Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Mar 23, 2011 @ 08:46 AM
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While some people wear sunglasses with tints, polarized lenses or transitions lenses, there is one type of new eyewear that is superior to all the rest. It’s named Drivewear and it is a lens specifically made for driving.
Eye Protection While Driving is Imperative
When driving, sun comes through the windshield and typically hits the dashboard. From the dashboard, the rays of light become glare to your eyes. It can stop you from seeing objects in front of you and to the side, meaning you might not see small children playing alongside the curb.
Why Wear Drivewear?
While polarized lenses are critical in high-glare situations, Drivewear adjusts throughout the day to the outside conditions. Drivewear continually adjust to the outside ambient lighting conditions to:
- Protect your eyes from bright light at high noon
- Improve your vision during gloomy conditions from overcast weather
- And also remove glare for safe driving during regular daylight driving conditions.
A big difference between Drivewear and transition lenses is that Drivewear darkens outside as well as behind the windshield of a car. Transition lenses don’t darken well when in a car, but are ideal for being outdoors in convertibles, skiing and other outside activities.
Who Should Wear Drivewear?
Everyone! From professional sports car drivers and truck drivers to moms and their kids, anyone who wants to drive safely and protect their eyes in all conditions can wear Drivewear.
What Makes Drivewear Special?
The lens engine in Drivewear includes two powerfully advanced technologies (Transition Photochromic technology and NuPolar Polarization technology) that create the ultimate driving lens. Younger Optics, the maker of Drivewear, has filed multiple patents on this invention because it is so advanced.
When Not To Wear Drivewear
Do not wear Drivewear at night. As with all photochromatic lenses, DrivewearR will become darker in cold and evening conditions and may limit visibility. Learn more about Drivewear.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Mar 16, 2011 @ 08:42 AM
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Whether you’re an avid hunter, shooter or police officer, shooting glasses provide added protection from small objects traveling at a fast pace. Although they are not bullet proof, they will protect you from flying objects, such as shell casings, while shooting.
Lens Tinting
If you’re in the woods hunting, at the shooting range for practice, or participating in a shooting competition, you’ll want to select the appropriate lens tinting for your specific application and lighting conditions. Shooting glasses differ from regular safety glasses because of unique lens tints such as orange and amber/yellow. These colors are used to illuminate everything properly, giving you improved vision, especially during dawn and dusk.
Below is a quick break-down of the lens tint colors:
- Amber/Yellow: The amber and yellow tints appear to be the same color. They allow for a high level of contrast and improved definition, especially in low-light applications such as dawn or dusk. It has 85% VLT (visual light transmittance), which is why you don’t want to use an amber lens at high noon. (Note: VLT is the approximate amount of visible light that gets through a lens.)
- Orange: An orange tint is very similar to amber and yellow, but with more of an orange hue. This color tint provides a high contrast and is ideal for general wear with intermittent light conditions. It has a 50% VLT.
- Gray: Regular sunglasses use a gray tint and are primarily used for outdoor applications. This color tint minimizes glare that can result from eye strain and fatigue. Gray lens tinting has 15% VLT, which is why you can’t see well while wearing your sunglasses at dawn or dusk.
Shooting Glasses Improve Your Sight for Distance
There are special techniques that can be applied to your shooting glasses to improve your site for distance. Some doctors create specialty pairs of shooting glasses for a specific distance, such as 100 meters away from a target. Prescription shooting glasses can improve your ability to see both the site and target, as well as improve your shooting accuracy.
Example: Michigan Police Officer Wears Improved Shooting Glasses
In Michigan last year, a Saginaw Township police officer asked Hi-Tech Optical Inc. to create a pair of prescription shooting glasses for him. Hi-Tech Optical applied a few special techniques to improve the vision. After using the shooting glasses, he returned to the office and explained how happy he was with the new glasses that we had made him. He said, “It has increased my ability to see the site and target simultaneously. It has also improved my shooting ability and accuracy.” How is this possible? Hi-Tech Optical uses a combination of lenses in a strategic way to obtain these types of results. If you want to see these same results, contact us.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Mar 09, 2011 @ 08:40 AM
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For recreational or professional use, prescription diving masks protect the eyes and provide clear vision while under water. To learn more about prescription diving masks, read below about prescription compatibility and how prescriptions are added to diving masks.
