I’ve seen quite a few threads about what sunglasses people wear when riding but I haven’t found one on lens color. I typically just ride with a pair of cheap smoke colored safety glasses. I was thinking about trying something else to see if it improves my visibility on bright sunny days.

There are different types and colors of lenses on the market – smoke, gray, blue, brown, purple, yellow, mirrored, polarized, non-polarized etc. Apparently each colored lens can be beneficial for different tasks such as riding, shooting, fishing, driving at night etc. I read in a motorcycle magazine that some people prefer sunglasses with blue mirrored lenses because they give the best visibility during the day. I have no idea why blue would be better than any other tinted lens.

Has anyone tried sunglasses with different lens colors and preferred one color over another for visibility purposes? I’m curious if I should try different sunglasses or just stick with the cheap smoke colored safety glasses.

 

I personally prefer Smoke/Grey colors for day, Clear or Yellow for night. IMO Yellow helps bring in more light in lower light conditions. But as of last summer, my "go to" shades are a pair of light adjusting (LA) ones..tinted in the day, clear at night. Cost more than some, but one less pair I have to carry. As far as polarized/non, always polarized for fishing, and will use them for riding on super bright days, but if you use them under a face shield they can cause some distortion.

 

My favorite glasses for riding are the photo sensitive Harley Davidson riding glasses by wyle-x I bought them to ride my bikes that dont have windshields they go clear as the sun goes down and I still needed glasses to ride with. That being said dark smoke is good for no cloud days Rose and green for cloudy and yellow for low light. The blue tint is designed to reflect glare from things glass, water, crome. If you have a windshield you might not won't Polarized lens glasses because they do funky things in the windshield and on the road if the sun hits just right you may not be able to see correctly. Serengeti makes a great lens and are worth the money they are designed for driving. They are photo chromatic but don't get totally clear. Another good brand is Maui Jim but on any of these stay away from the glass lens. You should look them up on their website it tells all about the different lens color.

 

I have a pair of Oakley half X with blue iridium polarized lens . Best sunglasses I have ever had ( had 20+ Oakley over the years ) . Great color and vision and have ANSI rating for safety .

 

Blue for sunny days and green for cloudy days. Always polarized. I prefer Costa Del Mar and Ocean Waves.

 

Yellow is supposed to increase contrast, with the benefit of not affecting your night riding.

I typically don't like polarized lenses, simply because a tilt of the head can mean all reflections appear / disappear. It's amazing how many things reflect light that you never think about. This can be a distraction or can impair your depth perception because you're used to seeing something one way, and now it looks totally different.

One added benefit to polarized lenses is that sometimes they'll make something on the road surface, like oil, stand out more. Other times it might make that oil spot HARDER to see depending on the angle of the polarization.

Daytime I prefer to wear a yellow face shield with smoke sunglasses underneath. You have to make sure your glasses and face shields are really clean inside and out if you're going to be wearing both.

 

Got Deer ? Get the brown/bronz or better yet orange lenses. This is a target shooters trick to make brown targets stand right out against green woods. It works.

Got LED readouts ? No Polarized lenses ! Your LED readability is compromised when you wear polarized lenses.

 

My Eye Dr. told me once that your eyes dictate the color. Just because one color works better for one person, it is not necessarily the best for the next. I found the brown tints work best for me. I love the progressive tint kind, so they go to full clear at night, but I do find when it is very bright, I wish the tint would go a bit darker.

 

On bright sunny days I wear my Costa Del Mar sunglasses with blue mirrored lenses. The lenses look more of a dark grey than blue, but they are blue.

At dawn, dusk or days with more glare I switch to my Wiley-X yellow lenses or, occasionally, the amber ones.

At night, I use my clear Rx lenses I had made for the Wiley-X. The lenses are interchangeable. I also have grey sunglasses for the Wiley-X as a backup.

All of my lenses are polarized and I use a windshield all the time. I have not had any issues with the windshield and polarized lenses as was mentioned.

 

WileyX jakes in the amber with blue/green flash. Yes, they are polarized, but I don't really find it to be distracting. The Amber really increases contrast and seems to improve my perceived depth/distance. The blue/green flash makes reds and yellows stand out, especially brake lights and turn signals. Also, they can be worn early morning or late evening when smoke/gray lenses are too dark to see well with.