Strobe coupled with reflective tape

[DeudeMavic]

So I have searched but could not find a discussion specifically what I am wondering about. So pardon in advance if it has been covered.

I have a Mavic Mini and am going to add a strobe to it soon, just ordered it. I have read about how bright these are day or night. I also know that green/red strobes are also available for the same purpose.

What I am wondering is, if a strobe is added, and then reflective tape is added near the strobe, will the reflective tape be lit up well enough to be visible at distance at night? This would be nice, since it would be lighter than additional LED strobes, and would not need to be recharged; In other words, the primary (white) strobe would provide all of the light.

This would be 3M high-quality reflective tape which comes in several colors, including red, green, and white. My only concern here is that the better reflective tapes are designed to reflect light back in the direction it came from, which is one of the reasons they work so well. The light is not scattered, which is what would be needed.

I am guessing SOMEONE here has tried this so I am wondering how well it worked.

TIA

 

[DeudeMavic]

Well, I just tried a quick test with some of the aforementioned tape. Once the observer gets away from the source of light the reflection falls off quickly.

In the video, the reflective tape is on the back of a white trailer. The light source is fixed, and the camera is moving left to right; there is no light source on the camera. The tape is brightest when the camera is at the light source. Once it moves away the reflection falls off very quickly.

Reflective tape quick test

So, it seems this would only work well with a material that scatters light more than a reflective tape does. The strobe will be a lot brighter so it would be hard to see the colored material.

 

[vindibona1]

I see you've answered your own question. But before strobes the first thing I did was put reflective tape on the arms of my Mavic Mini. I did this so I could identify when it was facing me. It was ok a few feet away. Then I added small LED headlight. It helped a bit farther. Finally I started using a bottom strobe, then added R/G strobes on the arms, again, so I can identify orientation.

In the daylight I can see my strobes 1200'-1600' feet depending on conditions. At night I can see them at least as far as 8000' and beyond, but 8000' is the farthest I've done an actual test.