Sunglasses

[joecool]

ok, here's a subject near and dear to all our hearts. Sunglasses! I'm gonna be heading to NY from AZ next May. I'll be doing about 800 miles per day facing into the sun when going to NY in the mornings and the opposite coming back in the afternoons. Anyone found a really, really dark pair of sunglasses that block the majority of that eye strain when your looking into the sun? I tried the sunglasses(Serangetti's) with the clips on cheapy, flip-down suppliments but they don't do too well. I was thinking of a pair or welding goggles but don't know how comfy they be wearing for 6-8 hours a day.
Making me think I should wear my full face helmet with a tinted face shield in addition to my glasses. But I do like the smaller half helmets better.

 

[dan filipi]

This is a good subject for discussion.

My optometrist says the cheapy sunglasses may not give the UV protection our eyes need.
He says the $30-$40 sunglasses "usually" do.
I would think welding glasses would also but I wonder about the tinted face shields.
Mine doesn't have a UV sticker on it. I checked a few at the local bike shop, non of them did either.
Hmmm.
Do we have any optometrists here could clear (pun intended) this up?

I'd much rather use a tinted shield because I wear a full face helmet and sunglasses put too much pressure above my ears and give me a headache on long rides.

 

[mcgovern61]

I bought sport sunglasses frames from Walmart vision center and had my prescription put into them along with getting them polarized with UV filters. The sport frames have foam between the wrap around frames and my face with little vent holes to prevent fogging. They work great!

I have a half helmut also that I added a long visor to and this helps dramatically with sun on my face.

I have worked out in the ocean and on boats for years and my eye doctors have always warned about excessive exposure, espicially working on boats. You get UV sunlight rays straight down plus reflective sunlight from the water and back sunlight from behind the lense which they said does as much damage as looking straight at the sun light reflecting off the water. I used to always get my lenses covered with back reflective material.

 

[scdmarx]

I don't like real dark glasses. They are hard to see through and give me a headache. Not wearing sun glasses will give me a headache as well. Too much bright causes too much strain. I was hooked on amber lenses awhile back. But now I look for light colored glasses with a UV sticker on them. Works for me. But driving directly into a low sun is miserable no matter what I do. I try to use a visor to see during those times.

 

[Dano]

I have used sunglasses for a long time now and when I had to go to perscription lenses, I even had some made with sunglass tint. None of this worked very well for me, so when it was time for me to replace my helmet I tried the Nolan flip up with the internal dark tinted shield behind the outer shield, this I have had the best luck with. When you ride through a shaded area you can raise the shield and drop it when back in the sun all while wearing my regular glasses. For what it is worth, this has worked well for me so far. Regards.

 

[AApple]

I wear regular specs, so I gotta have something that works with those. I found some at Wally World that fit over my regular specs, are polarized, and also have some side protection. I've had prolly 10 pairs of these things over the years(the ear pieces won't hold up if ya sit on em, or bend them too much) , and wouldn't have anything else. They're less than $20, I think. They have an amber tint that really sharpens things up, and it also helps in low light, bright light, or rain.
I also have a tinted face shield for my 3/4 helmet. I really need an extended sun shield, but I'm thinking of gettin one of those static-cling shades that just stick on at the top of the shield....basically just a section of window tint, from what I can tell. :ahem:

 

[Omega Man]

Moved from tech to general forum(no worries)

I have a very popular brand of sunglasses and they are wrap-around. They can/do limit your peripheral vision until you get used to them. At night I wear either a clear or yellow cheap plastic sunglass.

~O~

 

[fastmover83]

You need to stay away from polarized lenses they are designed to reduce glare which makes it hard if not impossible to see that patch of oil up the road ahead of you The last few years I have been buying wrap around construction safety glasses from my local hardware store, they run around $13.00 for the bifocal ones and $10.00 without and they are shatterproof so they will protect you eyes from that stray pebble kicked up by the truck ahead of you when you raise you shield to get a little fresh air. Or at least they will be shatterproof as long as you don't scratch them. Another thing you can do is run a strip of duct tape along the top of your face shield just above your line of site then tip your head down a little to shield your eyes when you are facing the sun and then you can remove it when you don't need it anymore. If you don't have a shield on your helmet you can put the tape across your forehead :smilie_happy:

 

[Omega Man]

:smilie_happy: :nea: :smilie_happy: Glad Wrap anyone?

~O~

 

[rkthev]

Super Visors are great for riding into the sun. I have used them for years. Just be sure to take the time to get it mounted in the right position.

https://www.super-visor.com/

 

[joedrum]

inever use them before sounds like it would work well rkthev..... :headscratch: :mrgreen:

 

[Dave]

Townsville, Queensland, Australia has on averge 320 days of sunshine per year. Queensland is the skin cancer capital of Australia and Townsville leads the state.
I am to sunglasses what Emeldor Marcos was to shoes.
You can not pay to much when it comes to good sunnies, from the USA I buy WileyX, $260 Oz dollars with auto darkening lens and sealing gasket. I buy Ugly Fish from my local Harley dealer, scatch resistant, sealing gasket and very soft flexable arms $60 and are my fav riding glasses. I often will change glasses 3 or 4 times a day to suit my activites like working out or going to the pub or out for lunch or rolling with sunrise behind or sunset in front.
Very few glasses are a good fit under a helmet so you are left with a choice, don't wear a helmet or modify your glasses. Boiling water or a heat gun can be used to reshape the plastic arms. I don't hesitate to point the 800c heat gun at new $200 or $300 sunnies if that whats needed.
One advantage I do have is all tinted eye wear sold in Oz must have real UV resistance and this includes helmet visors.

 

[Dave]

If you don't have a shield on your helmet you can put the tape across your forehead :smilie_happy:

and this will prevent sunburn :smilie_happy: you still won't be able see but atleast you get saved from sunburn :smilie_happy:

 

[toytender01]

:hi: Emeldor Marcos who???? :heat: :heat: :heat:

 

[sledge]

I don't like Dark Glass' .... but I do like the yellow amber kind. the dark ones makes me feel like it's gonna rain all the time.... :smilie_happy:

 

[slabghost]

I wear the tinted safety glasses or the clear safety glasses at night.

 

[paddy.shadow]

I've worn prescription glasses since I was 8......that's more math than I want to do.Which presents a whole different metric when applied to sun glasses. That being said I vehemently disagree with the no polarized lenses. Auto darkening and polarized work okay for short rides, however, I found that the giant "old folks type" polarized wrap around provide great wind protection as well as excellent all around daytime vision and they don't look too bad if you get the smallest ones as seen in my picture. I have on my regular glasses under neath the shades, available at most optometrists for around $20. They aren't as dark looking through them as they appear.