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Flat Light goggle lens colors.

What lens color do you use for flat light / overcast conditions?

  • Clear

    Votes: 33 5.1%
  • Yellow tint

    Votes: 295 45.4%
  • Rose / red tint

    Votes: 204 31.4%
  • Gray tint / smoke / mirrored

    Votes: 12 1.8%
  • Brown tint

    Votes: 13 2.0%
  • I am chuck norris and I see everything.. :-)

    Votes: 39 6.0%
  • Polarized

    Votes: 54 8.3%

  • Total voters
    650
Thread Rating
5.00 star(s)
Polarized is NOT a lenses color

You can add polarized to almost any color of lenses (can be manufactured) you cannot put it on a clear lenses.


This is kinda bad poll. There is no orange on there which is what I prefer and that brings up my next point is that each person is going to have a preference because everyone's eyes are a little different.

A yellow, orange or rose are probably your best bet. You will also want something withOUT flash or mirror coating. That mirror coating is good for about anotehr 8% light removal. It might not sound like a lot but that is compounded on the darkness of the lenses.
 
Polarized is NOT a lenses color

You can add polarized to almost any color of lenses (can be manufactured) you cannot put it on a clear lenses.
agreed, thanks for the clarification..


This is kinda bad poll. There is no orange on there which is what I prefer and that brings up my next point is that each person is going to have a preference because everyone's eyes are a little different.
orange = brown tint? I think they are close enough, honestly that is what I was thinking with the brown. I guess that is an error...

A yellow, orange or rose are probably your best bet. You will also want something withOUT flash or mirror coating. That mirror coating is good for about anotehr 8% light removal. It might not sound like a lot but that is compounded on the darkness of the lenses.
agreed on the light transmission amounts. The yellow is generally the most (after clear), followed by the rose, and then the orange. At least that is what scott / smith seem to confirm.

Thanks for the information!
 
Last edited:
Polarized is NOT a lenses color

You can add polarized to almost any color of lenses (can be manufactured) you cannot put it on a clear lenses.

Well... yeah. Nitpicking the question aside, my point was that I was curious as to whether polarization helped in flat light. Heck, I'd be curious as to how polarized helps at all, other than not being able to read lcd gauges at certain angles (if my sunglasses are any indication.)

And the chrome goggles, people mention a difference so I should presume that they make everything darker than their transparent counterpart?

I've currently got the transition style lens in my Scott goggles. I was hoping that they would go clear on overcast days, but it's got to be practically night out before they go back to clear. I wasn't a huge fan of the rose lens I had before, but the blue is definitely not better. :(
 
Hi Steve

In a nut shell polarization works by reducing glare. When we look at an image our eyes are taking in light rays from all angles. Our eyes only use the vertical rays to produce the image. Putting on a pair of polarized lenses whether they be goggles or glasses cuts out all the extra rays except the vertical ones which our eyes use giving us a sharper picture. For a more technical answer you can check out this link:

http://www.habervision.com/content/technology.html


The unique thing about the Habervision polarized lens is that our polarization works on an exact 180 degree angle so it only lets the exact vertical light in. Other manufacturers have varying degrees of polarization and some sun glasses actually have 2 different degrees of polarization in each lens. This can be the cause of eye fatigue and headaches.

Hope that helps!

Jan
__________________
 
I love looking at the world through Rose coloured lenses!!!But they all suck IMHO in flat light.:face-icon-small-hap

That can be two things:

1. Your eyes simply do not use rose very well.

2. More likely the rose you bought was not well designed but simply a dyed lenses. This is where buying a quality lenses comes into play.
 
Hi Steve
...Techno Mumbo Jumbo...

Thanks, but yeah, I guess I should of said that I understand what polarized lens are supposed to do, and the glare on the lake example in the above link is why I bought the sunglasses I have.

Still, your explanation does give me some insight into why I gave up on my (albeit cheap) polarized sunglasses and the link got me thinking about what I was asking in the first place.

I thought about it some more, and it's not a glare problem in a overcast flat light condition, so polarizing isn't going to help. It's the flat light on a sunny day caused by glare off the snow where polarizing will help. When it's overcast, all of the snow is emitting (well, reflecting, but as far as my eyes are concerned) the exact same light. There is very little shadow due to the light from the sky coming from every direction instead of a single point. The trick with the coloured lens, as further evidenced in the article, is that our eyes are being tricked into paying attention to details they'd normally ignore.

Or something like that.
 
care to expand on this? no sales pitches though... :p

Yeah no problem.

All lenses are not created equally. Color is not everything. Any Chinese company can put piece of dyed plastic in a mold.

Creating lenses that is geometrically correct. If you put too much curvature in the lenses without design it can warp stuff, obviously the vision will look bad.

It is like comparing gas station sun glasses to a quality manufacture. The gas station glasses use cheap plastic, they use cheap tinting techniques, they don't care about UV protection. Not all UV protection is equal. There is UVA, UVB and UVC. Many cheap lenses claim to protect from UV, really they mean UVC, which isn't much of a threat.

Without trying to "sell" anything the link I provided earlier has a lot of good info on it, it is very relevant.
 
Polarization does not do a lot in FLAT light. It will remove glare from places you are not looking, so glare coming in the corner of your eye.
 
Without trying to "sell" anything the link I provided earlier has a lot of good info on it, it is very relevant.
I checked it out, it says that the yellow is the best for flat light conditions.

I wonder how much this has to do with individual people? As in, yellow might be really good for one person, but rose might be better for another person?
 
I checked it out, it says that the yellow is the best for flat light conditions.

I wonder how much this has to do with individual people? As in, yellow might be really good for one person, but rose might be better for another person?

Yes, people's eyes do have a preference, generally speaking it will be one of those three.

Now I am going to pimp a product here.

IF you want a really cheap pair of low light goggles that work great in completely flat light and also make a great backup pair:

HaberVision Faro

$40 and they are a Vermillion base, which is essentially Rose. They are not polarized however for they are meant to be an entry level goggle. They do have a rubberized strap, thicker foam and also have a front entry strap which allows for a good helmet fitment. The strap can be removed without cutting.

Oh, they make a great low light lenses because they also have no flash on them.
 
I like Orange best then yellow for me
Sometimes I like to ride with rose colored glasses but
I just dont think I could look at the world through PINK colored glasses.:face-icon-small-sho
Maybe I am just not HAPPY enough:flypig: But I am OK with that!
 
Orange / amber is my choice, they work in most conditions. Yellow can work for me, but lets in too much light when the sun pops out. I always carry an extra pair of clear goggles in my pack for late in the day and if there might be a chance of early evening riding with shadows. So it is orange and clear for me.
 
I have tried many different lenses from several manufactures.

My vote is for Amber/Orange for flat light. Most goggle companies will list their version as the recommended overcast condition lense.

Yellow is my second choice....yellow is the best as it is starting to get dark and for the ride out.

I pack 3 pairs when I ride

1.Amber as my primary pair.

2.Yellow as my backup and for the ride back to the truck.

3.Some kind of chrome or ionized/polarized for when the sun is out. (however some of my best days are when the sun comes out unexpededly and I forgot my sunny day goggles) Some kind of Murphys Law happening here.:face-icon-small-coo
 
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