Active Film Mirror, One Way, Solar Control Silver Reflective Window Film Tint 2m x 152cm (60")

This stuff is an absolute nightmare to install or trim in situ.Every window in our house has some sort of film on it, so we are not new to installing window films - however this stuff is the worst we’ve encountered so far.We needed something to block UV rays to prevent our large marine fish tank being over run with algae, so I spent hours trawling sites trying to find some big enough as our living room windows are 1.1m x 1m. We really didn’t want to try and section 2 halves together or have gaps around the edges or top/bottom, so ended up having to purchase this product basically through lack of choice rather than anything else.I ordered the 3mtrs so we had enough for 2 main windows (plus the top windows), with hopefully enough left over to allow room for error.Firstly, even trying to unroll it without creasing is virtually impossible. It’s like baking foil where once it’s creased, that’s it - you’re screwed. Trying to uncrease it is also nigh on impossible, so you need to be delicate when handling it (and good luck with that if it’s a large piece).Ideally you need to have a large flat area to carefully unroll this & cut it to size (you want a few inches extra to allow to trim once on the window). It’s also static, so if you have pets then you can guarantee you’ll end up with pet hair somewhere on this at some point and end up having to peel it back off and retrieve the hair off it. And sod’s law states that’ll be when you’ve perfected it and stand back to admire your work and spot the rogue hair right in the middle of your window.Ok, so you’ve managed to find a flat area the size of a football field to work on, have trimmed it & are ready to tackle the window - what’s next?Ideally you will have prepared and cleaned your windows ready (inside minimum, but it’ll be easier if you can clean both sides as then you can tell what’s a bubble & not spend ages trying to get a lump out that then turns out to be a mark on the glass)Spray the glass with some soapy water. Apparently you can’t have enough water according to the instructions. We literally put a dollop of washing up liquid in a spray bottle with some water, shake it just enough to mix it & then wet your glass.Peel the backing off the edge of the film (good luck with that also as that’s a challenge, so if you have false nails you might want to enlist the help of someone for this part, or a good trick is to put celotape on both sides of the film and pull them apart that way) and place the sticky side against the glass. Carefully peel the backing off and work your way across the film until you’ve removed it and now have the film on the glass.Here’s the fun part - trying to carefully work the bubbles & creases out without marking the film. Again, if needs be, spray both sides with water so your squeegee/card/applicator of choice glides over the film without snagging or marking.A rubber squeegee is not going to work here as it drags across the film, so ideally grab something smooth & plastic like a bank card and maybe a cloth to soak up all the excess water which will be running everywhere by now & gently scrape the bubbles out until you’ve got a smooth film on your glass.Using a Stanley blade or something to score the edges and some scissors, trim the film to size. If you are using a blade then expect difficulties as it’s also a nightmare to cut with a blade. Go gently & slowly as this stuff stretches slightly & moves about, so you think you’ve cut it perfectly then stand back & realise it slid 2mm from the other side of the window and now you’ve cut it short.You need to trim it just shy of your seals. If it is touching the window seals when it won’t lie flat. It will keep bubbling up, so the art is to trim it as close as possible without leaving huge gaps around the edges. Patience, a steady hand and maybe a metal rule or straight edged tool will be ideal here.You may end up spending hours keep peeling it back and applying more soap water, re-sticking it down and trying to get the bubbles and creases out. It took 2 of us best part of 1.5 hours to do 1 window with 2 panes & quite frankly the end result is still rubbish.Perfectionists will not be able to sleep looking at this stuff as it is difficult to apply to a large area without problems. It was constantly coming away from the edges, moving around and developing new bubbles in areas where it should be impossible - we literally stood and watched a bubble appear and spread across the film 1” from an edge - HOW????? Now I know why other reviewers said they gave up and started going at the bubbles with a pin.We spent ages trying to smooth it out and the end result is still nasty looking with marks, lumps and scratches despite us being very careful and gentle with the film.It’ll hopefully do the job for blocking UV rays & be worth it as it wasn’t cheap (£35 for 2 windows is not my idea of cheap) and being as we have net curtains up, we can hopefully ignore it and pretend it’s not there.It does make the room slightly darker, but it’s something we can live with & again, if it blocks the UV then it will have been worth the hassle.Be warned - if you are putting this stuff, get someone to help - ideally someone you don’t know very well so you are likely to remain polite (perhaps enlist your boss who you want a pay rise from) despite wanting to put the window through out of frustration, as trying to put this up with your other half is likely to lead to a UDI (ugly domestic incident) unless both parties have the patience of a saint or by chance one of you puts this stuff up for a living.It’s horrible and nasty, an absolute game to put up and you’ll likely be spending more money on a divorce or at the very least repairs to your house when one of you loses the plot.Given this was the only option we had stopping short of having black out curtains up, then I guess we have to make do - but if they could make this stuff out of the same material as our other films then it would have been so much better to put up and quicker and probably look better and my partner perhaps wouldn’t still be sulking an hour later.We decided to tackle the 2 windows over 2 days in order to have a break and ensure the relationship survived the windows.We found that by window 4 we had mastered the art of this and managed to put it up in about 20 minutes.Thankfully that job is now done and with the curtains back up you wouldn’t even know there’s a film on the glass.I took photos to show the before and after film application (picture 1) with the film on the top window and not yet on the bottom.Picture 2 shows how we soaked the window with spray ready for application.Picture 3 is carefully getting the bubbles out of the middle and working our way outwards. We are using a plastic squeegee tool from a DIY store, not a rubber one.Photo 4 is the metal rule and blade to trim the edges, careful to make sure it’s cut just inside of the window trim.Photo 5 is a random crease that appeared despite all our best efforts to avoid marking the film. I don’t even know how or when that appeared, so this is what you are up against. It’s not the best stuff to work with and ideally if you are not sure about applying it, either get someone to do it for you or buy extra to allow for do-overs, as by window 4 we had mostly mastered the art of this, however we don’t have enough left over to re-do the bigger window which we applied first which didn’t turn out as well as the rest. Shame as I think by now we have just about got it down to a fine art.I am also going to take some pictures of the tank algae and see if there is any obvious changes over the next few weeks and if so, then we know the UV rays are reduced and that it’s working as intended.As with all my reviews, I will update in a few months time to let you know how it’s lasted and whether it’s worked.UPDATE: So it’s been a few months now and we have noticed a difference in the marine tank. Whereas usually the monthly clean would involve having to scrape algae off the glass, I am pleased to report that this time there was none! The coral sand has also mostly stayed a whitish colour and not developed a green layer at the front where the window is. Although it’s only been a short while we can already see a difference so I’m happy that it’s doing the job it was purchased for. Having now installed this we would consider buying more and have even spoken about re-doing the windows so that they look neater, although realistically they don’t need doing as you can’t even tell that it’s up from inside the room, apart from being slightly darker than the other rooms, but we don’t even notice this now as we’ve grown accustomed to it.IF YOU FOUND MY REVIEW HELPFUL please hit the button below. This encourages me to keep writing reviews as then I know people are reading them and finding them of use. Many thanks for your time.

