Choosing a pair of sunglasses?

Prescription Sunglasses

Raj — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:48:14 +0000

Being nearsighted can be a real pain. When I am wearing glasses (vision glasses), I can't wear my sunglasses, which makes life difficult when I am driving in my car. Although my glasses are transitions, they don't work in the car since the car windows block out the UV light that activates the tint on the transition lense. The sun shines down in my eyes and reflects off windows and cars to really increase my eye fatigue. One solution to this problem is to just wear contacts so that you can wear sunglasses instead of spectacles. Oftentimes I will wear my contacts, just so I can put on my sunglasses, put I don't like having to have to wear my contacts all the time, and I like having the option of wearing my glasses. This is why I decided to buy prescription sunglasses. I can wear my sunglasses in the car, and then switch to my regular glasses when I get to work. A good place to buy prescription sunglasses at a low price is at Frames Direct.

Smith Optics Prophet sunglasses

Raj — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:42:26 +0000

The Prophet sunglass by Smith Optics offers a new alternative to the Method sunglasses. These sunglasses can be worn by both men and women, and stay in place very well due to the Megol temple accents. If you like sunglasses with good coverage, these sunglasses are a good choice. These sunglasses have become very popular, and provide a very unique look. Look below for deals on Prophet sunglasses and Prophet sunglass lenses by Smith Optics.

	Smith Interlock Prophet Sunglasses List Price: $148.95

	Smith Prophet Sunglasses

	Smith Interlock Prophet Sunglasses - Polarized

	SMITH SPORT OPTICS SUNGLASS PROPHET BLACK PHPPGYBK Sale Price: $148.95

	Smith Interlock Prophet Sunglasses - Polarized List Price: $148.95

	Smith Prophet Sunglasses - Adult 2009 List Price: $150.00

Oakley Jawbone Transition sunglasses

Raj — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:52:19 +0000

I recently have been looking into the Oakley Jawbone Transition sunglasses as a good sunglass to purchase. The thing I like the most about it is the ease of lens swapping. It is specifically engineered to make lens changing simple, since the lower part of the frame opens. This is good for when I change from amber fishing lenses, to casual grey lenses, to my more conspicous fire iridium lenses. This eliminates the need to compromise and allows me to have the best lenses for whatever activity I am doing at the time without much hassle (read post about choosing the best lens). It also keeps stresses on the frame from affecting the lenses by utilizing a suspension system. The ease of lens changing is a big plus to me because I always have disliked touching my lenses smuding them all over. Because the nospiece can be pivoted so that the lower jaw is unlocked, it makes for minimal handling of the lens so you can prevent touching it everywhere and getting the lens dirty. The lenses also have oakley hydrophobic technology so that the lens is resistant to dirt and oil that could impair clear vision. These are the biggest attractions for me, though there are many other reasons I am considering buying Oakley Jawbone Transitions for my next pair of sunglasses. You can purchase any of the Oakley Jawbones below, or if you want to purchase directly from Oakley's site, just use this link

	Oakley Men's Jawbone Polarized Sunglasses List Price: $250.00 Average Rating:

	Oakley Men's Jawbone LIVESTRONG Sunglasses List Price: $205.00

	Oakley Men's Jawbone Iridium Sunglasses List Price: $195.00

	Oakley Jawbone Matt White w/VR28 Black Iridium Polarized, Persimmon 04-204 Sale Price: $239.95

	Oakley Jawbone Sunglasses 04-211 LIVESTRONG Jet Black Frame With Vented Black Iridium / Yellow Lens List Price: $204.95 Sale Price: $194.95 Average Rating:

	Oakley Jawbone Matt Black w/Black Iridium Vented, Yellow 04-207 Sale Price: $224.99

	Oakley JAWBONE VR28 Blue Iridium Lens Mens Sunglasses Sale Price: $179.95

Cleaning your sunglasses, what is safe and unsafe to use

Raj — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:21:18 +0000

Sunglasses can be a precious investment when you buy a high quality pair that is good quality and has good aesthetic value. Because most of us value our sunglasses, and decent ones tend to be more expensive (I discussed this issue in an earlier post) it is important to take good care of your sunglasses. It is important to have a good case if you are going to be carrying your glasses around alot as well as a cleaning cloth. Simply wiping off your sunglasses with your shirt can cause your glasses to develop scratches over time. A microfiber cloth must be used. I would also recomend that you buy a sunglass cleaning solution to spray on your glasses before you wipe them. Never rub your lenses dry since this can cause scratches. If nothing else is available, you can use water vapor from your breath and then wipe off the condensation from the glasses. This will not leave water spots since the water vapor from your breath is completely pure water as opposed to tap water. Your breath can act as a cleaning solution in this way. It can be harder to do this in warmer weather, however, and that is usually when you are wearing your sunglass. That is why I would recommend keeping a solution at home to spray on the lenses. This is what I do, and if I end up with any smudges when I am out, I usually wait till I get back home to clean it. It is actually ok to use other optical cleaners such as lens cleaner for cameras or binoculars. This will not be a cheaper option, but if you don't have anything else, it is definitely safe to use. Some glasses can be cleaned with warm dishsoap water, but you would have to contact the company that made your sunglasses to verify, as this may not be safe for all sunglasses. I personally have found that optical cleaner, such as cleaners designed for sunglasses, work best.

