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Mirrors…..
Ok, so we are in the middle of a debate that is starting to become an unhealthy discussion in the fire house about mirrors. Some of the new truck manufactures have these ugly bugs looking side mirrors. We are in the process of bidding out a new ladder and a pumper now and have a lot of the engineers in the organization sold on them but the old guys are not budging on the old fashion door mount mirrors. NEED FIRE POWER either way before we have to live with a bad decision on two trucks.
What is the preference the old or the new truck mirrors?
What is the preference the old or the new truck mirrors?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Berg on
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Specify Lange Merka ,300 series , 4 way heated and remote control. This is sensible and user friendly mirror. Have many thousand miles on tour with these mirrors on Seagrave pumper and Meanstick. You do not need the silly stick out front rv type mirrors, youll just knock one off once in a while.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Dunbar on
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I have operated trucks with all type of mirror's, just my personal preference, the old style door mounted. I live up north with plenty of snow,ice,rain and mud. I have experienced heated mirrors not working, power mirrors not working, bus mirrors you couldn't see because the wipers didn't clear the windshield close enough to the edge of the windshield. Now I will say that when all conditions are great the bug mirrors offer a better view, but I too found myself looking right for that other mirror, (years of habbit). So for me the low cost, less maintenance, easy to use, easy to adjust, good old door mount mirror is the one...but hey thats just me.... like the others have said... you gotta do whats good for your department.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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The old standard door mounted mirrors that we have all known and loved are less costly than some of the new mirrors on the market that have remote controls, heating, lighting, cameras and positional adjustments. All nice things that if standard on your engine, leave it alone. Manufacturer installed systems, including the mirrors are not meant to be altered. If you change these out to the older style, there could be warranty issues.
I think the bottom line however is how the mirrors work. If one affords better coverage over the other, and I believe the newer mirrors, with there myriad of options give you a better visual advantage. On the other hand, if you are a wildland interface engine, then you want the mirrors to have the ability to swing back in case you smack a tree branch. The fixed systems would not handle this kind of abuse like our brush trucks do. We have KME's for our rigs and all have the old style metal / mirror combos. Simple and effective. But if you buy the new stuff, you may not have this option.
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