Sunglasses- any opticians /optomoterists out there?

[RoSPA_man]

Hi

I need to get sunglasses for riding. I want to get a type/colour that, at least, do not reduce the visibility of oranges and reds and at best accentuate them. I had glasses in the past which were the "wrong" colour and they made spotting turn indicators (orange in UK) and brake lights more difficult. Any colour experts out there? Is the above effect accentuated by polarised glasses?

Thanks

Hugh

[BMWSTeve]

I am NOT an optomotrist or eye doctor etc. I know what works for me is an amber lense like in

Serengeti driver glasses. I have tried "polarized" sunglasses which to me makes my faceshield look rainbow and any discoloration of pavement look like an oil slick, not fun. My $.02 worth.

[RoSPA_man]

I agree - Polaroids are disconcerting - period! Looks like copper/brown are the best to improve contrast for orange/red end of spectrum.

[Husker Red]

I am an optician. Like the others, I recommend an amber tint such as Serengeti Drivers. I have a pair of their "Drivers" and they are absolutely my favorite sunglasses of the many I own. I really like the color "boost" with those - fall leaves look incredible with Serengetis on. Sometimes that tint color is called a "blueblocker" because it does block the blue area of the color spectrum. That tends to enhance contrast. I also think amber lenses can be worn in somewhat lower light conditions than grey or brown tints can.

 

I also really like an anti-reflective coating on the back surface of sunglass lenses. That coating is a bit of a hassle because it can scratch easily and smudges quickly, but it does a great job of cutting internal reflections of your own eye. A nice feature.

 

I know some folks love polarlized glasses for driving, but I agree with the others who posted that it can cause strange artifacts such as an oily/rainbow effect on visors or windshields. I use polarized on the boat, but not in the car.

 

Good luck,

 

Mike

 

PS - Here's an image of those lenses so you can get an idea of what color I'm talking about. It's from their website. I like that brand, but you can get similar stuff cheaper from off brands.

[Foot]

+1 for Serengeti Drivers

 

Alan

[snod]

I have been wearing Serengeti sunglasses with the Drivers lens for about 20 years. I like the Medium Aviator frame. It provides good wind protection and atennuates the things that I want to see. I also like the thin temples, makes getting on and off with a helmet much easier. They are also photochromatic (get darker the brighter the sun is), in addition to being gradient (dark top and bottom, lighter in middle). This makes them work well in most any day time condition, including fog. There are also spare parts available from Serengeti. As noted above the AR coating on the back side is great, but it makes you have to be careful when cleaning. Do not use gas station paper towels! Carry your own cleaning cloth. Highly reccomended.

[Lineareagle]

I am NOT an optomotrist or eye doctor etc. I know what works for me is an amber lense like in

Serengeti driver glasses. I have tried "polarized" sunglasses which to me makes my faceshield look rainbow and any discoloration of pavement look like an oil slick, not fun. My $.02 worth.

The polarized lenses are HIGHLY discouraged in any activity that relies on depth perception. I'll look up the article but it was noted that hang glider pilots who wore polarized lenses lacked the ability to accurately adjust to ground proximity.

I no longer wear them for riding because of this.

The trick now is to get a bifocal in a decent sunglass lens.

[E30TECH]

I have tried "polarized" sunglasses which to me makes my faceshield look rainbow and any discoloration of pavement look like an oil slick, not fun. My $.02 worth.

 

I have polarized sunglasses and they do just as described above.

[Doppelganger]

Great topic...

Thanks to Husker Red for his professional insight.

 

Are the Driver's a plastic lens?

[Husker Red]

The drivers lenses that I have are glass. I think that depending on the frame choice Serengeti makes the driver lenses in either plastic or glass.

 

Personally I prefer glass lenses. They have the best optical properties and they are hardest to scratch, but they can BREAK and shatter if they are hit hard enough. Dropping them on concrete will probably break or at least chip them. Broken glass is bad for your eyes.

 

If you need prescription lenses you can have any optical lab tint them to match that amber color instead of just using simple grey or brown. (Tint comes in little bottles of dye that are added to hot water tanks and the lenses are dipped in to absorb the color. One bottle can probably do 100 pair of lenses. It's is available in every color under the sun. The companies that sell tint all have their serengeti or blueblocker clone.) This only applies to plastic lenses - glass lenses have to be "born" their final color so that would be $$$ and harder to find. Plus - Don't buy a $200 pair of Serengeti's and have them put your prescription in them because they will take out those sweet lenses and put yours in that frame. The frames are fine, but not worth $200 by themselves.

 

Mike

[Sidmariner]

Over the past 35 years I have gone through a lot of sunglasses, both as a sport/glider pilot, while serving at sea as a Naval Officer, and now as a motorcyclist. I have to agree that amber/brown lenses are by far the best for "true color". Amber also seems to have the best impact on sharpening the outlines of distant objects, clouds and objects in haze or fog.

My only disagreement is with the opinions offered on Polarized lenses. I have found that the glint of a high sun reflecting on a car windshield in the summer is enough to burn blind spots in my eyes me for a few minutes. Polarized lenses significantly reduce the glare and brightness of such hot-spots, which for me makes them a winner in the safety department. I have never experienced the distortions in distance or perspective mentioned by others.

[Todd_Z1]

Hugh,

 

With respect to the polarized sun glasses and the distortions this can cause, I have found this is most notable when both the sun glasses and the helmet windshield are polarized. Just my two cents worth.

 

Cheers!

