Mag-Safe Safety Glasses
After I lost a pair of very nice sunglasses that slipped off my head during some overzealous dancing, I vowed for my next pair to put function before form. The benefit of these photochromic safety glasses is not only their low relatively-low cost and snug fit, but also their versatility. They keep off glare when I'm driving, protect me from wind when I’m biking -- day or night -- and shield my eyes when I go to the machine shop to work on projects. The lenses run almost perfectly clear to a nice, dark tint in the sun, with nearly 100 percent UVA/B protection. They have an ANSI Z87.1+ rating, which means they’re shatter-proof even when struck by a 1/4-inch steel ball at 150 feet/second. The lenses are polycarbonate, so a significant scrape against sand, ground, etc. would probably scratch them. In the six months I've been using them, I've dropped them lightly a couple times and they're still pretty much like-new.
Over the summer, I worked in a machine shop lathing, sawing, drilling, tapping metal and wood twice a week for 3-4 hours and a couple weekends straight through until Burning Man. Unlike the cheap, standard shop glasses which I'd constantly put on and remove and occasionally forget to put back on, these are so comfortable I rarely take them off. It's important to note they do not seal all the way around your face the way some safety goggles do -- i.e. the ones with flexible rubber sides that press up against the skin. On the one hand, that's why these are much more comfortable, but then again, that makes these potentially unsuitable for tasks where full coverage is recommended. For my usage, though, which is primarily partial-coverage tasks, they're great. Definitely one of the most functional things I own, and considering they're safety glasses, they look pretty good.
-- Eric Nguyen
Mag-Safe Safety Glasses
$40
Available from Amazon
Favorite (15)
michael
I also use a pair of safty glasses as sun glasses. They are not photochromic but they have adjustable arms and only cost 5 bucks at BigLots. I went back and bought 2 extra pair they worked so well. UV protection and wrap-around shape help prevent internal reflection and glare. They would have been a bargin at 8 dollars :-)
1234
Dang.. I wish I could dance hard enough to lose my glasses.
Jay
How is the color on these? Does the world turn a funny shade of yellow, or is it simply dimmer?
Neil
Normally photochromic glasses will not be very good for driving, as the UV rays which trigger the darkening action are filtered out by the vehicle's windshield.
Eric Nguyen
Hi, everyone. Thanks for visiting. The tint is slightly on the warmer side, but pretty close to a flat darkening across the spectrum.
I have noticed that the glasses still darken inside cars. I'm curious, now, to see if the effect is lessened as Neil says by the car's windows. I'll check next time I drive somewhere (not often)!
For my original blog post on these glasses, you can also visit here:
http://mindtangle.net/2008/12/09/everything-glasses/
Jeff Odell
I also use safety glasses - but with small magnified readers on the bottom. I primarily use them to solve the problem of reading my GPS watch while doing long distance training. I use a tinted, sunglass pair in the daytime and a clear pair for early monring (like where I'm headed right now!) or evening runs,
I found a source safetly glasse that work fine at $9 pair.
I started to keep a pair of tinted glasses in my car for map reading, etc.
See the post here:
http://jeff.typepad.com/marathon/2008/12/a-solution-to-reading-that-tiny-watch.html
Jeff Odell