As far as the case is concerned, I ended up just using an old Kirkland hard case to put my sunglasses in. I personally prefer hard cases, but it is not necessary, as long as you avoid them getting squished. The Oakley cases do look a lot better, however, and that can be important to some people.

	EK Ekcessories 10878C-AM Honda Lens Cleaning Kit List Price: $11.99 Sale Price: $11.99

	Smith Lens Cleaning Kit Sale Price: $6.95

	Croakies Visor Cleaning Kit Blue Sale Price: $10.08

	Croakies Visor Cleaning Kit Black Sale Price: $10.08

	Eyesave Accessories - 1oz Cleaner & Microfiber Cloth Kit

	Croakies Refillable Optical Care Kit List Price: $12.00 Sale Price: $12.00

	Eyeglass Cleaner Glasses Lens Cleaning Kit--Great for Laptop Computer Screens! List Price: $8.99 Average Rating:

	Lens Cleaning Kit by Native Eyewear List Price: $5.00

	3M Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloth, Color May Vary, 1 Count List Price: $3.66 Sale Price: $1.69 Average Rating:

	Riedel 10-07 Large Microfiber Crystal Cloth List Price: $16.00 Sale Price: $12.99 Average Rating:

	Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloth By Apex Healthcare Products List Price: $2.49 Sale Price: $1.96 Average Rating:

	Fuzzy Wuzzy Microfiber Blind Cleaner Sale Price: $4.25 Average Rating:

	Unger Microfiber Cleaning Cloths 10-pk. List Price: $22.99 Sale Price: $20.99 Average Rating:

	30mW High Powered Black Dimple Green Laser Pointer With Double Bonus Led Flashlight and Blue Microfiber Optical Cloth List Price: $39.99 Sale Price: $29.95 Average Rating:

	Koncept Z-Bar High Power Adjustable LED Desk Lamp Daylight Illumination - Metallic Black with Free Gifts: Clip-on Spotlight AND Microfiber Cleanse Cloth Black Sale Price: $169.95 Average Rating:

	Apple iPhone 3G Replacement Front Glass and Digitizer -2 Tools, Suction Tool, Adhesive and Exclusive Microfiber DBROTH Cleaning Cloth Included - Repair Your Cracked Glass Sale Price: $10.99 Average Rating:

	SD5 Silver Dimple 5mw Green Laser Pointer for Astronomy, Military and more! Double Bonus Micro L.E.D. Flashlight and Blue Microfiber Optical Cloth List Price: $79.99 Sale Price: $16.95 Average Rating:

	Microfiber Electronics Cleaning Cloth List Price: $16.99 Sale Price: $3.11 Average Rating:

What color lens should I buy for my polarized sunglasses? (ie gray or amber)

Raj — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:09:35 +0000

Choosing the color of the lens is about more than just aesthetics. Knowing how each color will affect your vision is important for optimizing its utility for your specific purpose. For example, I personally like to use amber lenses because it enhances contrast and detail when I am fishing. There is naturally something called "blue haze" that is caused by blue light, and this creates a sort of blurriness that decreases the sharpness of your vision. Because we are so accustomed to this blue haze, wearing amber lenses which filter out blue light can make your vision surprisingly sharp. Amber lenses are also good for sunglasses that you use driving, since it will increase your ability to read signs and see details on the road. The only downside to amber lenses is that your vision when looking through them will not have perfect color accuracy. Since the blue light is removed, things you see won't have "true color". If this is important to you, gray lenses may be the way to go. Gray lenses do not distort the color, but do not remove blue haze like amber lenses do. This could be important to some people since prolonged exposure to blue light can be irritating and even harmful to your eye and has been linked to development of cataracts over time.

