Clear vs Yellow Gaming Glasses
According to The Vision Council of America, 70% of U.S. adults experience digital eye strain as a result of increasing use of digital devices. Luckily, gaming glasses offer a simple and affordable measure to protect against this. If you have been in the market for gaming eye wear, you’ve probably seen different color lens tints. In terms of clear vs yellow gaming glasses, which style wins?
Intuitively, you might assume that the yellow lenses offer more protection, and you’re correct. However, they may not be right for you. We’re here to break down the difference in lens tints and help you make a more informed buying decision.
Gunnar Gaming Glasses Top Pick
What are gaming glasses?
Gaming glasses are usually non-prescription eye wear worn during extended PC or console game play. The lenses are typically made from polycarbonate. These glasses are designed specifically to help protect your eyes from irritating and potentially damaging blue spectrum light.
How do gaming glasses work?
Gaming glasses are to screens what sunblock is to the sun. The lens tints have a coating that acts to block out blue light. It’s all about the blue light protection factor which we breakdown below.
What do gaming glasses do?
Simply put, gaming glasses defend your eyes from digital strain. Every time you look at a screen, you subject yourself to digital eye strain. The New York Post reports that screen time now accounts for half of Americans waking hours.
To put that in perspective, if you sleep an average of 8 hours a night, you likely view a screen of some kind for six hours and 43 minutes a day. Over time, unchecked screen exposure can lead to retinal damage, which is a precursor to age-related macular degeneration.
While, the primary use is to shield harmful blue light, there are numerous other uses.
One of the other notable benefits is better sleep. Did you know that blue light suppresses delta waves inside your brain, which are responsible for inducing sleep? If you’ve ever gamed well into the night and had trouble falling asleep, this is the reason why.
Another advantage is the prevention of dry eyes. Anytime you are looking at screens for long periods, your eyes will become dry. Most gaming glasses have a wrapped lens shape that limits air currents to maintain humidity, which sharpens detail and reduces strain.
In addition, gaming glasses also reduce glare. This is helpful for the hardcore gamers in the middle of a heated battle.
Lens tint breakdown:
Lens tints use BLPF to gauge their blue light filtering effectiveness. This stands for Blue Light Protection Factor. The higher the BLPF, the more the lens tint will shield against blue light. The most popular gaming glasses company Gunnar, breaks down lens tint.
The blue light spectrum peaks at 450 nanometers. Gunnar’s lenses act to filter out the 450 nanometer wavelength with varying degrees of effectiveness, depending on the lens tint.
Clear Lens
The clear lens option is discreet protection without the amber tint. The BLPF is 35, which is a very common option for people who are mildly bothered by blue light.
Amber Lens
With a BLPF of 65, the Amber lens tint is optimal for protection and performance. This is usually the best option to go with if you game for extended periods of time.
Sun Lens
The Sun option is great if you’re gaming outside, or even if you’re using a screen outside at work. This option has a whopping 90 BLPF and offers excellent protection from digital screens in sunlit environments.
Amber Max Lens
The Amber Max tint offers the the highest blue light protection factor of all lenses. With a BLPF of 98, this lens blocks out nearly 100 percent of harmful light on this eye-damaging wavelength. This lens offers maximum protection for those who are highly sensitive or working at night.
Should you choose clear or yellow gaming glasses?
Choosing the correct lens tint is a matter of personal preference and need. The two primary considerations to take into account are: the number of hours you spend exposed to screens and the environment in which you game or work.
If blue light doesn’t bother you all that much, or you aren’t gaming more than 1 to 2 hours a day, the clear lens is a great choice. This tint offers a subtle layer of protection that offsets mild digital eye-strain.
You should consider the higher BLPF yellow (amber) version if you are more sensitive to blue light. The amber lens is a perfect choice if you work in front of a computer or game for 3+ hours per day.
The sun lens is an excellent choice for outdoor use, particularly if you use technology while exposed to the sunlight.
The amber max is the best selection you can make to shield your eyes from strain. If you game for long periods of time, especially in dimly lit or dark environments, these lenses are ideal.
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