Reflective Paint versus Reflective Powder (click to shop)

In another article, I went over the advantages of reflective powder being sprinkle over wet paint and how the result is brighter than simply applying reflective paint to a surface.  The rock below is an example.  Reflective paint is on the left, and sprinkled retro reflective powder over clear paint are on the right.

So if the right side is brighter, and that is the goal, why would anyone ever use reflective paint over sprinkle on beads.  The answer is simple.  To sprinkle on beads, the surface has to be beneath the shaker or distribution system.  In other words, gravity is going to make the beads drop down to a surface that is covered with wet paint.  But what if you have a vertical surface, or a surface where you have to paint underneath, like a rock ledge.  The answer to this problem is reflective paint.  Premixed and ready to apply.  After shaking and stirring that is.

Some examples of things that reflective paint would work better than shake on bead are as follows.  Rock ledges, vertical walls, overhead beams, stair faces, curb faces, bollards, fence posts, telephone poles, ceilings of rooms or caves, trees for hunting trails, and more.  Basically, any surface that is not horizontal.  Let’s say you are trying to make a parking lot safer and night by marking objects with a band of reflective.  For parking lot logos such as space numbers, you would lay down a stencil, spray with paint, sprinkle reflective powder, and let it dry.  But for light posts or bollards you would switch to reflective paint.  Tape off a band with masking tape, paint your stripe, and remove the tape.

As you can see from the picture above, painting an object with reflective paint is easy if the surface is horizontal, vertical or even upside down.   And the result is very bright, but just not quite as bright as sprinkle on powder.

In summary, reflective paint is perfect for some surfaces, and reflective powder is perfect for others.  I recommend keeping a little of both.