A reflective badge that attaches with magnets to any jacket, the SCLICS Portable Reflective Magnetic Badge sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, it needs more staying power.
Resembling a triangle cut sandwich with the crusts cut off, but made of foam, these non edible geometric shapes have a top layer of a highly reflective material.
Mounted on a slab of dense foam this triangle has a powerful magnet hidden inside which wants to make friends with a similar piece of foam without any reflective.
The idea is that you place the non-reflective triangle inside your outer garment or in a bag then match up the reflective triangle so the two cling together by the power of the magnets. You can easily transferred it to whatever you are wearing or carrying for that extra bit of night time safety.
Well, this is the principle anyway.
The reflective strips are fantastically reflective, eager to catch the dazzle of head lamps and bat it straight back to the driver's eyeballs.
There is no denying the effect of reflectors, the problem I had with these magnetic reflective sarnies was keeping them attached. Although the magnets are powerful, anything more than a few millimetres of material between them sound seriously compromises the grip making it highly likely that they will eventually fall off, like mine did.
Twice.
Unfortunately the second time the outer piece went solo I was never to be reacquainted with it.
I like the fact they the SCLICS badges don't damage your clothing like a pin badge would or leave a sticky residue like a reflective adhesive strip would but I'd prefer the reflector to stay put. This is, I feel, most important. After all, you can buy a whole roll of reflective tape for this price and stick it on everything.
Of course if it stayed put it would be a great idea, and maybe you have a place in mind that it would work but you still have to look out for the reflector. I can't imagine it staying attached to a child for too long.
Beefier magnets would help, but you can't go too far with that. Big NIB magnets are seriously dangerous, but even little ones can pinch flesh.
Verdict
Magnetic reflective badges which are kind to your clothes but prone to becoming detached. Best suited for pedestrian activities.
road.cc test report
Make and model: SCLICS Portable Refelective Magnetic Badge
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
On their website they say "something small and portable that you could pop in your pocket, handbag or rucksack, and bring out whenever you required it. It had to be bright, fun, light and easy to use. Stylish enough for cool teenagers to wear. It had to be simple to put on and take off but strong enough to stay in place when used. It had to fit onto anything so it could be worn anywhere." - We aren't so sure if a triangle reflector will every be 'cool' and we had difficulty getting it to grip on to some garments.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
Highly reflective 3M
Strong Neodymium magnets
Rate the product for quality of construction:
7/10
The foam material does give a home-made look to them.
Rate the product for performance:
3/10
Great reflecting but the magnet attachment failed to keep the badge attached.
Rate the product for durability:
8/10
Rate the product for value:
2/10
When it fell off for the second time it wasn't found. Easily done.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
It reflects well but being held on by a magnet offered no security of attachment.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
it is a good reflector and it can attach without damaging fabric.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
It fell off.
Did you enjoy using the product? I enjoyed the feeling of added security.
Would you consider buying the product? No.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Possibly.
Age: 40 Height: 179 Weight: 75
I usually ride: Condor pista My best bike is: Condor Pista fixed. Look KG241, Jean Thomann vintage
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed, bare back
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