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Signal Mirror – Lifesaver or BS?
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Apr 5, 2008 at 6:50 pm #1427325
What's the calculus with the flares re: starting a wildfire? I think I remember that a few a year are started by lost hunters and hikers shooting flares? Is there a way to mitigate?
Apr 5, 2008 at 7:10 pm #1427327…
Apr 6, 2008 at 3:19 am #1427350John
I carry a signal mirror when I hike. I have been rescued by a helicopter from mountain bush and have been winched out. As the paramedic was pumping me full of morphine he said that this time it was a quick recovery. Sometimes they can search for 30min easy even when they roughly know where the person is, apparently it can be difficult to se people through bush. In this instance there was a small uhf radio that was used to pinpoint our location.
Don’t however assume you are going to get into trouble and flag down a passing airliner. They would only help if someone is looking for you. Common sense, letting someone knows where you’re going, and when you’re expected will start the search going.
As far as mobile phones go there coverage cannot be relied upon over here. if you cant see civilization then you cant count on it.
Practice when you’re out, try and beam on trees, cliffs, other hikers faces etc. If we spend 1% of the time spent trying to invent different ways to boil water on these basic emergency skills we will be all right.
Also as a previous poster said there might some times you need to use a mirror to see your face?
I’m not telling anyone what to do , just what I do
DarrenApr 6, 2008 at 5:56 pm #1427406The CD/DVD idea is cool too. I wonder if they would be as easy to aim but I guess that just comes down to skill and practice. Also, if you wanted to save even more weight, you could use one of those mini CD's or business card CD's. Cool idea :)
CD's seem highly reflective but here is a not so favorable opinion on their effectiveness as signal mirrors.
Apr 7, 2008 at 12:06 am #1427443> CD's seem highly reflective but here is a not so favorable opinion on their effectiveness as signal mirrors.
Apply 'vested interest filter': that web site sells commercial devices.
Apr 7, 2008 at 5:41 am #1427455“Apply 'vested interest filter': that web site sells commercial devices.”
Apply cynicism filter over vested interest filter. The review of CD’s as signaling devices came from the Colorado Wing of the Civil Air Patrol who I doubt gets a cut from the sale of Ritter’s survival equipment. Also, the review of CD’s as signaling devices happened in 2001. I do not believe that Ritter started selling his kits until 2004.
The Civil Air Patrol said, "that "victims" who had never used a signal mirror (with the aiming hole in the middle) were able to use them effectively, while CD's (AOL etc.) are useless as signal mirrors."
A CD may be better than nothing, but according to this study, just barely.
Apr 7, 2008 at 7:06 am #1427460"Its all about improving your odds."
That's why I carry one.
Apr 7, 2008 at 7:25 am #1427461I'm been reading Doug Ritter's work for several years. In general, Doug is recognized as one of the leading experts in the aircraft survival industry. I've always found his opinions to be fair and balanced. He's also not shy about saying why some product is bad, and often talks about a MYOG version that he thinks is just as good. His website does carry some products – but only ones that he's tested and feels comfortable endorsing. He's also responsible for getting several products tailored to survivalist needs (such as a Benchmade Griptilian knife with a stronger tip and higher grind, and a flat Fox40 – which later became the Fox Micro).
In many respects, Doug's website is like BPL. You get good advise from his personal testing, a summary of available 3rd party research, products you can count on, and custom tailored products that work better than mass market gear for specialized activities (like the Ryan's firelite mini, UL180, or Cacoon UL60 Hoody)
As an aside, Doug does say using a regular mirror and the 2-finger / v-site aiming method works fine – after some practice. He also reviews several glass and plastic mirrors that he says work better than the one he chose for his pocket survival kit. He says he didn't go with glass because it might be broken in the plane crash, and the 2 plastic ones that worked better were either too big for a pocket survival kit or too expensive for the kit price he was targeting.
He gives the manufacturer & model info for the ones he thought worked better than his in case you don't want to make the same trade-off. That's what I call fair, honest advise !
Apr 7, 2008 at 8:46 am #1427468I have a mirror on my compass so I could try that. But living in the wooded NE, I don't consider a signal mirror to be all that essential. Using a signal mirror requires both open ground and being physical alert and strong enough to actually take the time to signal, and requires a rescue during the day. That seems like an unlikely scenario for me most of the time (the only way I can see needing rescue is if I am seriously injured).
There have been other threads about fenix lights recently, including in the one about the headlamp. I would be carrying one of those, primarily the L1D, so that is my general plan for emergency signaling. I don't know how that would compare to a flash off the mirror, but the L1D is extremely, blindingly, bright. It has a strobe mode and an SOS mode, both that would run for hours and and even days. It could run automatically while I took cover in a bivy. It will illuminate to the tops of very tall trees, and I would expect the light to be visible for miles. It could be aimed at a low flying plane reasonably easily.
Hopefully, I won't ever need to test that out.
Apr 7, 2008 at 9:42 pm #1427618I prefer to take as many items that can be used for more than one purpose over those that can't. I use a Suunto compass (marketed for maritime uses) that is a compass, a signaling mirror, and a emergency wistle.
Oh, and it floats too :)
Apr 8, 2008 at 12:16 pm #1427681I use a compass with a sighting mirror so I can cover both bases. Other than that, the Adventure Medical mirrors are the lightest I've found.
