Are Anti-glare Sunglasses Worth It?

When picking out a new pair of sunglasses, most of us naturally focus on the most obvious aspects of sunglasses: brand, frame style, color, and fit for our face shape. However, while it's certainly important to look cool, it's also important to protect our eyesight.

Glare can sometimes obstruct, irritate or otherwise impair your vision, so it's critical to choose the right lens material and counteract it. In this blog post, JINGWEI will learn all about lens coatings and anti-glare lenses, and what they can do for you and your vision.

Anti-glare and anti-reflective

Anti-glare lenses and anti-reflective lenses are not necessarily the same thing. Anti-glare is often referred to as AG; anti-reflective = AR; and while they serve the same purpose, they work in slightly different ways, and in some cases, they can even be used together in the same pair of anti-glare glasses. To understand how they work, let's compare the two and note the differences.

AG: Anti-glare

The clue may be in the name - anti-glare sunglasses are designed to reduce glare, which is the problem of light reflecting back from the outer surface to the front of your sunglasses and therefore reducing the clarity and resolution of your vision. It does this through a diffusion process, which means that glare is "scattered" and not allowed to enter the lenses, thus protecting your eyes and clearing your vision and clarity.

AR: Anti-Reflection

Unlike diffusion-based lens coatings, AR solutions reduce and block external light and internal light sources.

A transmission-enhancing film consists of a thin, transparent film composed of alternating layers of contrasting refractive materials in sequence. Light waves simply hit the coating and are "cut off" and reduced as they pass through the multiple layers, almost like a filtering system.

In short, while anti-glare and anti-reflective sunglasses work in slightly different ways, they have the same goal - to block unwanted and unwelcome light. In addition, as you would naturally expect, the darker the lens, the better it blocks glare or reflection.

Benefits of anti-glare sunglasses

Anti-reflective lenses and anti-glare lenses have obvious benefits that can help us solve all of the above problems. There are a number of other available technologies that can also help, such as

Polarized lenses

If your lenses are polarized, either in addition to the coating on top or on their own, this will also effectively counteract glare. Polarized lenses work by blocking all horizontal light waves, which includes glare generated by light reflected from objects and surfaces. They work in a similar way to a pair of blinds in that they can block up to 50% of the light from entering through the lens.

Tinted lenses

Dark tinted lenses also do an excellent job of blocking unwanted ambient light and glare, either as a standalone option or as a complement to anti-reflective lens coatings. Tinting is a way to darken lenses, so while they don't completely eliminate glare, they do absorb light and reduce light intensity as a result. When used in combination with polarized lens technology, they are a very effective way to block distracting light and glare.

Mirrored Lenses

Mirror lenses can also provide some additional glare protection by reflecting some glare off the lens. However, the benefits in this case are marginal compared to the combination of tint and polarization, and from a technical standpoint, we do not recommend using mirror lenses alone as a reliable way to offset glare.

Choose us

Regardless of the type of coating or additive you choose, rest assured that JINGWEI's lenses will still always provide you with the benefits of 100% UV protection. We guarantee you the crystal clarity of pure glass with all the strength, longevity and durability of hard-wearing plastic.

Jingwei Optical is a Sino-foreign joint venture. It mainly produces finished products of internationally renowned brand It mainly produces finished products of internationally renowned brand GENTLEMONSTER sunglasses (own brand), and cooperates with Huawei to produce smart glasses.