Prescription Compatibility with Diving Masks
There is an inherent limitation in diving masks that prevent certain prescriptions from being compatible with diving masks. Because the lens area on a diving mask is flat, the prescription lenses have to be flat as well. Many prescriptions cannot work on a flat surface. Contact a qualified optical laboratory, such as Hi-Tech Optical Inc., and ask if your prescription will work for a diving mask before you purchase.
How Prescription Lenses Work in Diving Masks
Prescription diving masks are quite expensive and time consuming to create, mainly because of the customization and flat surface. The two ways that prescriptions can be added to diving masks include:
- The entire lens area is a prescription lens that is custom built.
- Prescription lenses are inserted between the mask face shield and your eyes.
In the first option above, the manufacturer must hand design a shape similar to the mask. Once the lens is created it is then adhered with epoxy to the mask. Be careful in selecting a qualified optical laboratory to minimize possible issues with your diving mask. Occasionally, bubbles can get in between the lenses and the diving mask, which cannot be removed.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Mar 02, 2011 @ 10:35 AM
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Want to protect your eyes during your favorite sports and outdoor activities? If you or your kids participate in local sports teams, leagues, or other activities, prescription sports goggles provide secure, protective eyewear to help you see better and be better protected.
Why is it Important to Wear Protective Sports Eyewear?
Eye injury is a reality in the world of sports. As you can see with the list of sports eye injury statistics below, protective sports eyewear really is important for improved safety.
- More than 600,000 eye injuries are related to sports and recreation occur each year.
- Every 13 minutes a person with a sports related eye injury visits an emergency room.
- More than 90% of all eye injuries can be prevented with the use of appropriate protective eyewear.
What is Protective Sports Eyewear?
Protective sports eyewear is either eyeglass frames or goggles that are specifically designed and manufactured to meet or exceed the appropriate U.S. Impact Protection Standards. All protective sports eyewear must have protective lenses designed to withstand impact. Most sports goggles also have sports bands to help secure the goggles to your face during high-impact activities.
What are the U.S. Impact Protection Standards?
There are two important U.S. standards for protective eyewear:
- ASTM F803: The American Society for Testing and Materials publishes protective eyewear standards for various sports. F803 is the strictest standard for protective eyewear.
- ANSI Z87.1: The American National Standards Institute publishes standards for protective eyewear designed for occupational safety.
Prescriptions in the Goggles
With prescription sports goggles, your individual prescription will be ground into the polycarbonate lenses and inserted into the sports goggles. Therefore, each pair of prescription sports goggles are unique and cannot be worn by other users.
What Brands do we Recommend?
Among the numerous quality suppliers that we use at Hi-Tech Optical Inc., the two biggest suppliers for prescription sports goggles are Liberty Sport and Wiley X. Two great options from Liberty Sport that we recommend are the F8 and Rec Specs. Both of these frames are tested to withstand the ASTM F803 impact resistant standards for baseball, basketball, handball, paddleball, racquetball, squash, and tennis.
- F8: This is a new premium protective sports eyewear brand with 8 models that all incorporate the most advanced eye rim, frame, and fit technologies.
- Rec Specs: Rec Specs is the world leading brand of high-quality protective eyewear designed specifically for sporting applications.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 12:39 PM
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When it comes to eye safety, there are some cases in which regular safety glasses will work perfectly for your needs. However, there are cases in which you might want to use safety goggles for complete protection.
So how do you decide between safety glasses and safety goggles? Below is an explanation of the differences.
Safety Glasses
For a good majority of eye protection needs, you’ll probably want to wear safety glasses. The safety frames, safety lenses and side shields will provide adequate protection and safety from flying objects. Safety glasses help protect your eyes from objects that could bruise, pierce or damage the eyes and are tested to withstand high impacts. Safety frames are tested to ensure they can withstand the impact from a 1/4” steel ball traveling at 150 fps (feet per second) without dislodging the lenses. Safety lenses for safety glasses are tested to withstand impact from a 1/4” steel ball shot at 150 fps.
Safety Goggles
While safety glasses protect from high impact, they do not provide complete eye protection from all elements in the air because there are small gaps around the top, sides and bottom. There are many work and sport environments in which safety goggles would be a better choice to provide complete eye protection. Safety googles provide complete 360 degree coverage around the eyes and includes a strap to help hold the goggles securely against your face. They also usually contain breathing or ventilation holes to help with air flow.