Often time a brand of lens may claim that the lense blocks 100% of all blue light. This claim will be made even for non amber lenses such as grey lenses. This is inaccurate because if you can see blue at all, its obviously not blocking out all of the blue light. It is possible, however, to block out all the harmful blue light. Oakley, for example, has an advanced filter as part of their lense that removes harmful blue light, regardlesss of the lens color, which is one of the many reasons I like their lenses. This should not be confused with the practical advantages of removing blue light by using a specific color of lense (for example, an amber lense filters out blue light). The special filter that is not color based, such as the one on Oakley lenses, removes the harmful blue light, but not neccessarily much of the visible blue light. If the reason you want to filter out blue light is related to wanting to increase sharpness, resolution, and detail, while minimizing blue haze, then you would still want to use a blue blocking colored lens such as an amber lens, which will help filter out both harmful and safe blue light (since you want to minimize all visible blue light). For example, amber lenses are very good for hunting and fishing, since movement and detail are a lot easier to see. Removing the harmful blue light by using Oakley lenses (which have the plutonite blue blocking technology) will give you the health benefits to your eye such as preventing cataracts, but will not give you the practical benefits (and drawbacks)that a blue filtering colored lens will give you. This, however, may be a good thing as you may want to keep good color accuracy and want to filter out the minimal amount of visible blue light. In this case, grey lenses with harmful blue light blocking techology (such as Oakley's plutonite) is the practical answer for you.

My experience with polarized amber lenses

Raj — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:18:47 +0000

After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to shell out the extra money for polarized lenses. I can honestly say that it was worth every dollar. The drive during my commute is much more enjoyable with the reduced glare, especially the glare that comes off the crack on my windshield ( I should probably get that fixed soon). I hadn't realized how big of a difference polarized lenses made until I had them. I originally was deciding between Ray-bans, Spys, and Oakleys. I made my decision, after much deliberation, on Oakley Gascans. I decided to go with the amber lenses in order to reduce the amount of blue light even further and increase contrast. I had to buy the lenses separately because the gascans only came with gray lenses. For me, it was more than worth it.

Besides just being obstructive and irritating, blue light has been shown to contribute to cataracts over time. After wearing my glasses fishing I had wished I had bought polarized lenses sooner. My field of vision pierced deep into the water, unobstructed by the glare. I am definitely a fan of polarized lenses now. Look at my post on lens types for more detail that should help you in making your decision.

Light, UV, glare, and sunglass lens design

Raj — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:36:03 +0000

Sunlight is very rich in UV light. Ultraviolet light is just above the visble spectrum, and its high energy can cause damage to your cornea and retina. This is why a basic (but not the only) feature you should demand from your sunglasses is 100 percent UV protection.

Another factor in sunglass selection is its ability to cut out glare. The intensity of light is measured in lumens. Most light around the house will run from about 400 to 600 lumens. Outdoors, when the sun is out, the brightness ranges from about 1000 lumens in the shade to over 6,000 lumens in open places such as the highway. The human eye starts becoming uncomfortable once the brightness reaches around 3,500 lumens, and starts seeing flashes of white when it reaches 4,000 lumens. These flashes of white in the brighter areas of direct or reflected light is called glare. Constant and prolonged exposure to light of high intensity can cause damage to the eye, and even temporary or permanent blindness. Many people are familiar with being "snowblind" when hanging out in the snow without eye protection. On a bright day the light reflected off the snowfield can be over 12,000 lumens. This can be very dangerous to your eye.

Glare can not be cut out by standard sunglasses, but by polarized sunglasses only. Polarized lenses have a microscopic filter that absorbs light matching its alignment. Since almost all glare comes from horizontal surfaces, the orientation of polarized lenses can cut out noticible glare completely. This can be seen first hand by looking at any surface that has glare (such as a lake) with regular lenses and with polarized lenses. The polarized lenses will cut the glare out, while the regular sunglasses will not cut the glare out, thereby preventing you from being able to see through the water. This is why polarized lenses are a must for driving (glare off cars and windows) and fishing(glare from water). My own fishing experience has been greatly enhanced by my polarized lenses, enabling me to see deep into the water at the fish below.

Choosing the right pair of sunglasses

Raj — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:16:40 +0000

Choosing a pair of sunglasses can be complicated. There are four things besides appearance and fit that everyone should expect from a good pair of sunglasses.

1. Your sunglasses should provide 100% protection from UV rays.

2. Your sunglasses should protect your eyes from intense light.

3. Your sunglasses should cut out glare (only polarized sunglasses do this)

4. Your sunglasses should cut out frequencies of light based on what you are going to use them for. This means that picking the right color lens is important, as certain colors of lens will work better in certain situations.

The problem with cheap sunglasses is that their lenses are made of ordinary plastic with a thin tinted coating on them. While the tint color and frame design may make them look like a brand name pair of sunglasses, these cheaper glasses have lower quality lenses and can in fact be dangerous for your eye. The extra cost is not just because of the brand name. There are quality issues that I discuss in some of the other posts, which companies like Oakley (whos lenses I highly recommend) address very well.