Decent driving sunglasses are about much more than looks. What exactly matters is how your sunglasses perform on the road. Do they eradicate or at least minimize glare? Are they as effective on rainy days and at sunset as they are in bright sunlight? Do they feel compatible for hours on end? Are the lenses polarized?
After securing roadworthy shades from the decent sunglasses brands, we planned that the good way to put them to the test was by embarking on a good road trip.
Like the great pair of sunglasses, sports cars are the embodiment of speed, style, and smiles. To that end, it picked a 2021 Toyota Supra 2 to be our chariot. What good way to match the swagger of high-end sunglasses as compared to scorching-hot Japanese beauty? Our shades matched the persona of this scarlet slingshot, whether we were soaring along the steady stalking city streets.
What Makes Driving Sunglasses?
In accordance with legendary eyewear brand Foster Grant, the better driving sunglasses have qualities like glare reduction and special lens tints that support you navigate the roads clearly and safely in different lighting and season conditions.
Prior to falling a bundle on fancy shades, prefer these factors:
Reduce Glare
Search for driving sunglasses with polarized lenses and non-reflective lens coating. Polarization filters glare from reflections: off other cars, buildings, road surfaces, and even around bodies of water. The AR coating minimizes reflections from the back of the lens—particularly supported when the sun is behind you and critical for those who drive drop-tops.
Lens Colors
Brown, yellow, copper, and amber sunglasses increase contrast and deep perception, supporting you to see decently in both bright sun and on gray, cloudy days. Lenses with a gray effect filter all colors the same and don’t distort colors, so they’re also great for driving.
100% UV Protection
Car lovers know that your windscreen automatically blocks most ultraviolet rays, and most likely, it’s tackled to give little protection from UVA rays as well. However, it’s not complete protection; even with dark aftermarket tints, some harmful UV radiation still gets through auto glass. The ideal driving sunglasses block 100 percent of both UVA and UVB rays.
Do I Need Polarized Sunglasses?
Many drivers are determined by polarized lenses, particularly in bright sunlight. Reflected light from the road, ice travels, and water mostly horizontally and can attract you accurately in the eyes. This can make it very difficult to see clearly, especially if you’re wearing non-polarised sunglasses.
The filter on polarized sunglasses minimizes these horizontal light waves, reducing the glare from bright light and making it simpler to see. Some drivers swear by polarized lenses, and while they’re not mandatory for great driving sunglasses, polarized glasses are wider in all light conditions and therefore considered when you’re behind the wheel.
It should be noted that many modern cars utilize LED lighting on dashboards and heads-up displays. This light can also be determined by polarized lenses, so if you drive like a vehicle, perhaps you should go for non-polarised lenses.
Ready to hit the road and test some driving shades? Here we go.
The Light Test
The lens performance test of entire light penetration was quite the rig. For context, we play the test indoors at 1:45 p.m. It clamped the light meter to a pedestal that measured 13 inches lower to below a hot lightbulb—a Feit Electric 10kLED, 13-watt bulb, to be accurate. Due to ambient sunlight sneaking through the blinds, our meter explores a consistent 14.9 Lux with the bulb off. When the lightbulb was on, the meter explored a stagnant 1207 Lux. We then held the right lens completely over the light meter’s eye with the bulb on and found the readings.
We attempted to perform this test out in the sunshine, but the base readings were all over the place thanks to an occasional cloud and lingering haze. Due to this, we performed the test in a limited environment to get the most exact readings possible.
The UV Test
To test if the sunglasses restricted longwave UV light, we clamped our UV radiometer 6 inches below our longwave ultraviolet lamp. Ambient longwave UV readings displayed at 346 nm. We tested each pair of sunglasses by holding the right lens over the eye of the radiometer and are pleased to report that every pair minimizes the longwave UV reading to 0 nanometres.