From the category archives:

What You Need to Know About Sunglasses

Sunglasses for Mountaineering—What You Need to Know About Glacier Glasses

by REH

Julbo Sunglasses are at home in the mountains.

Mountaineers call it “dazzle.” It’s that crazy cumulative effect of direct and reflected light that hammers your eyes when you’re traversing highly reflective environments such as snow fields, glaciers, or exposed granite. It’s uncomfortable and it’s dangerous. The higher you go, the worse it gets. Ultraviolet radiation increases 4% for every 1,000 feet of altitude you gain, and UV gets reflected right along with visible light.

And remember, cloud cover is no great friend. While clouds may reduce reflections and ease the stab of visible light, UV rays dance right on through. You still need to wear shades.

If you compromise on your mountaineering sunglasses, the consequences can be dire. Snow blindness, aka ultraviolet keratitis or photokeratitis—a searing of the cornea—can render you effectively blind for a day or more. It often takes a full day for snow blindness to kick in. Forgoing your shades will catch up to you later.

If you’re going to be exposed to serious dazzle, you need special-purpose sunglasses—glacier glasses—with these criteria:

UV protection of 100%. Naturally. All decent sunglasses offer it.

Visible light transmission of less than 10%. (5% is just right.) That’s dark. Too dark for almost any other activity. Too dark for driving, certainly.

Wrap: 6- or 8-base. The degree of wrap is less a consideration with special-purpose mountaineering sunglasses if they come with side shields.

Side shields—removable shields that protect your eyes from peripheral intrusion. Remember, in a dazzle situation, light is coming from everywhere. I prefer the modern plastic side shields to the old-fashioned leather/faux leather, which gets brittle and can crack after a lot of use.

Polycarbonate or NXT lenses. Some traditionalists still wear glass, but I wouldn’t risk having lenses shatter on me. Rockfall can happen. You can fall.

Strong nylon frame. Forget wire frames; they’re bendy and transmit cold to your face.

Built-in lanyard. Nice to have. Not a flimsy add-on lanyard, but one that directly attaches to the earpiece. You don’t want to knock your shades with an ice ax and see them tumble to the bottom of a crevasse when you have two weeks of climbing ahead of you.

Polarization. Nice to have, but not mandatory. Polarization works best when glare is reflected off a flat plane, and that’s obviously not the case in a mountain-dazzle situation.

Finally, be sure to carry a backup pair. Your backups could permit a bit more visible light than your primary pair so you’d have lighter shades for cloudy days.

Julbo has been the eyewear of choice for mountaineers for more than 100 years—and still is. Unfortunately, the French company’s marketing message is a bit confusing. They offer an array of models that meet all or most of the criteria above, but they toss in all sorts of strange proprietary names for their lenses (Spectron? Arc? Camel?) And they rate their visible-light transmission Euro-style—e.g., Category 3, Category 4—rather than simply stating it as a percentage..

Julbo Argot Decoded

Category 4 is Eurospeak for lenses suitable for mountaineering. Visible-light transmission is somewhere between 3% and 8%.

Spectron means polycarbonate. A solid choice and good value. Spectron 4 means polycarbonate and Cat 4; again, a solid choice.

Camel means NXT lenses—a plastic with great optical clarity. Camel is also photochromic—it starts at 16% visible-light transmission and darkens to 5% (Cat 3 to Cat 4)—and polarized. It’s a premium, pricy lens.

Alti Arc means glass, and wouldn’t be my choice for mountaineering.

Bottom line: Choose a Julbo model with side shields and Cat 4 Spectron or Camel lenses.

REI and Zappos both carry a good selection of Julbos. Both have good prices and excellent customer service.

REI Camping & Hiking

Zappos

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Extraordinary Experiences, Exceptional Sunglasses

by REH

My friend Alan Rider is an adventurer and writer who makes a living having extraordinary experiences and writing about them. Check out his Web site, Alan Rider’s Xtrordinary Xperiences.

Several years ago, we shared one of those experiences: driving Route 66 in a yellow Corvette so hot you needed quality sunglasses just to look at it:

Howells and Rider on Route 66

Alan recently interviewed me for his site as a service to his adventurous readers, who are likely to wonder the the same things he does about sunglasses. That interview is reproduced below:

Why did you start SunglassesBuyersGuide.com?

I’ve always appreciated any piece of gear that helps me better enjoy the outdoors. Years ago, as a writer for Outside magazine and the editor of the annual Outside Buyer’s Guide, I was fortunate enough to test some great sunglasses, along with binoculars, backpacks, boots, and lots of other gear. I always had a particular fondness for sunglasses—they enhance vision, protect your eyes, and make you look better than you really look. Even if they cost a couple hundred dollars, that’s a bargain. Also, I had cataract surgery last year, which renewed my commitment to protecting my eyes with great shades.

