Miles Kimball AVM-01 Automatic Visual Mail Signal

This is such a simple idea, yet it works fantastically. I honestly wonder where these things have been all my life...The concept is simple--attach this to your mailbox with a little bracket that the ball part fits into when your mailbox is closed. The next time the box is opened, the ball pops straight up (like in the picture) and you know that your mail has been delivered. Now instead of walking to the mailbox to see if there's mail, I just look out the window and can easily see from across the street whether the ball is up or down. I even know when I don't get any mail on a particular day, because the ball never pops up. The only false positives come from days when I have outgoing mail but don't receive any mail, since the ball pops up whenever the box is opened. But these days are few and far between.It took me about one minute to install this on my standard rural mailbox (even though I live in a subdivision). You just attach the plastic bracket to the catch that juts out from the top front of the box. I didn't even have to drill any holes, because there was already one in the catch--I think this is standard. I've had it there for a couple of months now, and through two polar vortices and bitter cold, snow, etc. it's still going strong--no malfunctions whatsoever. The only failing of this device is that it relies on human competence--i.e., you have to remember to fold the ball down into the bracket when you get your mail. If you don't remember, this will be of no use to you.Overall, this is a great, ingenious device that everyone with a standard mailbox they can see from their house should have.UPDATE: I've been using this about nine months now, and it still functions as well as it always has. There has been no degradation in the quality in the spring, the bracket, or the plastic ball itself. Still smooth as butter to fold it back down into position after picking up the mail. I'm so dependent on this thing now that if it ever breaks, I might cry...before I buy another.UPDATE (3-18-2015): It's been at least another nine months, and the mail alert still works like new. Every time I use it, I want to pat myself on the back.UPDATE (5-12-2016): Another year later and it still works like new! The only change has been that the vibrant yellow color of the ball has fated to a muted off-white, but it's no less visible when extended.UPDATE (12-8-2017): I came back home after going out of town for a week or so and the whole item was gone! No ball, no spring--just the bracket was left. I was pretty miffed and still have no idea what happened to it. It's been gone for over a year now and I still miss it. Somehow I've never gotten around to ordering another, but it's definitely time!

The best thing since slice bread! I wonder how I ever got along without it.My mail arrives at different times each day (don't ask me why) and I would never know when unless I had put mail in to be sent and raised the mailbox flag. I don't send out a lot mail and apparently neither do my neighbors because I rarely see their mailbox flag raised. There were times when I would go out to my mailbox (located across the street -I live in a rural areas) several times in one day to see if a particularly important piece of mail was delivered. No big deal except it always seemed to be during miserable, inclement weather.Now all I need to do is look out my window in the comfort of my house to see whether my "mailbox ball" is up or not to know if the mail carrier has been to my mailbox. My mail carrier thinks it's cool but I guess no one else notices it since it's never been tampered with.My parents have one on their mailbox too and we both have an extra set in case anything happens to the ones we have up. Love it and only wish I had purchased it a long time ago.NOTE: Unless you want to do some tinkering with your mailbox, you need a mailbox that has a mailbox door "catch" on both the door and the mailbox itself (along the top of the mailbox at the front where the top of the door would close). That's the way it is mounted. My old mailbox was rusting out before I got this and since my parent's purchased theirs first I knew which type I needed to be able to use the "mailbox ball". I purchased my new mailbox (it's a brown/copperish color) from either Home Depot or Lowes.

My father insists on getting the mail at 88. We have a very long driveway around 250 feet long. Before this, he would go down around when he thought the mail might be there...and if it wasn't he'd sit and wait....Then, we got a new fill in person who is horrid and who ever knows when she might show up. It was easy enough to install - but I did have to drill an additional hole for the second bolt. The only problem is that from as far as our house is - the ball is a little hard to see. I can barely make it out if I look hard enough and Dad is using his binoculars. Overall, it seems a good enough product for the price and works as promised. If you live closer to your box you should find it works great......

I got my first one over 5 years ago and recently replaced it because the ball, which had faded somewhat but was still visible, finally cracked. That's perfectly acceptable for the amount of exposure to all kinds of weather.It does exactly what it is supposed to through a simple and elegant mechanism. I'm aware there are electronic devices to do the same thing, but this is cheap and reliable. It has saved me innumerable walks out to an empty mailbox.I've had two problems. After heavy rains, the ball can get water inside it and be too heavy to pop up. However, this has only happened a few times, and it's easy to unscrew the ball from the spring and shake out the water. The other problem is not with the device but with substitute mail carriers who don't recognize its function and, after closing the mailbox, reset the signal in the down position, making me think the box is empty. This is just a matter of education.All in all, a great purchase.

Simple but it works fine. Only downside is that the bright yellow ball is fading a bit in color on the side that faces the sun. If your mail comes very late in the day, you may wish to put a piece of refectorized tape on the ball so you can see the ball after dark with a light from great distance

Love this gadget for our mailbox. It lets us know when there is mail in out mailbox which is 85 feet from the house. Great gift!

We live in a very rural area and have a long driveway. The long rural route also means mail service could be anytime between 11am and 5pm. The people in this house before us had a homemade gadget that worked similarly. This unit is sturdy, mounts easily to any variation of mailbox, and doesn't impede or demand anything of the mail delivery person. And, of course, that bright yellow ball gives great visibility.

After buying one of these for our mailbox (our box is about 1/8 mile down the driveway), we got one for my elderly parents. Dad was making several trips a day out to his box in all kinds of weather to see if the mail had arrived yet. Hubby had to do some alterations to make it fit on their box (and he made the ball spring out to the side of the box instead of on top), but it works and they love it. It really takes some stress out of their day. And no more multiple trips outside in bad weather for an 86 yr old man. Please note that this item won't work on all mailboxes - read up on it and be prepared to make alterations if you need to.