Tinted Safety Glasses

FIRST General Forum
1

I was wondering if anyone here has worn tinted safety glasses either at an event or in similar lighting conditions.

I was interested in finding out if there are any benefits to any of the three allowed tints (amber, rose, or blue), so any experiences with these lenses would be useful.

EDIT: I wanted to clarify that I am not necessarily interested in the lane divider reflections/glare. If any of these tints have positive or negative effects regarding the glare that you have experienced that would be good to know as well, but my query is regarding the effects of the different tints in general.

2

Also has any drivers experimented with polarized safety glasses?

3

Ive used yellow (amber) tinted glasses driving before. I really don’t se much of a difference.

4

If you check Q&A here http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?p=16051#post16051

and

http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=9011

You will find that FIRST has thought of polarized materials, and while you can use them on an operator panel, glasses are a no-no.

Also from the GDC…

Note that a quick experiment last weekend at one of the regional sites showed that neither horizontal nor vertical polarization filtering removes the reflected images.

5

I was a driver at the kansas city regional (team 1777) and i used normal (non-tinted) safty glasses on thursday, and used amber tinted ones on friday and saturday. the glare and reflection off of the plexi on the lane divider is wicked, if your in the one or three spot its REALLY hard to see the other corner. While the tinted ones didn’t rid the glare all together, i found it slightly better. I would recomend testing them both out and seeing which one you prefer, but i found the tinted ones quite helpfull.

6

Amber really brightens up your view, its great for low-light situations. I wore some amber shooting glasses (Z87 certified) last year and I was quite happy with the effect of the tint. This year I switched to clear safety glasses because my shooting glasses aren’t really comfortable when worn over my prescription glasses, and one of our mentors brought some nice safety glasses from his work that fit over glasses very well. However, I would jump at another pair of amber tinted safety glasses if I saw some at the store, as long as they fit over my glasses.

7

I use amber tinted bifocal safety glasses. The amber coloring does help brighten up some poorly light areas. Especially the pit areas at the NJ Regional and in the Conference Center in Atlanta. I do know it has something to do with the “blue light band” spectrum, but I don’t remember the specifics. The bifocals help with some of the smaller microelectronic soldering points.

I find they work extremely well, and am pleased I purchased them.
Do NOT wear them outside in bright sunlight. That is clear written about them.

8

We’ve had orange and yellow tinted glasses before, and the big thing is that they make everything orange and yellow, and it gave me a headache… I don’t think they ever say anything to people in the pits, but I think they’re more strict with the drivers.

9

I agree with Ryan N above. Last year I got all excited and went out and bought some amber tinted safety glasses, only to realize that everything being a different color got on my nerves. I ended up switching to a pair of clear glasses, which I ended up liking a lot more. In the end though, it’s all down to personal preference.