In most cases, you won’t wear prescription safety goggles. Most people wear their regular dress prescription glasses or prescription safety glasses with the safety goggles overtop for the added protection. Here’s an example of when you would want to put safety goggles on over your glasses or safety glasses. If you are grinding metal, you don’t want the debris metal fragments to ruin your safety glasses. Especially with glass lenses, the metal fragments can stick, burn and pit the lenses. And with the metal fragments flying through the air, it would be easy for them to whisp around your glasses and into your eyes. With the 360 degree fit around the glasses, your safety glass lenses and your eyes are completely protected.
When trying to decide if you need safety glasses or safety goggles, the answer might be both. But it really depends on if you need a prescription to see clearly and if you are ever dealing with fine particles or debris that can be air borne.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 12:35 PM
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Over the 70+ years that Hi-Tech Optical has been in business, one common theme we tell our customers is they need to offer a wide variety of safety glasses for their workers. Why is it important to have a good variety of safety glasses? The better the variety of safety glasses, the higher the employee utilization of the glasses and the better your compliance with legal regulations. If the employees like their safety glasses and they are comfortable, they will wear them.
Factors that must be considered when providing a safety glasses selection for employees is style, fit, safety, and job needs.
- Style: Employees like to wear a stylish frame. No one wants to look like a dork with big huge ugly frames.
- Fit: Safety glasses need to fit comfortably on the face. If it is not comfortable to wear, the worker will constantly take them on and off (increasing the risk of eye injury)… or mysteriously “lose” them because they don’t want to wear them any more. Faces come in all sizes and shapes, from large or small, oblong or round, small nose or big nose, etc. A large selection of safety glasses will allow workers to find a frame style that matches their facial features to offer optimal comfort and fit.
- Safety: If a worker has a safety glass that fits properly on their face, their eyes are better protected. If the fit is too loose around the nose, forehead, eyes or ears, there is an increased risk for exposure to unwanted elements, as well as slippage resulting in complete exposure without protection.
- Job: All safety glasses are not created equal. Some are made specifically for different job applications. Companies must consider the job requirements and offer the best frames and lenses for the specific hazards and risks their workers face. For example, if workers need complete protection of their entire face, they may need safety goggles. Or they may even need a respirator or faceshield with an insert for prescriptions to enable the worker to see clearly.
Many companies with safety glasses programs have a large selection of 20, 30, 40 or more to ensure worker compliance because an increased variety of safety glasses will help workers stay safe.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Feb 09, 2011 @ 12:26 PM
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It is important to have safety glasses with safety frames that are suited to the worker’s specific environment and needs. Safety frames are heat resistant, stronger than streetwear frames, and are designed to hold lenses in place during trauma to the glasses. Safety frames come in all styles, colors and materials. Below is a list of options for safety frame material types, including plastic, metal, titanium and rimless.
Plastic Safety Frames
Total plastic safety frames are an anti-arcing frame and do not include metal parts. Plastic frames can be heavier than metal frames and are less adjustable because the frames are thicker and more rigid; therefore they feel more solid and secure. Plastic frames also can lose their “fit” a lot quicker than a metal frame, meaning you have to make more frequent office visits to get the frames adjusted.
Plastic safety frames are perfect for workers at power companies, electricians and anyone near electricity because they don’t include metal. If you are concerned about metal as well as air-borne dust, a good frame to choose is the Sperian SW06. It has a dust-inhibiting foam padded bar across the top so that debris can’t drop between your forehead and glasses. If there is a lot of dust in the air, use the elastic strap to pull the safety frame and padded foam tight to your face to keep out all the dust.
Metal Safety Frames
Metal safety frames are more flexible than plastic and are fully adjustable for a durable, custom fit without sacrificing style. The metal frames are more lightweight than plastic and include a saddle nose pad and soft, flexible temples for increased comfort.
Metal safety frames are good for many work and sporting environments. They are durable and long-lasting, with a lower frequency for needing adjustments. However, one adjustment that is the most common for metal frames is the temples can break due to wear from the glasses being taken on and off.
