I was trying to buy some tritium vials the other day. On Aliexpress they are hardly available at all, and prices have tripled at least. What happened? I seem to remember that a year ago they were all over the place for cheap. Even Neal carried them back then.
Is this another Covid thing, and if so, how? Does anyone know?
There is a shortage, higher prices, etc. Mixglo.com has some but not all of its varieties in stock.
Some industry production lines got severely screwed up by the pandemic. It appears tritium was low on the list. So supply is scarce and thus, markets have reacted. Some vendors that offer a tritium vial installation are charging a $30 premium. For ONE vial!
Frankly, I think we’ll have to wait about 1~2 years for prices to return to what they were pre-COVID. And they may never go back to what they were in 2019, as this era of maximum profit optimization may seek to keep prices high for as long as possible.
mixglo is sold out of most Tritium vials, except larger ones:
glow gaskets are a popular alternative for some applications…
and I have started using glow paint in some applications
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pic is a link to more info
Wanted for questioning.
i just use glow tape somewhere near the optics
glows about 8 hours after a light charge
green glow tape is very cheap
wle
Not all glow tape is created equal. I’ve bought some cheap stuff that didn’t hold a good glow for very long. OTOH, I bought a roll from a brand called Captan Glow Tape and it has been really good. But this was a few years ago and that brand is gone… Now I’m seeing one called FUZE being promoted on Amazon.
Photos in the dark are not my best talent but you get the picture 
I like strontium aluminate, too.
Has anyone compared Countycomm’s glow tape with the more expensive tape from Glowinc?
I’ve heard Glowinc is or was one of Countycomm’s suppliers, so maybe the tapes are basically the same, allowing for differences in size on the rolls.
CountyComm’s tape is very good. If I briefly charge it with a uv led it will remain visible for the rest of the night
Resurrecting this to show the tape from technoglow out performs countrycomm.
https://www.reddit.com/r/flashlight/comments/1o5jot0/gitd_glow_in_the_dark_tape/
Great datapoint! I’m a bit of a GITD nerd, I love the idea of “free illumination”. GITD markers are generally very visible when in complete darkness.
I was searching for “the best” tape a year back and did a bunch of reading but didn’t order anything other than some blue and orange AliExpress tape which is actually surprisingly good, the first roll of green I bought in c.2019 is garbage.
This company does “class E” rated tape but it’s expensive at £135 per roll:
https://www.phosphorescentpaint.co.uk/photoluminescent-band/434-photoluminescent-adhesive-tape.html
Class E: 10 minutes = 505mcd / m2, 60 minutes = 69mcd / m2
Jessup is a US based company who make some high-performance phosphorescent vinyl but availability in small quantities seems impossible.
Also found these guys but again no suppliers for delivery of small quantities to the UK:
https://www.v-lumix.com/products/glow-in-the-dark-film-luxury-series.html
Should be similar in luminosity to the above tape, 500mcd and 70mcd after 10 and 60 minutes respectively.
The V-lumix company also does some high performance blue/aqua tape (dimmer at 100/15mcd) which I’m still quite interested in as a change from “radioactive green”.
Recently have been making my own glow lanyard beads using strontium aluminate powder, silicone bead moulds from AliExpress and some 2 part casting epoxy.
As a datapoint, Technoglow list their raw 500 micron green “sand sized” strontium aluminate powder as 1427/212mcd for 10/60 minutes.
Anyone find a reasonable price on these? $22 shipping is a bit silly.
Mixglo prices are $6.50 per trit and $6 shipping:
Tritiumworkshop wants $10 per trit and $22 shipping
(Im in USA)
Bear in mind that installing trits requires a special adhesive, a UV light (though you can use sunlight), and the tools and skills to refinish the adhesive surface to be flush w the trit slot.. not a cheap or easy endeavor..
Trits are for people with more Dollars than sense. 
Im not a fan of trits, they are super dim, especially in colors other than green.
I find glow tape perfectly adequate for locating a light on my dark nightstand even many hours after I go to bed (even if I make no special effort to charge the glow tape when I go to bed).
I find glow tape acquires enough charge to remain visible all night, just from having the tape exposed to ambient indoor daylight…
and of course lights w Aux are Total Trit killers.
