Best Brands of Reflective

[bERT bRYAN]

Good morning,
What is an all purpose reflective that y'all are using with air release?

Here is what we have ran in to.
We have used arlon illuminite in the past, and I love it for full pieces. It lays great, and removal is much much easier than other brands. The only problem I have had with it: smaller, printed cut out letters tend to peel much faster around the edges, even after post heating. It is also pretty pricey, and I love the option to print on 54" instead of just 48".
Oralite 5650 is another one that we have used previously, and it seems to be good for smaller printed cut out letters, but if we are doing big pieces, it seems to bruise pretty easy if we have to apply heat. I've heard good things and bad about 3M, but we use 3M for almost everything else (opaque, translucent, etc).

Both of these that we have used were with the recommended laminate. I would prefer to keep using the Arlon, so if there are ideas on how to make the smaller stuff stick, I would greatly appreciate some tips/tricks.
Thanks in advance.

 

[signheremd]

We use mostly 3M ScotchLite 680CR series - removes well, air release so lays well, comforms better than others. Have used Oralite 5650 and Avery reflectives, but changed with no regrets

 

[wes70]

We use Nikkalite for most of our general reflective signage.

 

[IsItFasst]

This doesn't answer your question, (but based on the subject) wanted to warn others to stay away from Signwarehouse's house brand of reflective. We normally use Oralite 5600 but black was on backorder a while back and had a big job so bought some to try and get by but it was horrible. Told the client they'd just have to wait until the better stuff came in. That stuff wasn't much cheaper but it wasn't near as reflective and weeding it was a nightmare. The more you know...

 

[JKstorm]

Good morning,
What is an all purpose reflective that y'all are using with air release?

Here is what we have ran in to.
We have used arlon illuminite in the past, and I love it for full pieces. It lays great, and removal is much much easier than other brands. The only problem I have had with it: smaller, printed cut out letters tend to peel much faster around the edges, even after post heating. It is also pretty pricey, and I love the option to print on 54" instead of just 48".
Oralite 5650 is another one that we have used previously, and it seems to be good for smaller printed cut out letters, but if we are doing big pieces, it seems to bruise pretty easy if we have to apply heat. I've heard good things and bad about 3M, but we use 3M for almost everything else (opaque, translucent, etc).

Both of these that we have used were with the recommended laminate. I would prefer to keep using the Arlon, so if there are ideas on how to make the smaller stuff stick, I would greatly appreciate some tips/tricks.
Thanks in advance.

3M 5100R works great for us. Very bright white reflective and cuts nicely even with laminate. Not great for wrapping because it is not designed to be stretched but nice for magnetic signs as well as highway signage. Have not had a problem with bruising or pealing at all on the edges. However, I think most reflective vinyl will bruise if not handled carefully.