What Are Polarized Sunglasses?
All sunglasses are designed to reduce bright light and improve your vision. So what puts polarized lenses a step above regular shades? Polarized sunglasses block glare and scattered indirect sunlight, in addition to filtering the direct rays of light that standard sunglass lenses block.
Whether you're spending the day fishing your favorite spot, skiing the mountain slopes, or just making your daily commute, polarized sunglasses are a great choice.
How Do Polarized Lenses Work?
Under sunny conditions light often bounces off reflective surfaces like roads, vehicles and especially snow and water. Regular sunglasses filter direct sunlight but aren’t able to reduce that annoying reflected glare. That’s where polarized sunglasses excel.
Polarized lenses reduce glare because they’re treated with a special coating of particles. The particles are lined up in horizontal rows (imagine a set of window blinds). This means they block the horizontal rays of reflected sunlight without hampering your vision. By selectively filtering out reflected light, polarized lenses minimize eye strain and enhance clarity, allowing you to enjoy your outdoor adventure or daily commute.
When to Wear Polarized Sunglasses
Polarized sunglasses are great for a variety of activities, including:
- Hiking
- Fishing
- Boating
- Snowboarding
- Skiing
- Driving
- Outdoor labor
The bright reflections of light on water can be a nuisance or even dangerous if you’re operating watercraft. Luckily our Floaties collection are here to save the day. As the name suggests, the Floaties have polarized lenses and a durable lightweight frame that floats to the surface in water, so you’ll never have to worry about losing your glasses while fishing or boating.
Driving is another area where polarized lenses have many benefits. Reflections from road signs, objects, and glare from other vehicles can limit your ability to see the road ahead and cause unnecessary eyestrain, especially if you’re driving for extended periods of time. Our Bimini collection are the perfect long-distance driving companion. The Bimini has polarized lenses and an ultra-light frameless design. Not to mention a timeless classic aviator style.
And if you’re working in outdoor environments that require Z87 level eye protection like a construction site, our polarized Big Kahuna ANSI Z87 are a great choice. Or if you’ve just got a larger head and want some sturdy, polarized sunglasses.
When Should You Avoid Wearing Polarized Lenses?
Unfortunately polarization does affect depth perception since they’re filtering out so much light. This makes it less than ideal for certain ball sports, since polarized lenses make it harder to spot small fast-moving objects like a baseball or football. They also darken the environment which is not ideal for for overcast or low-light settings. Since they filter out so much light, they can also make hunting more difficult depending on weather and terrain conditions.
Another issue is that polarized lenses filter out the light from LCD screens, making them nearly impossible to view. As a result, you can’t wear polarized lenses when looking at most phones, some digital watches or even your car dashboard if it has large digital displays for speedometer and gas.