There are a few things that I won't go without and the survival essentials are on the top of the list. Signaling gear is cheap and light, so whistle and mirror are always with me in some form.
May 26, 2012 at 8:28 am #1881303I have an amazing and tough signal mirror I got out of a computer I was going to trash. If you have ever taken apart an old hard drive, you know there are two highly polished pieces of metal about 3 1/2" in diameter with a 3/4" hole in the center. They are VERY reflective and light. Best of all they already have a sight built in.
May 26, 2012 at 8:55 am #1881309"I guess the question in my mind is: Does it really work for signalling"?
Yes, absolutely!
Out on the range (30 yrs ago), one of our sheepherders (a wise old Native American) would use a little mirror to help us locate him in the deserts of S Idaho. It would save us a lot of time as well as wear and tear on our truck, driving around on rarely traveled bumpy roads, and climbing to high points searching with binoculars. I was amazed the first time I witnessed this signalling. We were 3-4 miles away and the bright flashes his little mirror made were impossible to miss.
May 26, 2012 at 1:04 pm #1881359check these out – http://www.greatlandlaser.com/index.html
you can't be rescued if they can't find you. whistle/signal mirror are relatively cheap and light metods to draw attention if you need it.
May 26, 2012 at 4:19 pm #1881384I sometimes carry one but also carry a plb so am a bit redundant.
I practiced with the mirror with some friends at the beach. The sighting feature really helps.
When the mirror is aimed correctly the flash of light is very vivid.
Practicing ahead of time, with instructions, is a good idea. It isn't immediately obvious how to do it.
May 26, 2012 at 4:42 pm #1881388Hey Grant, that's what I use. Works great on a full moon night too.
May 27, 2012 at 7:43 pm #1881596Signal mirrors work very well. I worked for a while on heli-portable drill rigs, and a good portion of the job consisted of calling in the helicopter to move the drill. We carried a signal mirror and a massive spotlight in order to get the pilot's attention. As long as you weren't completely surrounded by trees (you had to call them to the drill, so you couldn't move even a little to get away from tree cover) the signal mirror worked way better than the massive spotlight. Some days we were calling in the helicoptor 50+ times a day, 6 days a week.
The mirrors that we had did have the sight, but I don't think anyone actually used it. You aim the reflection at the ground, or something else nearby and easy to find with the reflection, and then push the reflection up to the helicopter. It takes some practice, but it's very quick and easy once you get the hang of it.
May 27, 2012 at 8:02 pm #1881601"You aim the reflection at the ground, or something else nearby and easy to find with the reflection, and then push the reflection up to the helicopter"
I had some trouble doing this when I experimented on the beach on a very bright day. I could only see the reflected spot while it was close to me. As I tried to move it toward my friends, a quarter mile down the beach, it got fainter and fainter until I couldn't see it anymore.
The aiming mechanism on the mirror overcomes this problem.
May 27, 2012 at 8:15 pm #1881603Oh, they work, that's not in question.
What might be in question is just how many walkers (not other field workers) have ever used one? Very, very few imho. Are they yet another 'must have for safety' item which the whole UL movement calls into question? And which very few would ever know how to use effectively?
Note: if you are carrying a camera of almost any sort, you CAN use the flash to attract the attention of a search aircraft, in daylight or at night. Very effective, very easy to use, and zero additional weight. Now that's UL thinking.
Cheers
May 27, 2012 at 8:39 pm #1881608Last time I checked, a signal mirror weighed a heck of a lot less than a flash unit!
But maybe Australian flash units weigh less.
Not all of us carry a camera, even a point and shoot with its minuscule flash – and some of us indeed know how to use a signal mirror. It's not that hard to learn.
May 28, 2012 at 3:12 am #1881650> Not all of us carry a camera, even a point and shoot with its minuscule flash
Ah well, that's true.
I just can't imagine being without my camera. And these days, very few cameras don't have an electronic flash unit.
HYOHCheers
May 28, 2012 at 6:45 am #1881664AMK recently came out w/ a "mini" signal mirror, the quality appears to be good a their original Flash mirror- @ 0.2 oz I'll take the hit :)
http://goinggear.com/survival/amk-rescue-flash-signal-mirror-mini.html
May 28, 2012 at 6:52 am #1881665Mirror needs no batteries. Good for tick checks as well.
Another thread from the past brought back.
May 28, 2012 at 9:00 am #1881693My compass has a mirror, or else I would carry a small mirror. They can be easily aimed and can signal an airplane or distant hiker for miles in clear weather. One time we bailed on a ridgetop ski trip, and hiked down to the shore of a 60 mile long lake in Washington (Lake Chelan). We used a mirror to catch the attention of the ferry boat (the Lady of the Lake), and got a ride out. Saved us 30 miles of walking carrying skis.
My emergency kit for day hiking has a mirror in it.
May 28, 2012 at 9:38 am #1881701How much redundancy is needed? I have a PLB (because I backpack solo, mostly to keep my family off my back), a whistle, a headlamp which will last a long time in flashing mode. I'm not too sure I need anything more for signaling. Oh, yes, my camera has a built-in flash.
I do take a mirror, but it's one of those cheap plastic backpacking mirrors, with the bottom 3/4 cut off. The mirror is extremely useful, in fact part of my first aid kit for tick checks (as already mentioned) and if I have something in my eye or get a facial cut. I doubt that such a small mirror will be very useful for signaling. In actual practice, I mostly use the mirror to check for smudges on my face!
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