I changed to this mirrored film, because my old tinted film made the rooms too dark with a depressing brown tinge. I’ve taken a picture of this mirrored version indoors at night. . So the mirror is reversed to the outside in the day time on sunny days. I have two rooms both south facing on the first floor. In the summer it was unbearable and my old tint didn’t help that much. So I pulled it off come winter, then realised how much it helped keep the heat in on cold nights lol. So bought this stuff which does the same but is even better at reducing the heat come summer. I done one room to compare the difference in the heat and this stuff just made all the difference. One room was baking hot and the other was nice and cool. Plus this stuff has only a slight grey tint. It lets so much more light in on a cloudy day that u forget it’s even tinted. I have pretty big windows and found they were easier for me to do myself. By cutting the film larger then needed and sticking to the frame before I pushed it down from the middle and outwards onto the glass. The small top windows I had to get my husband to hold half of the film off while I worked left to right, coz I kept creasing the film. Method I found best, was to saturate the window with soapy washing up liquid on a sponge. Wrap a credit card in a fluffy flannel and push as much bubble outwards. Then used a craft blade provided to cut as close to the rubber seal edge as possible. Once smooth I waited a few hours coz the bubbles come back as it drys. Which I timed so it was night time. So I could see where they all were easier. I then went back over pushing all the bubbles out again with just the credit card which make a cracking sound, as the sticky side on the glass must be drying out and going tacky again I’m guessing. Done one window in full summer heat and went back over it a second time within half hour, coz it dried so quickly to the window. A few very minor bubbles I just couldn’t get out, seamed to disappear a month later in the heat. But one damn dog hair is there to stay lol. A few bits I over cut with the knife, I later trimmed with scissors and stuck back. Both rooms done now and I’ve even stuck with water, a non sticky Static only, privacy frosted blinds affect plastic film straight over the mirrored film. As it’s a bedroom and faces a communal garden. Still get plenty of cheerful day light coming through, and now that rooms just as cool as the other room I done first. I literally couldn’t face living here anymore if I hadn’t of found this film. When it’s so hot and you have fans going and no breeze outside coming through the windows it becomes unbearable. This stuff has saved me going out and buying a portable air conditioner. I can’t recommend it enough if you have south facing windows. It’s now mid July, so have definitely had some of the hottest days tested on it. This film and with my fans on, has definitely made all the difference. I can even have my blinds open again, where before it was so hot I had to shut them all during the day. This was my 2nd purchase so I had enough to do the second room. I found buying smaller quantities wasn’t sent and rolled up properly like my 1st purchase was on a sturdy cardboard tube. So by the time I had unrolled half the film, the middle half had been rolled with all creases in which you can’t get out. But I was lucky enough to only have the smaller top windows left to do. So was able to cut my last lot of pieces, avoiding the creases. It caused a lot of wastage and because I always ordered a meter more than I needed, in case I made a mistake. But the end results which I am so pleased with, have still made it worth my while and outweighed the negatives mentioned. Another useful tip I found worked well: use electrical tape on both corner sides of film to separate and pull the plastic off to remove. My first large quantity of film that came rolled up on the sturdy tube, actually has this kind of tape attached to it, to stop it from unrolling. So I just cut it into smaller bits to use each time on each section, before it lost its stickyness. My husbands electrical tape I used on my second purchase that came with no tape. Was too sticky. So I just stuck it once to my clothing to make it less sticky, but sticky enough to work on separating the film. Patience is the key to fitting this stuff. I personally found doing it on my own, the larger the window the easier it was for me. I also didn’t wet the film on the side facing me once it was applied to push the bubbles out. Like my instructions said to do. I didn’t see the point and I’ve got near perfect results, with no bubbles or creases showing to my relief. This was the thinnest stuff I’ve ever used on a window and was a lot harder to fit then the thicker non sticky, static water fitting tinted films I used years before. But this stuff is so much better once fitted. I definitely wouldn’t of trusted my husband to fit it. With his bish bash bosh attitude and lake of patience, the whole lot would have ended up in the bin lol.

We got this window film to help control the temperature in our house a give a little more privacy and it does exactly that. It was relatively simple to install and we only ended up having to recut a couple of pieces out of the whole house. It straight away made a difference to the temperature regulation of the house. I've already recommended it to a few friends