What Color Sunglass Lens For Driving?

For many of us the most frequent use of sunglasses is while we are driving. Polarization is a big help here since using polarized lenses of any color will dramatically reduce the glare that comes off the hood of the car and from other cars. Most of the better sunglass manufacturers like Maui Jim, Oakley, Kaenon, and Nike offer polarized options.

The color you use to drive depends on your personal preference more than anything else. Lenses that have brown tints will preserve your color appreciation to a greater degree than any of the other colors so we will typically suggest brown for driving and general purpose wear. Dr. White wears his Maui Jim Brown HD's all the time! (By the way, these are NOT Dr. White's!)

How about Transition lenses, lenses that change color to become darker when you are outside? For most of these lenses the change occurs when they are exposed to UV light. Your windshield and your car windows effectively block out all of the UV light so regular Transitions will NOT get dark inside the car.

Stay tuned for more scoop on Sunglass Lens colors!

Sunglasses? What Color Lens Should I Get?

It's Summer time! We are in the full swing of sunglasses season. We've talked in the past about the importance of protecting your eyes from Ultraviolet light, and we've discussed what polarization is. Let's talk a little bit in general about the color of sunglass lenses, and then over a few posts we can break down some of the specifics of lens color.

All sunglasses limit some part of the natural light that surrounds us from getting into the eye. Visible Light Transmission (VLT) is a measure of how much light gets through in general. The darker the lens the smaller the VLT, and the smaller the VLT the less light gets through. The first thing to think about when you buy sunglasses is how much dimming do you want from your lenses. The brighter your environment (beach, snowfield) the lower you want your VLT.

The next consideration is color. More specifically, what color of light do you wish to filter out with your sunglasses, or what color to you wish to let in? The color of light is determined by its wavelength. A lens can be designed to filter out all wavelengths, or you can choose specific wavelengths or colors to filter out. If you do this you will make the un-filtered colors stand out more.

Most people will do best with general purpose sunglasses that simply decrease all of the wavelenths or colors that come through. Grey or Brown lenses are suggested for this. Grey will be darker, dimming everything. Brown lenses tend to let you keep your sense of colors better than grey. If you are choosing sunglasses for very common tasks like driving you can't go wrong with either Grey or Brown lenses.

Stay tuned for discussions about special use lens colors, coming soon on the SkyVision blog!