Sunglasses...in the dark?
 

I ride in now with sunglasses on because on my commute I have about a 1/2 mile straight down a hill going about 30mph (yes, I do pass cars occasionally) and I need sunglasses. However, pretty soon out here in the great Northwest it will be dark until 8.30 am and I won't want to have my sightlines diminished even more. Last year, I commuted in using some very cheap blue tinted construction sunglasses I picked up from Home Depot. Those, being quite cheap, were destroyed. The ones I use now are very cheap sunglasses (brown tinted) that I picked up from Fred Meyer.

I was wondering if anyone else had better experience with a different set of glasses that were not necessarily dark tinted? Any suggestions other getting another pair of those blue tinted glasses?

Problems:
1. I'm cheap, as you probably guessed above
2. I don't particularly care about style, as you probably guessed from my Home Depot shades purchases.
3. It is going to start raining out here soon so I have to have glasses.
4. I have pretty good eyesight, so no need for prescription/contacts.

Safety glasses work great. There are many, many different styles and some are more functional for bike use than others. Very cheap too.

I get glasses on sale at Performance and they come with 3 sets of lenses. Dark Smoke, Clear and Amber. I usually use the Amber starting now thru spring. Sometimes instead of Amber you will get Safety Yellow. I usually get them for around $25-40 depending.

My favorites are the Smith & Wesson Magnum. They are inexpensive (less than $7 a pair) and they are good quality. They have full coverage - I don't feel any wind coming in even when I turn my head from side to side doing headchecks at intersections or whatever. Their service is great - I ordered from safetyglassesusa and my order was there in 3 days. (No, I don't own the company!)

I have both the clear and the smoke leses, and I use the clear ones most of the time. They are the fog resistant ones, and when they say 'fog resistant' that sure doesn't mean 'fog proof'. But the price difference is just 40 cents.

I live in Seattle myself, and I use them all the time for flying down hills without tearing up.

Cheap, adjustable, good quality...

http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/smitwesmagsa.html

$6.40

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c..._2018_60412658

I went to the dollar store and bought clear safety glasses in the tool section. They work great. They fit just like the sunglasses I wear when I ride in daylight. I just switch them out of my handlebar bag as needed day or night.

I ride in the dark with military grade night vision goggles like my boy Monk.

I've used Smith Slider Sl2s with the interchangable lens and basically use their "persimmon" color which is somewhat of a light orange yearround even in complete darkness. I can change them to clear if I feel like it but for my commute the persimmon works fine..

Jay

Interchangeable lens is all I have been using. Colder weather the larger the lens I try to find.
My clear lens in the dark seems to have a larger spider effect from oncoming headlight glare.
I wonder if any one has tried the photo chromatic type in reducing what I call the spider
effect ?

I prefer to wear a nicer set of sunglasses that I can change the lenses.
can carry them and change them for the afternoon ride home too =)

Not super-cheap, but I wear Tifosi Slip (~$50) with the light night lenses. They're color change lenses, but they start out almost clear and don't get very dark. I wear them year-round, including when it's completely dark outside.

I'm not very sensitive to the sun though. They probably don't get dark enough for someone who was.

Try going to your local outdoors store (Gander Mnt., Cabellas, Dunhams, etc.) and pick up a pair of "shooting glasses". They're usually yellow tinted to enhance contrasts and durable to protect the eyes. Most also have UV protection so that you don't hurt your eyes during bright conditions.

Well, the old Sportco is all of a block away from me. Perhaps I'll stop over there on my way home this afternoon and see what they have for hunting glasses. Seems like those yellow tints are what everyone above is recommending.

I got something very similar to this at Walmart for $4.99
I'm not so crazy about the camo, but that's the only frame they had with the bright amber lenses. And I strongly prefer this shade of amber for night riding. I just love the contrast and visibility. They come in clear, though, as well.

If you hate shopping at the evil empire of retail, stuff like this is at any hardware or gun shop.

http://www.sentrysafetysupply.com/im...ex-Venture.jpg

My wife gave me a very nice pair of Smiths with interchangeable lense. Dark brown for bright sun, rose for all-around, amber for dusk, and clear for night.

And there's nothing wrong with a cheap pair of safety glasses from the hardware store. I keep a couple of pairs around because I'm likely to lose or break one.

++

Amber lenses give great low-light contrast and provide some relief during bright daylight. I use brown, not amber, lenses in my sunglasses as I want more bright-light relief but don't want to completely darken my day when riding under through heavy tree canopies or in partly overcast conditions.

The orange lens from my multi set is my favorite for low light.
For riding into the sun,a spare set with a green lens is my current flavor.

I use these (Smith V-Ti) and REALLY like them:
http://www.cleanlinesurf.com/detaile...olarcopper.jpg

They come with 3 lenses and I use the rose color lense pretty much the whole year. They have a lifetime warranty which I already used on my last set and they gave me a whole new pair when the nose rubber detached. I used to use Oakley M's and still like those, but the frame broke on me and I needed a change of glasses anyway. Oakley used to have a lifetime warranty on their stuff but now its only a year (or 2, I can't remember).

No one yet has offered up a pair of photochromatic glasses. After trying a couple of makes which either didn't get dark enough or light enough, I found these and have been very pleased. I commute in the dark every morning.

I recently picked up the house brand sunglasses from PBK. About $20 (free shipping) with 5 interchangeable lenses and a nice case. I was able to remove those big logos from the lens with my fingernail.

Safety glasses FTW. Mine were about $40 but I had to get ones with prescription insert option (which cost another $80).

Photochromatic from Performance.....

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...estore_ID=1849

I got two pair at Lowes (just ANSI approved safety glasses), my morning pair are yellow lenses, the high contrast is great in the morning before the sun is fully up and then I have my fully tinted ones for the ride home, as it is often into the lower sun. But the yellow ones work great on overcast days too.

The great thing about clear safety glasses from a home center is that you can get them for $10 and not worry too much about the cost of replacing them every few months when they get scratched up.

I was going to suggest checking out one of the commercial eyeglass places like Binyon's etc.
Since you DON'T need glasses, you might be able to negotiate a good price.
They DO have a lot of "wiggle room" with their prices.