[snod]

Thanks to the Memorial Stadium Resident for mentioning the glass breaks issue. It is something that you need to be aware of, the possibility of your sunglasses shattering is real. My daytime eye gear is contact lenses, Serengeti Medium Aviators (glass), Nolan N100 helmet with shield normally open, all behind an RT windshield. 5 years ago on the Pacific Coast Hwy just North of Ft Bragg, the wife and I rolled up behind a empty flat bed semi. Not close, we were discussing how much further we were going before lunch, we were AT LEAST 100 yards back from the trailer. All of the sudden something hit me in the left lens of my Serengeti's. The lens shattered. My wife said it looked like a "puff" of something came out the left side of my helmet. It totaly freaked me out. I was hollering in the intecom WTF was that! The sudden brightness in my left eye made it so I thought I couldn't see out of it at first. After I got pulled over and checked every thing out I found glass shards and a quarter sized rock in the folds of my stitch. Apparantly this rock had gone over my windshield and under my helmet shield to smack me right in the eye. None of the glass entered my eye. I think I saw it just before it hit the sunglasses and closed my eye? I have since then tried Gargolyes and Oakleys. The plastic just gets to scratched up for me. I still wear the glass Serengeti Aviators. At night I take out the contacts and change to a set of photo grey perscription Aviators. I think they are in a Ray Ban frame. The point to be aware of is that the glass lenses do not offer the same level of impact resistence that the plastic ones do. The glass can and will shatter when hit with some types of road derbis. That being said, I still wear glass lenses.

[realshelby]

A very good topic! I frequently ride with my shield up and over the years have had bugs/rocks etc get over the windshield and hit me in the face or eye. Even though I do not need prescription glasses I ALWAYS ride with glasses. I buy the close fitting safety glasses that can be put on with a helmet easily. Yes they can be scratched, but at $8 or so I can and do keep new spares. I have clear ones and dark tints that I keep with me at all times. Many years ago I was hit in the eyebrow area by a Hornet and stung at the same time. I very nearly wrecked. A simple rock shattering a standard glass lense could be VERY serious if you cannot maintain control.

[UberXY]

Have a look at Randolph's. They are made specifically for people who wear helmets for a living, and whose life and death depend on good vision - USAF pilots. I've worn them on bikes for 25 years.

 

 

 

Some of the plastic ones I have briefly tried interact optically with the visor to produce some psychedelic effects at times. I'm too old to enjoy that, especially while motorcycling. Randolph Non-trendy Shades

[Paco]

Years ago I read an article warning NOT to wear polarized lenses while riding a bike. The reason cited was that just as polarized lenses remove the apparent shine or glimmer from water surfaces (as in fishing), polarized lenses can also make it more difficult for a rider to recognize standing water or oil slick on the roadway. For that reason I am careful not to wear them while riding a two-wheeler.

[paulcbrowne]

I absolutely agree with NOT wearing polarized lenses on a motorcycle. You need to be able to read every detail of the road and wet spots from oil, water, antifreeze, etc. do not show with polarized lenses. You'll never see polarized lenses on a road racer for that same reason.

 

If you like American Optical "aviator grey" try http://www.uswings.com/sunglasses.asp. They sell clip-ons as well. It's a very soothing grey and IMHO a reasonable alternative to the expense of Serenghetis.

[TonyT607]

Husker Red (or anyone else) what do you think of Maui Jims ? My wife and several friends swear by them. My wife's are the amber type, they seem like they havea very good lens. Based on this discussion I may move away from my regular black-tinted Ray Bans to a amber type lens...non polarized of course.

 

I did buy a pair for blue polarized Revo's a year ago, and had the same effect some other guys here have reported.....rainbow effects, strange colors on other vehicles, seeing the LCD instruments on my bike go totally black. Had to return those Revos and go back to the Ray Bans.

 

Thanks !

[Husker Red]

Maui Jim's are great. Very good stuff - most have glass lenses, anti-reflective coatings, stainless steel hardware. However, I think that most of them are polarized. Not to say that polarized lenses are the devil. They are really nice on water - which is Maui Jim's focus. I love mine when I flyfish because it's so much easier to see through the clear water to read the bottom. But, since we are talking about motorcycle/driving specific glasses here I would avoid polarized.

 

An easy way to tell if glasses are polarized is to put one lens face to face with another polarized lens and rotate one of them - rotation axis like clutch plates. (Both lenses must be polarized for this to work.) Look at a light through the lenses. At first, light coming through the lenses will look as expected. As you rotate one lens (keeping the other steady) less and less light willl pass until at 90 degrees rotation almost no light should get through. This works because polarized lenses block light coming from the horizontal. If you add a second polarized lens to the equation and rotate it light is blocked from both meridians = darkness. This is conveinent to try at the store where you have multiple pairs of sunglasses available. At home, if you only have your one pair you have to remove a lens to try that trick.

 

 

Mike

[Lineareagle]

OK here is an article that is pretty good about explaining some of the issues with sunglasses without getting over techie about it.

Sunglasses and Aviating

 

[tomk99r11]

FWIW, I am farsighted and can't read a map without putting on a pair of cheaters. My GPS is even had to see. I found ANSI approved safety sunglasses with magnification lenses for $12. They come in 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0 strengths I believe. I have ridden with those sunglasses for enough miles to recommend them as an alternative. Got mine at Parmalee Industries in Overland Park, KS. Just a suggestion.

[Sidmariner]

Just got my first cheaters a few weeks ago from Helmethead Cycle Gear for $14.95. Now I don't have to use brail to read my tank bag map.I liked them so much I decided to buy some clear ones for around the garage.

[catmandoo]

i'll also agree with the serengeti drivers.i've worn em since the mid 80's,and they are a god.one other thing about em if your ever looking for a new(different) car the drivers will show paint differences(body work) that the naked eye will not.

[W8NONU]

Same here, got mine from SafetyGlassesUsa on line. Several different styles to choose from in sunglasses or clear. I have both and use them all the time. Don't leave home without them!