Quote: "Marked with yellow high-intensity retro-reflective tape or reflectors"
All tapes shown below are offered in small quantities. No one else offers these high-quality materials in lengths less than 150 feet. We offer 5, 10, 20, and 30-foot lengths. You most likely won't need more than 30 feet of material for all corners of your outdoor seating.
Oralite V82 Yellow
Oralite V82 is a type 5 reflective film that is the absolute brightest yellow reflective tape on the market. It has a life span of 10 years and a candela of around 900. It is the sister material to Oralite SOLAS which is the brightest tape in the world. This material would more than exceed the requirements given by NYC inspectors.
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Oralite V98 Fluorescent Lime Yellow
Oralite V98 Lime Yellow would be my personal choice since it is the preferred material used by fire departments across the nation and has a brighter fluorescent day time color. The candela rating for this material is about 750 which is still many times brighter than regulations call for. It is also a conformable material allowing it for wrap over small/minor curves and divots (not conformable enough for a 90-degree corner)
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HIP Yellow
A High Intensity Prismatic (HIP) is a type 4 reflective film is another great product to use. The strongest advantage of this tape is its ultra-vivid day time color. This is an air backed material instead of a single layer like the other materials listed. It has a candela of 360 and is rated for 10 years. This film is very stiff and hard making it harder to work with but more resilient to being beaten up on the street.
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Nikkalite ULG Yellow
Nikkaltite ULG Yellow is a type 3 material and is the tape you see on large traffic barrels. It is very bright at 250 candelas and rated to last 10 years. The best thing about this material is its ability to conform. It is a very flexible material that you could wrap a sharp corner with (though not recommended for best results). It is the least bright and cheapest tape that we carry that meets the high-intensity retro-reflective yellow regulation.
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In this article, we are going to go through all the different types of reflective tape that we currently carry at Reflective Pro. We will go over the special attributes on each tape, the brightness, colors offered, and what application it is best for. The tapes will be discussed in order of brightness (The same order as the photo shown above from left to right).
Engineer Grade (ELG) Type 1
Brand: Nikkalite
Colors Offered: Red, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Black, Yellow, Gold
Candelas: 75
Life Span: 7 Years
Great For: Vehicles and general use. ELG is flexible and conformable so it is also good for corners and bends.
There are two main types of Type 1 Engineer Grade tape which is EG and ELG. EG is "Engineer Grade" and more rigid and stiff whereas ELG stands for "Flexible Engineer Grade" and is flexible and conformable. It is the most popular reflective tape due to its versatility in being cut into designs with a vinyl cutter or used in rolls for vehicle striping. It's even more flexible when heated up with a hairdryer or when left out in the sun.
Click HERE to buy our rolls ELG.
Super Engineer Grade "SEG" Type 2
Brand: Nikkalite
Colors Offered: Red, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Yellow
Candelas: 135
Life Span: 12 Years
Great For: Everything you would usually use EG or ELG for such as vehicles. Approximately 60%-100% (varies by color) brighter than Type 1 Engineer Grade.
Super Engineer Grade is a super bright material that is denoted by a star watermark in the film. It is 60%-100% brighter than normal EG or ELG. It is only slightly more expensive than ELG, but is much brighter so it is perfect for the individual who wants to be more seen from further away.
Click HERE to buy our rolls of SEG.
Ultra-Light Grade "ULG" Type 3 Barrel Tape
Brand: Nikkalite
Colors Offered: Orange, White, Yellow
Candelas: 250
Life Span: 10 Years
Great For: Traffic Barrels, Cones, Bollards, Hard Hats
Over three times brighter than standard Engineer Grade. This particular product is designed for traffic barrels because of its flexibility. If a barrel gets hit and dented, the tape will bend with it and still be attached and functioning when the barrel is fixed. Even though it is designed for barrels, it works great for many other applications. The honeycomb design in the material designates it as a high-intensity material.
Click HERE to buy our rolls of ULG.
High-Intensity Prismatic "HIP" Type 4
Brand: Nikkalite/Oralite
Colors Offered: Orange, Green, White, Blue, Yellow, Red
Candelas: 360
Life Span: 10 Years
Great For: Marking loading dock areas, bollards, gates, barricades, non-DOT regulated trailers, and vehicles
This is an air backed prismatic film which is why it has the most vivid colors. It is ultra visible during the daytime and 45% brighter than Type 3 ULG during the nighttime and 5-6 times brighter than Engineer Grade. Its a more rigid film so not as good for curves, corners, etc (unless it's a large radius such as some bollards).
Click HERE to buy our rolls of HIP.
Oralite V98
Brand: Oralite
Colors Offered: Fluorescent Lime, Fluorescent Orange, Green, White, Blue, Red, School Bus Yellow
Candelas: 750
Life Span: 5 Years
Great For: Vehicles graphics, stripping, chevron panels. This is the most popular material with Fire Departments
My personal favorite material, V98 is 7 times brighter than Engineer Grade and has many great attributes and technologies such as its conformability, flexibility, and its ability repositioned. It is one of the only materials with forgivable an adhesive allowing you to apply the product and then take it off to reapply it (within reason). After is sets for 24-48 hours though there is no getting it off. We use this material for all our chevron panels. This material is also easily cut with a vinyl cutter allowing us to make custom designs and decals. Our best all-around film.
Click HERE to buy our V98 rolls.
Oralite V82 Type 5
Brand: Oralite
Colors Offered: Orange, Green, White, Blue, Red, School Bus Yellow, Standard Yellow
Candelas: 900
Life Span: 10 Years
Great For: Brightest colored tape on the market. Like SOLAS but in colors. Used to mark emergency vehicles, fire trucks, ambulances, helmets, loading dock areas, bollards, poles, dumpsters, gates, barricades, tractor-trailers, and more.
