?: Probably not a priority for most, but the Supply Cache online has nice "signal mirror pouches" for both 2"x3" and 3"x5" signal mirrors. They also sell the Howard Glass MIL-M-18371E glass mirrors in both 2"x3" and 3"x5" size. AFAIK the Howard Glass mirrors are the only 3"x5" glass signal mirrors with functional signal aiming mesh in current production, though "new old stock" from Vector I and the like may still be out there. (There are lots of 3"x5" glass "signal mirrors" out there with what looks like functional mesh, but isn't. Google for [ "Phony Glass Signal Mirrors"] to read why you don't want to be buying those. There are several outlets selling the Howard Glass 3"x5" MIL-M-18471E mirrors to civilians: Best Glide, Supply Cache and Survival Resources are three.
    Last edited by Mirror; 11-30-2015 at 12:15 AM. Reason: Update

  14. #14

    Default Signal Mirror Brightness as a function of size

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    yes bigger can be better just like a telescope.
    Oh, dear, yes.

    Admittedly, it may be not that obvious subjectively at close range, since the flash is intense enough to saturate your eye.

    At long range, though, it makes the difference between "visible" and "riveting".

    Here are flashes from 2"x3", 3"x5" and 12"x12" glass mirrors at 22 miles. The greater brightness of the 12"x12" is quite obvious to the camera.

    22 mile flash from 2"x3" glass signal mirror

    https://youtu.be/sxOvip1gtB4

    22 mile flash from 3"x5" glass signal mirror

    https://youtu.be/nWG6nRvdFiU

    22 mile flash from 12"x12" glass signal mirror (note lens flare occasionally)

    https://youtu.be/93y-_LwakqM

  15. #15

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl View Post
    . but then I saw its stainless steel that's powder coated... with a Ferro rod..
    .
    I'm missing the point I guess. Are you thinking Stainless steel won't work on a ferro rod? It will, as long as there is a sharp angle on the spine. You can get sparks from a ferro rod with glass or a rock with a sharp edge. You only need carbon steel for getting sparks with flint or chirt.

    Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

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