Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

Fair enough, but that it's not available elsewhere is a problem and has the potential to tarnish the image of FIRST.

Lots of teams are calling companies that, in all likelhood they will never do business with again, demanding immediate and urgent attention as they try to buy product(s) that are non-stock, have a 14 day lead and are generally unavailable.

I'm not sure that FRC should be inflicting this on 3M distributors.

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

I emailed Andy the same thing today.

We also called 3M today and found our distributor. We called the distributor and asked about 4". They said 4" is an "uncommon" non-stock item but they could order it. Minimum order qty = 1 case of 3 rolls, 100m per roll, >$500 per roll, >$1500 for the case of 3 rolls. :eek: We asked if they had any 2" in stock that we could "double up". Nope. We asked if there was any other way to get a small (~10 yard) piece of 4" wide. They said they had some 8" wide in stock and could cut it down the middle for us. We asked how much. $250 :eek: We asked what other size they had in stock remotely close to 4". They said they had some 3 1/4". We asked how much for a 10 yard long piece of the 3 1/4" would be. ~$75 + shipping. Supposedly it's on its way. Hopefully 3 1/4" wide will be "close enough" for our vision tracking programming team to handle.

Here's where we ordered the 3 1/4": http://www.safetyeffects.com/

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

The kind folks out at Safety Effects have 8" 8830 which they, because they realize there are many teams looking for it and it's hard to find, are willing to split (to 4") and sell in 10 yard increments. The cut will not be absoutely perfect, but better than you can do with scissors (should be much better than you need for targeting).

Give them a call and mention that you're with an FRC team and they'll know what you're talking about.

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

Could be worse.

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

After reading through some of these threads, I'm thinking that perhaps FIRST should be my form of "inside trading"...;)

Anyhow, has anyone ever done testing to see just how different retroreflective tape is brand to brand?

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

I received an email back from AndyMark that they will carry the Retro-Reflective tape, and will put it on the website once they have it in stock.

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

If they have an inside contact at 3M that may work. What I've heard from the 3M distributors is that their lead time is at least 3-4 weeks for the 8830 tape.

The 8830 is a really fancy tape, it's even flame retardant, but that's what's spec'd for competition.

There are many "similar" tapes that are available, but how similar?

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

We ordered a couple of cases this past Thursday, expecting the demand. We will have this stuff in stock at the beginning of February (but we are trying to get it shipped sooner). We will sell it in 20 or 40 feet lengths. I think that one end of the field takes about 41 feet.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

I just got off the phone with Doug at Safety Effects pertaining to this (thanks to Jim for doing the leg work!). Our 20 yards of 4" strip (cut from 8" as noted) will be shipping today or tomorrow. Should be more than enough to make all of our vision targets for testing. Doug is happy to field calls from FRC teams to get all of us this material, and I told him to expect some phone calls. Give him a call at 800-929-3975 (FYI, they are located in Kentucky).

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

Yay!

Re: Retro-reflective tape?
 

We used our time machine and our teleporter and got some in today. Since this stuff is expensive, we are selling them in 21.5 foot lengths. Also, according to my FTA co-workers, they believe that 41 feet is needed on each end of a full field.

Here is the link on the AM site.

Sincerely,
Andy