Oralite V82 is an incredibly bright prismatic reflective tape. This tape is ideal for fire, EMS, and police vehicles. ORALITE V82 tape is about 10 times brighter than standard engineer grade tape and three times as bright as high-intensity. Light is reflected using micro-prisms which makes the film much brighter than glass bead type films.
Click HERE to buy our V82 rolls.
Oralite SOLAS "Safety Of Life At Sea"
Brand: Oralite
Colors Offered: White (Silver)
Candelas: 1000+
Life Span: 10 Years
Great For: Marine Environments, Boats, Ships, Life Jackets, etc. Brightest tape in the world.
SOLAS tape is probably the most recognized reflective tape due to its brightness. We carry all three types of SOLAS which are 1403, 1404, and Sew On. They are all the same as far as reflectivity and brightness but 1404 is a thicker and stretchable material made for Zodiacs and 1403 is a thinner more rigid material designed for boat marking. Sew On SOLAS is has no adhesive and is to be sewed into your clothing. SOLAS only comes in one color which is White (Silver).
Click HERE to buy our SOLAS rolls.
This article covers all the rolls of tape that we carry, but there are a few others out there that we don't carry. All candelas that we referenced were for the white rolls. It should be noted that a darker color such as blue won't be as bright and have the same candelas as a white roll of the same material.
]]>SOLAS stands for "Safety Of Life At Sea" and is a Coast Guard approved film to be used in maritime environments. This is because a maritime environment is the most dangerous at night when you are searching for someone or something (such as a boat). This tape can be seen for thousands of feet (some unofficial reports point to up to a mile away in ideal conditions). This is because the candela score is approximately 1000 (candela is the official metric for measuring reflective films). A car license tag is about 75 for reference.
SOLAS is the brightest tape but may be overkill for traffic or vehicle applications where you don't necessarily need to see a person or vehicle for as far as SOLAS. Also, SOLAS only comes in one color which is a silver/grey color. In my professional opinion, I would consider Oralite V98 to be the best tape for vehicle application due to both its night time and its daytime visibility combined with its conformability.
Oralite V98 is an ultra-bright tape for nighttime reflectivity and also very vivid during the daytime. This film is conformable so it can actually go over seams, cracks, and treadplate eaisly. Another reason why it's so popular is that its adhesive is one that allows it to be repositioned. If you apply it and it turns out not to be perfectly straight or in the wrong place, you can take it off and reapply (this is obviously within reason, the material is repositionable as long as you don't press it in or let it sit for too long). This material also comes in many different colors to best fit your needs.
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DISCLAIMER: We offer very few options of Lime and Red panels which are the most traditional and popular options of panels. This is because they are offered through our sister company Reflective Inc. If you are looking for panels like these then please visit their store!
Step 1:
Choosing a size
First, you should decide what width and length panel you need. The most popular size is our 6"x72" but we can accommodate any width between 4" and 12" and any length. To be clear, the width is the height or the short end of the panel.
Step 2:
Choosing 4" or 6" Chevrons
Now you will have the option of choosing the widths of your chevron pieces. We offer 2 choices which are 4" and 6". You can fit more chevrons with 4" pieces though there will be a slight upcharge for this option.
Step 3:
Choosing a base color
We offer 7 Oralite V98 colors. We only use Oralite because they are the best as far as quality, lifespan, and reflectivity. Reflexite is the company that invented prismatic retroreflective tape which was then acquired by Orafol. Orafol continues to be innovators and industry trendsetters and we are very proud to use their material.
The 7 V98 colors that are offered are Fluorescent Lime, Red, Schoolbus Yellow, White, Fluorescent Orange, Blue, and Green.
Step 4:
Choosing your chevron colors
We create panels by either combining our V98 base material with an Oracal transparent film or a reflective Nikkalite Engineer grade film.
We use 2 different materials to achieve the multitude of options that we provide. These materials have different attributes and prices associated with them.
The 2 materials are Oracal 8300 Transparent Film and Nikkalite Engineer Grade. We offer 2 different materials because of the colors each offer and how each work.
The Oracal Transparent material is offered in Red, Green, Blue, and Orange. This film is not reflective. Instead it is transparent enough for the base V98 material to reflect through it.
Note: Some combinations of Oracal overlay will not pair well with the Orafol V98 material. For instance, a Lime Green V98 material paired with a Blue Oracal Overlay chevron will come out Green. Essentially the 2 colors mix. Keep that in mind when choosing materials.
Nikkalite Engineer Grade is a reflective material applied directly to the reflective Oralite V98. The colors offered are Black, White, Blue, Green, Orange, Gold, Yellow, and Red.
These colors reflect in their respective colors with the exception of black. Black reflects a bright white.
We also offer panels with 2 different color chevrons. We call these "Multi Color" panels. A popular combination is our V98 white with Blue and Red Orafol Overlay creating an American color combination. We refer to these as patriot panels.
We understand that it can be confusing with the different materials and how some work well with each other and others don’t. Thats why we are here to help. If you are ever unsure then just send us an email and we will be happy to help.
Step 5:
You're Done!
At this point you should've picked out a width and length, 4" or 6" chevrons, your base color, and your chevron color. All you need to do now is send us an email with this information and we will send you a quote.
Still don't see a combination that you're happy with? Email us about it and we will look into acquiring new material from our suppliers.
Email: bryson@brysoncole.com
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