Got out of the habit of wearing them – partly ‘cos not putting any glasses on is a significantly easier task than putting any glasses on, and partly ‘cos - you know – you look like a bit of a nob. Not sure where my last pair went tbh.
But I do sometimes miss them. Those times when there is a little too much light for “bare eyes” to be comfortable, but your proper sunglasses are just too dark. Particularly situations where you have a lot of glare. My interest was prodded again recently when I saw someone mention these – primarily because they are polarised. I always choose polarised sunglasses, so for £20 I thought they were worth a punt.
The bad news is – you know – you still look like a bit of a nob. Well damnit. But are they effective?
These ones feel comfy to wear and are quite heavily “wrap around”, so there is minimal frame intrusion to your field of view. Which is good. UV filtering of course – which is only ever positive, and rated at “Cat1” which spans a huge 43-80% light transmission, but I’d guess they are up at the top of that range. By comparison my current Oakley sunglasses are Cat 3 with around 13% light transmission.
Daylight & dry – they make everything yellow. Whilst that’s not unpleasant it isn’t really adding much to the party. I am keen to see if they make a bigger difference when it’s daylight and wet, but hey – Scotland – we don’t get much rain, so not sure when I’ll be able to find out. We’ll all just have to be patient.
I was more keen to try them as the light was starting to dim : the period when older cars are starting to put their lights on, and newer cars are switching from DRLs to headlights. As per my previous experience – these glasses seem to magically brighten everything up. Contrast levels seem to be improved – traffic lights and car tail lights can’t be brighter, but they seem to stand out more. Edges (eg road edges, or kerbs) appear more visible. Hey maybe that’s why Bono wears them? So he can more clearly see the Edge? Or maybe they make it easier to drive down that street with no.... yeah anyway.
Verdict = I like.
I was sceptical that they’d be any use for proper night driving, and whilst I’d say these polarised jobs are better than previous ones I have tried….. I remain unconvinced. Yes, tinting the headlights of approaching cars yellow does reduce their blinding effect a little, but it’s not enough of an advantage to offset the fact that everything is else is dimmed – far from significantly, but perceptibly.
Verdict = swings & roundabouts = don’t believe there is any benefit.
Summary : probably worth £20.
