Sun Lenses

There are hundreds of colors and percentages of color or darknesses when it comes to sun lenses.

Add all the coatings and treatments one can get on a lens and it becomes a bit overwhelming.  

What is the best lens you may ask?

It really depends on what your use for the glasses are.

This page will help in your selection of a sun lens that will meet your needs.

One issue with a specific color many sellers do not get into is DO NOT GO WITH BLUE COLORED SUN LENSES!  Even many optical professionals are oblivious to this condition.

Blue sun lenses cause a condition called blue blur where the blue in the spectrum of light diffuses/blurs other colors of the spectrum at the retina causing a loss of contrast.

This is how old school 3D glasses work that have 1 red lens, and 1 blue.  

The red increases contrast while the blue actually decreases/interferes with contrast.

Approximately 10% of those who wear a pair of sunglasses with blue lenses get headaches that are cause by the blue blur.

Light fashion tints having a slight shade of blue are less likely to cause this condition as a Cat3 or dark tinted blue lens.

Okay then, what is best?

Dark Cat3 Grey, G-15 Grey/Green, and Browns are the most popular sun colors and well suited for most uses.  In Cat3/very dark, they typically eliminate 99% of UV A & B wavelength.

If you want that extra increase of contrast, brown tones are the best for many sports like golf, baseball, and where the ball needs to be seen easy.

Orange & Yellow

These colors increase contrast greatly as well as naturally eliminate blue HEV light and are great blue blocking colors.  

Shooter lenses are typically yellow, night driving aids can be orange of yellow.

Those with emerging cataracts can get some help from these colors as cataracts cloud the vision, the high contrast oranges & yellows will increase contrast.

Polarized Lenses

Polarized lenses can also aid and polarized are highly recommended for any water sports as the polarization will eliminate reflection enabling you to see through the water more easily.

Polarized lenses will cause issue if you are a pilot as the windscreen of airplanes will polarize improperly with polarized lenses and you will blacken so you can not see.

This will also happen on hand held devices and computers when turned 45 degrees which usually is not an issue as your head typically is not angled at 45 degrees usually.

Back Side Anti Reflective Coatings

Back side coatings adsorb the reflection of light that hits the lens and help increase light transmittance greatly.

These are helpful and typically on all premium sun lenses.

Fashion Colors

We are mentioning this as it is in style and it is fun to add.  We are starting with 6 basic colors that are used as a fashion statement rather than sun color.

Computer Tints & Coatings

The latest technology best for computer work and hand held devices is a quality blue block lens with UV A/B filtration along with anti reflective coatings for optimum performance.

Mirror Coatings

Mirrors are great for skiing and snow sports as well as any very bright conditions.

Plastic Vs Glass

For safety reasons combined with good optics the best lens type and choice for many top brands is PA/Nylon lenses.  Bolle, Vaurnet, and many others feature this as their premium standard, it has better optics than PC/Polycarbonate and hold its coating much better than PC material. 

PC will craze if in acetate eyewear, we only us Nylon in our Ultra Green Eyewear and the new "Biodegradable Nylon" lens is coming very soon to our collection!

Glass and CR-39 plastic are easy to break so we avoid using these materials.