Eyewear Knowledge

Choosing sports eyewear needs some understanding before committing our hard earned cash. Therefore, we shall suggest you consider a number of factors that may help with your choice.

Budget

This is best split into 3 areas, low price range, mid price range and high price range.

Paying a fortune for your eyewear does not mean you are getting the best and most appropriate eyewear that money can buy. On the contrary, some eyewear we have tested definitely falls into the lower price range. Understanding what to look for is all is needed.

Water sports

Do they float? Of course they must. If they fall off you can recover them.

Skiing

What if I take a fall? Eyewear can be bought with interchangeable arms that’s easily replaced with an elasticated band.

Mountain biking

What if my front wheel hits a pothole? If you don’t have eyewear with an elasticated band ensure they have rubber nose pads and rubber sections on the ends of the arms to prevent sliding off your face.

Perfect Fit

A perfect fit can be achieved using today’s high technology materials, some of the points mentioned above will help. Frame design should be considered. Most important they should feel comfortable. You may need to consider how well they fit to your face. How much air will pass over the top of the frames or around the sides? This can cause air turbulence and make your eyes water.

Frames can have padding fitted to the inside which provides comfort and allows small volume of air to flow and prevent anti-fogging.

Look out for TR90 Frames – the ultimate in plastic frames. TR grades are amorphous thermoplastics and have high resistance to chemicals and stress cracking.

It is the lightest engineering plastic in existence, with extremely high dynamic strength. This perfect combination provides frames that are virtually indestructible. Polycarbonate frames although very good does not have the same qualities of TR90. Plastic frames should be avoided if used for sport activities.

Lens Material

Plastic Lenses

Most lenses are plastic, but the least expensive plastic used for eyeglass lenses is called hard resin lenses. Hard resin lenses are good for everyday use. These lenses have the least distortion of any non-glass lens. For children or active adults engaged in sporting activities, we strongly recommend polycarbonate (impact resistant) lenses   

Polycarbonate lens material is the best choice for children or active adults. Polycarbonate lenses are virtually shatterproof, provides the best eye protection of any lens, and includes 100% UV protection inherently.

Polarised lenses are tinted lenses that block vertical light from hitting your eye and causing eye strain. Hunters, boaters and fishermen, golfers, and drivers are the most common users of polarised lenses. Any surface can create glare in sunlight, including water, sand, snow, windows, vehicles, and buildings. Polarised lenses ease eye stress and fatigue in the sun, and lenses are available in several colour and density options. However, in some situations, glare can be beneficial. For example, polarised lenses could make it difficult for a driver to see ice on the road, or for a skier to see ice on the ski slope, or for a seaplane pilot to see the water when landing.

Polarised lenses function similar to window blinds with horizontal slats when open. You view the slats on the edge so they are very thin, and these edges hold the tint colour. Polarised lenses block the vertical light that tries to enter your eye from down below or up above, and it only allow the horizontal light to pass through the lens.

Lens Options

Tinted Lenses

Tinted lenses have been bathed in tint colours and can assume just about any colour shade or colour density. The tinted lens actually absorbs the tint colour into the lens material. Tint density is defined as a percentage, where 0% is completely clear, and 100% permits no light to pass through (solid). A 10% to 20% tint is used for a “fashion” tint, and a 50% to 80% tint is used for outdoor protection from the sun.

UV protection filters out the sun’s ultraviolet rays that are very damaging to the eyes. An extra coating is required for hard resin lenses. However, all polycarbonate, high index, and sun-sensitive lenses already include UV protection due to the characteristics of the lens

Unfortunately, many sunglasses sold by street vendors to not comply with UK Law. Using a tinted lens without UV protection can be extremely dangerous. Lens tint has the effect of increasing the wearer’s pupil size and admitting more ultraviolet light to the intraocular lens, which can cause premature cataracts and/or permanent damage to your eyes.

Tinting

The colour of the tint determines the parts of the light spectrum that are absorbed by the lenses. Manufacturers use different colours to produce specific results.

Gray tints are great all-purpose tints that reduce the overall amount of brightness with the least amount of colour distortion. Gray lenses offer good protection against glare, making them a good choice for driving and general use.

Yellow or gold tints reduce the amount of blue light while allowing a larger percentage of other frequencies through. Since blue light tends to bounce and scatter off a lot of things, it can create a kind of glare known as blue haze. The yellow tint virtually eliminates the blue part of the spectrum and has the effect of making everything bright and sharp. That's why snow glasses are usually yellow. This tint really distorts colour perception, which makes it inappropriate for any activity that relies on accurate colour.

Amber and brownish tints are also good general purpose tints. They have the added benefit of reducing glare and have molecules that absorb higher frequency colours, such as blue, in addition to UV rays.. These sunglasses also distort colours similar to yellow lenses, but increase contrast and clarity.

Green tints on lenses filter some blue light and reduce glare. Because green tints offer the highest contrast and greatest visual acuity of any tint, they are very popular.

Purple and rose tints offer the best contrast of objects against a green or blue background. They make a good choice for hunting, target sports and water skiing.

Many manufacturers employ a process called constant density to tint the lenses. It is the oldest method of creating sunglasses and involves a glass or polycarbonate mixture with a uniform colour throughout the material. The tint is built right into the lenses when they are created.

Tinting can also be accomplished by applying a coat of light-absorbing molecules to the surface of clear polycarbonate. The most common method for tinting polycarbonate lenses is to immerse the lenses in a special liquid containing the tinting material. The tint is slowly absorbed into the plastic. To make a darker tint, the lenses are simply left in the liquid longer.