Is there such a thing as an all-around pair of sunglasses, or do you recommend having different designs for different purposes?
While there certainly are multipurpose sunglasses, I suggest owning at least two pairs: one for active sports, another for casual streetwear. Protection is the priority for sports, while fashion and great optics take center stage for everyday sunglasses. For example, I love glass sunglasses—good ones are optically brilliant—but I’d never wear them for sports, because they can shatter. It’s possible to get even more specific, because you might not wear the same sunglasses for, say mountaineering as mountain biking. You’d want very dark lenses for walking across snow slopes, while for mountain biking in and out of the woods you’d want lighter, more contrasty lenses, or maybe versatile photochromic lenses.

What are the most important features you’d recommend someone look for in a new pair of sunglasses?
Let’s call 100% UV protection a given. Next up in importance is the sheer quality of the lenses, their visual acuteness. That’s hard to judge at a glance, which is why I so strongly recommend buying name-brand sunglasses. The major companies do the R&D, the lab work, the ongoing testing, to make sure their lenses are sharp and won’t cause eyestrain. Then comes aptness for the job: a lot of wrap for sports, for example, for peripheral protection.

What should someone expect to pay for a decent pair of shades?
You’re taking your chances when you spend under $100. They may seem good at first, and you congratulate yourself on your bargain-finding prowess. But when you wear them for hours at a time, they’re likely to strain your eyes. You might not even attribute that to your sunglasses; you might just feel crummy, not refreshed after a day in the sun. That said, I’ve found some pretty good sunglasses for under a C-note, and they’re reviewed on my site.

What’s with all these funky lens tints?
A lot of what you think are tints are actually just coatings that you see from the outside. They may or may not have a function. Often their function is, well, to be funky. It’s the base tint that counts—what you see looking through, not at, the shades. There are only a handful of basic base tints, and each has a purpose. Gray and green are color-true and calming. Bronze and copper are high-contrast and great for a range of light conditions. Rose and yellow are for low light.

There are enough brands and styles out there to make your head spin—can you name a handful of your favorite top-quality brands?
My favorites are the ones on my site. I don’t review junk. Maybe I will someday, but it’s generally a waste of time and money to deal with the kinds of sunglasses you find in discount stores or gas stations. And, sad to say, the same goes for a lot of designer sunglasses that people spend $300 or $400 for. You’re paying for a name and a look, not for good lenses. That’s not the case with the more expensive sunglasses on my site. When you fork out for Oakley, Maui Jim, Kaenon, Hobie…you get a great look and great lenses. So my advice is always to buy from companies that make sunglasses, not handbags.

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How to Buy Sport Sunglasses

by REH

You’ll find sunglasses for virtually every sport. Is that a good thing or a lot of marketing hooey? Are sunglasses for running really much different from sunglasses for volleyball? Well, if you love a sport and you value your eyes, you want targeted eyewear. The fact that sunglass manufacturers have dialed in exactly what you need for so many different sports really is good news. PS: That’s mountain bike racer Darcy Turenne in Oakley Radar above.

But let’s be real about it. The trick is to understand what you REALLY need for your favorite sport, and then make an intelligent decision about wearing them for crossover use.

We’ll try to help. When we review sunglasses in any particular category, we’ll always cross-reference them. Chances are, those road-biking shades will do just fine for road-running as well.

What to look for in sport sunglasses:

UV protection. Duh. 100% UVA and UVB, aka 400-nanometer protection.

Plenty of wrap—8-base or 10-base for peripheral protection.

Impact-resistant lenses. That means polycarbonate, SR-91, or NXT (see THE QUICK GUIDE for the scoop on lens materials). Definitely NOT glass. Even good lenses can pop out of bad frames. Stick with major makers, like the ones reviewed on this site. If the maker states that the shades pass the ANSI Z-97.1 standards for high-mass and high-velocity impact, excellent. That means they’ve survived rigorous testing.

Lens clarity. You and your sport shades are likely to get cozy for some long stints. They better be sharp—for at least two reasons: a.) Crummy shades will strain your eyes, make you feel fatigued and headachey, and you may not even know why. You just won’t have as much fun as you should. b.) Clarity could be critical. Whether you’re skiing, playing golf, mountain biking, or fly-fishing, you need to read details. If the shades don’t impress you at a glance, they’ll be worse later. How else can you judge clarity? It’s tricky. Price is a fairly good indicator, but not always. Read up or ask salespeople about the lenses—do they use “decentered” technology? That means each lens is subtly thicker in the middle and tapered to the outside so that incoming light waves reach your eye at the same time. The result: no eyestrain, and a crystal-sharp image. Makers of cheap shades don’t bother.

