Sunglasses tints for hiking

Hi y'all.

I own a pair of Oakley half-jackets and the amount of tints the replacement lenses come in is bewildering. They came with a clear lens and a pair with a dark brown tint ( VR28/black iridium).

What type of tint or colour do you use for sunglasses when on the hills?

Sig's are a waste of bandwidth...

Tint in vermillion or amber is a jolly useful thing for low contrast moderate light conditions like flat light in snow.  It ups the contrast perception from bugger all to a little more, nut that can be very useful.  Otherwise tints just make stuff a weird colour...

Super-dark handy for bright sun on snow, or general sun if you have sensitive eyes.  My glacier glasses are a deep brown but it's just cutting out a lot of light that I like them for, the colour's not really an issue for me

Polarised can be nice if you're paddling or sailing, or otherwise in high glare 9say, sun glare off wet rock).

The only reason I use an expensive set of sunglasses rather than a pair of "safety" sunglasses for walking (you can get a perfectly respectable pair of Bolles with a fixed lens and grey tint for about £6 from the RS catalogue, or various cheap cycling sets with changing lenses for around a tenner) is it means I can put a prescription insert in, not possible with cheapies, but only relevant if you have corrected vision.

For most purposes a grey tint is fine (you're just cutting light out, but not changing the colour).  There's little to be gained by getting anything fancy, especially as "names" like Bolle really do sell similar things as safety glasses for a tenth of the price.

Pete.

Cheers for the comments guys. I actually own a couple of pairs of Bolles for work but I got these Oakleys off e-bay for a silly low price (they are real as well!). Otherwise I wouldn't of bought them!

So I'll have a look for the Black Iridium or Dark Grey Polarised (which are expensive so back to e-bay again!)

Thanks.

Sig's are a waste of bandwidth...

If you are spending a lot of time wearing glasses, never buy ones with plastic lenses, they'll make your eyes ache over time.

Always buy them with glass lenses.

You would't buy a plastic lens for your Leica, top of the range Nikon, Canon etc, so the same principle applies here too.

Clearly activity lenses have to be plastic.

Tim

Tim Fisher wrote (see)

If you are spending a lot of time wearing glasses, never buy ones with plastic lenses, they'll make your eyes ache over time.

Always buy them with glass lenses.

Speaking as someone who needs to wear glasses to see further than about 20 cm, and has used only plastic for 21 years, why?

My current specs have anti-reflective (a must have imho), anti-scratch (handy) and grey photochromic (goes dark in the sun, but won't work inside a car) coatings. I chose grey as this is meant to give true colour transmission. These are what I wear everywhere, hills and all.

I'm considering getting a dedicated pair with polarised lenses for use around water as it cuts the reflection from the surface.

I also have a pair in yellow tint that are great for use at night, but colours are horrific through them.

HTH 

same here dave.

reason not have glass lenses. oops! dropped glasses. oops! lens broken. oops! can't see properly.

plastic lens. oops! dropped glasses. oops! a scratch on the lens. never mind.

I also have a pair in yellow tint that are great for use at night,

A popular myth that yellow tints are good at night.  They can be good in low contrast, but if it's basically dark then any tinting simply reduces the amount of light.  Keep contrast enhancer tints for when there is light but little variation, for example in mist or whiteout, but use a clear lens at night or other dark situations is best.

Pete.

From http://www.brower.co.uk/opticians/drivingandvision.html

 "ARE AMBER NIGHT DRIVING SPECTACLES ADVISABLE?

No. Sorry. These lenses appear to brighten things up because they are yellow but the tint actually cuts out light and at night you need more light, not less, so the problem may be made worse. It is also illegal to drive at night with a significantly tinted lens. See the highway code for more details. Amber or yellow lenses may reduce veiling glare caused by short wavelengths in people with cataracts or crystalline lens clouding."

So they're not good for night driving, unless you have bigger problems that you should look to get corrected rather than wearing yellow glasses.

Pete.

Sig's are a waste of bandwidth...

Since we are in it...

selectspecs do prescription glasses for £5 and tinted  for £19....so I have just bought 2 pairs of untinted (UV protection and antireflection) and one pair tinted for £41, the lot, delivered.

Hang on a week or two and I'll let you know what I think.

Oh...and I agree with Pete as well....no tinted specs for night use for me!

IMHO, for below 2000/2500m cat. 3 should be okay, (unless lots of snow about), for higher altitude/heavy snow I wouldn't use anything other than cat.4, (highest rating for sunglasses).

 Tint is up to personel choice, I prefer the darker the tint the better. Less 'strain on eyes in harsh conditions'.

When I'm fishing I use dark tint polarised on bright sunny days. When its overcast I use brown/amber tint, and when dark and gloomy I use yellow tint. This helps see clearly ino the water and block out the glare and reflection. I imagine it may be similar on the hills. When its snowy and you have a lot of light reflection the darker tint would be better.