Mixglo shipping is $22 to my location (Oregon)
Thanks Jon!
The one and only time i purchased trit- pink on a KR1 I was very disappointed. I am just trying to find a way to make a zebra a nightstand torch
Pink is going to be one of the lower brightness colours:
I’ve got a green vial and it’s very noticeable with night adapted vision.
Tritium excels for cases where you need long durations (more than 12h) or if you have low ambient light to charge GITD.
Now I’ve got a vial, my curiosity is satisfied and I’m happy to stick to glow in the dark materials (adhesive tape, powder mixed with resin or UV glue, DIY lanyard beads etcetc).
For bedstand duty, I think quality GITD will work.
Glow in the dark brightness is similar to the tritium image above, green will always be brightest. Depending on website you look at, second brightest is yellow or “aqua” (blue-green).
I have cheap (AliExpress), blue glow tape on the back of my phone, I don’t do anything special to it other than keep my phone facedown all day (for distractions rather than anything else). The glow tape is visible with dark adapted vision all night- just don’t expect to be able to read with it!
My Boker plus mini Tech with the CountyComm scales (their UGM glow stuff is pretty good) is banned from the “junk” shelves in the bedroom because it glows too brightly 
As you’re USA based, the Technoglow tape might be worth a test- cut a circle and stick it to the tailcap.
The powders + a binder are really a bit of a pain in the ass and make a bit of mess so I’d only recommend if you want to play around/experiment with them.
I was suprised to see mixglo shipping is only $6 to New Mexico atm.. maybe I made a mistake on the address.. not sure
this glow tape works very well for me to locate my Zebra on my nightstand.. but as you can see it is also not cheap.. plus I bought a leather punch to help me cut round circles.. (unfortunately the 13mm punch I bought is too big for the 1/2" tape I got, so you can see the tape is not cut very round)..
perfection aside, these bits of glow tape make it easy to see where the light is in the middle of the night.
I have more than enough glow tape for a lifetime, so if you PM me your address I will drop a strip into an envelope and send you some for free..
Thanks for the generous offer Jon! I will take you up on that to give it a try. A piece of that on top of a magnet may just make the Zeb my perfect torch.
Another vote for a good glow tape. I like tritium but I tend to break them and I have older lights where the remaining trits are easily at half life brightness, very dim.
Mixing glow powder with Norland gives great results on recessed areas too.
I’ve had two pieces of commercial grade GITD egress tape on my usual carry Fenix E16 switch and tailend and I’m very impressed how well they work and the durability after a year or more of pocket carry.
This is one thing I’ve not yet tried. I’ve had pretty good results with the generic Chinese UV resin that comes in a black bottle and is widely available on AliExpress, eBay etc.
In the dark (good use for red LED lights), mix up a stiff paste of 60:40ish resin:powder (I used regular green strontium aluminate stuff that’s around 35μm). With very steady hands and a couple of sharpened toothpicks, very fine wire (strands of copper out of a cable, etc), scoop a blob into the trit slot and let it level out for a couple of minutes. If there’s no bubbles or overspill etc blast it with a UV light for a while, then leave it in sunlight to finish going off.
Other stuff I’ve tried:
Polymorph - low(ish) temperature melting plastic you can sculpt by hand after dipping it in hot water. This was a pain in the ass to fold the plastic multiple times to incorporate the powder but the overall effect is pretty good.
Acrylic binder - specifically advertised as arts binder for powder pigments, splash of water to thin it down and mix in some powder. This is the easiest to mix up and clean up after.
2 part epoxy casting resin from AliExpress- works surprisingly well in silicone moulds. Quite a few air bubbles and the powder is quite high density so tends to sink to the bottom.
CountyComm self adhesive tape is pretty good and I thought reasonably priced, especially for the performance.
AliExpress tape is mixed bag, I got a green one a couple of years ago which is terrible, but also the blue I mentioned already and an orange, both are surprisingly good and I can spot my phone with night adjusted eyes all night.
I’ll have to suck up import fees but might try some of the Technoglow tape at some point, if it performs better than the CountyComm it’s likely to be excellent.