QUICK FIELD TEST FOR LENS CLARITY: Stand outside and stare at a stop sign. Switch between glasses. See how the white is affected by the lens tint. How crisp is the “P”? Is there a blur inside the “O”? Hold the glasses at arm’s length and look at a distant vertical line. Move the glasses up and down and side to side. Does the line stay straight? Most important, though, is how the view looks to you. Try lots of shades. One will stand out, bring the world into crisp focus. That’s the one you want.

Comfort and fit. Sport shades have to remain securely on your face. Move your face around, emulating your sport if possible. The temples need to squeeze your mandibles without causing pain. Nonslip rubber on the temple ends are a worthy bonus. Nonslip rubber on the nosepiece is indispensable. The frame needs to flex readily, with much more give than you’d want in street shades.

The tint you want. There’s no “right” tint for sport shades. I favor brown, copper, or rose for sports such as cycling when I might start out in low light. Those tints are bright and contrasty. But for a long day in bright sunshine, I favor a relaxing gray or green.

The right light. Don’t get lenses too light or too dark for the job. The sweet spot for visible light transmission (VLT) is right around 12% for most sports. Darker than 10% is for intense conditions like glacier travel. Lighter then 25% is for special situations like fly-fishing in mottled shade or mountain biking in the woods. Of course, interchangeable lenses can carry you through any situation, and photochromic lenses can carry you through most. Read on….

Interchangeable lenses. Good old-fashioned sport shields with interchangeable lenses give you a lens for every situation. A typical shield comes with three lenses: a gray for bright sun, yellow or copper for low light, and clear for cloudy days or nighttime. Will you really take the time to switch them out? A question worth asking. And how easy are they to swap? Most require a Tab A into Slot B process that can be tough on the fumble-fingered or vision-impaired, and you’ll smear grubby fingerprints all over the lens. Still, it’s the best way to guarantee that you’ll have exactly the right lens when you need it.

Photochromic lenses. Lenses that darken in bright light are gradually overtaking interchangeables. Start out early in the morning and the lens might permit, for example, 25% visible light transmission, and darken to 10% when the sun comes out. Not as much range as interchangeables, but a lot more convenient. Don’t look for miracles from photochromics. They can take several minutes to lighten, meaning you might feel Mr. Magooish when you mountain bike from sun to woods. Their range is limited. Don’t expect them to swing from clear to glacier-glass dark. Typical visible light transmission ranges are 16% at the dark end to 40% at the light end, or 13% to 30% or 10% to 25%—fine for normal circumstances, but too dark for, say, bike riding at dusk. The greater the range the better—but lens reaction time will be slower. And no matter what, you pay a premium for the convenience of photochromics.

Polarized lenses. Glare-cutting polarization is seldom a necessity for sport shades, but why not have it? Its main benefit is subduing stabbing glare off water, but it’s also comforting on a long road-bike ride or a cross-country ski jaunt across a sunlit meadow. It’s becoming more common on less-expensive shades, but be warned: Cheap polarization is a pale imitation of the real deal.

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How to Buy Sunglasses—The Quick Guide #5 (cont.)

by REH

(Latest in a series of short tutorials. Click here to see the whole thing to date.)

5. The scoop on alternative lens materials.
Polycarbonate and CR-39 have lately been joined by two other excellent plastic lens materials: SR-91, a lens proprietary to Kaenon, and NXT, originally developed to provide strength and clarity for combat helicopter windshields. Here on earth, both perform capably in impact-resistance tests. Both are shatterproof. We’re big fans of the optical clarity and the polarization (standard) of Kaenon’s SR-91. We’ll report from the field on NXT soon.

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How to Buy Sunglasses—The Quick Guide #4 (cont.)

by REH

(Latest in a series of short tutorials. Click here to see the whole thing to date.)

4. Do you want CR-39 lenses?
CR-39 is a plastic lens material that’s been around for more than 60 years. Its attributes include light weight, impact resistance, and, in the hands of quality manufacturers (say, Bollé or Costa Del Mar), outstanding optical clarity. For all those reasons, clear CR-39 is by far the most common choice for everyday prescription eyeglasses. But that doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for sunglasses. How does it stack up to polycarbonate and glass? Far more impact-resistant than glass, but not as good as polycarbonate. More scratch-resistant than polycarbonate, but not as good as glass. But most importantly, CR-39 is not shatterproof, so it’s not your choice for action sports.

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