Titanium Safety Frames
Titanium safety frames may feel like a luxury, but they have a lot of advantages. Titanium safety frames are malleable, meaning they can bend without breaking, thereby increasing safety and decreasing the number of adjustments to keep them fitting well. Titanium safety frames also can be used for very thin rims and intricate designs, increasing comfort and style. They are more lightweight than metal or plastic, making them very comfortable and almost giving you the feeling that you aren’t wearing glasses. Titanium safety frames are also non-allergic. They may cost more, but if these features are important to you, it might be worth the price.
Rimless Safety Frames
Rimless safety frames are more sleek and contemporary, as well as comfortable. These wireless glasses do not have a visible frame of plastic or metal and can therefore appear that you are not wearing glasses at all. Without a frame to hold the lenses, frameless glasses are easier to break than plastic or metal.
Whatever frame you choose, be sure that the frame material meets all of your safety needs, requirements, comfort and budget. If you find that none of these materials will do the job, check out safety goggles for increased protection.
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Feb 02, 2011 @ 12:20 PM
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According to the latest ANSI standards, safety glasses must have side shields. Side shields are the added attachments on the sides of your safety glasses to better protect the eyes. Side shields added to safety glasses prevent flying foreign bodies (including liquid, wood, metal shavings and other objects) from getting in the eyes. There are two types of side shields: clip-on and permanently attached.
Clip-on Side Shields
Clip-on side shields means exactly that… they clip-on to the safety glasses. The advantage for the employee who is wearing the safety glasses is the side shields can be removed (meaning they can wear the glasses off-duty at home). Safety frames are so attractive today that you really can’t tell the difference between safety frames and streetwear frames. So employees like having clip-on side shields for wearing outside of work.
Employers don’t like the clip-on side shields because it makes it easier for employees to lose their side shields. If an employee wears safety glasses without the side shields, the employer is therefore not in compliance with safety regulations.
Permanently Attached Side Shields
Permanently attached side shields are attached to the temple of the frame (in what is called the “t lock”) and locks the side shield on the temple so that it can’t be removed. The main advantage of having permanent side shields is that workers cannot remove the side shields from the safety glasses, thus ensuring safety and compliance.
When trying to decide which option is best for you, consider compliance, safety, and off-work use. Also, please note that all certified side shields must be marked in specific ways in order to meet the latest ANSI Z87 standard. If you have side shields that are not properly marked, they do not meet safety standards and do not provide adequate protection.
Posted by Rebecca Kotz on Wed, Jan 26, 2011 @ 08:55 AM
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Not all shades for safety lenses are created equally. You need to have the right lens shading for your specific application. For example, if you have eye sensitivity, work with lasers or are indoors and outdoors throughout the day, you will want to select the best types of shading for your needs.
You may want to use photochromatic, tinted or polarized lenses. Photochromic lenses will lighten and darken depending on the availability of ultraviolet light. A colored tint will permanently tint the lenses of your glasses. And polarized lenses will reduce glare through special polarized filters and also provide 100% UV protection.
To help you select the right lens shading for your application, below are the government guidelines for the appropriate shade numbers for various operations.
Filter Lenses for Protection Against Radiant Energy
Posted by Cristie Wineland on Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 08:51 AM
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Selecting the right pair of laser safety glasses is very important for your sight and safety, especially when dealing with potentially hazardous laser beams. Lasers and reflected laser beams can cause serious eye damage, but with laser safety glasses those dangerous wavelengths are filtered out.
If you’re looking for the right pair of laser safety glasses, here are 3 tips to help you decide what you need.
- FRAME: Choose a frame style that matches your ... (1) Application requirements – From lightweight to wrap-around designs, find the options that match your requirements. (2) Personal style – With the large selection of contemporary designs available today, you don’t have to sacrifice style for safety. (3) Facial features – A poorly fitting frame will result in poor safety.
- FILTER: Based on the wavelength(s) of the laser(s) you’re exposed to in the workplace, select a filter that will offer the necessary protection. Note: In the case of multiple wavelengths, you may need more than 1 pair of laser glasses.
- OPTICAL DENSITY: Depending on the laser type and how it is used, you may need to consider Optical Density. For example, when the laser is used for alignment purposes, the beam must be visible, and the OD must be chosen to accommodate this requirement.
Whether needed for industrial, military, telecommunications, medical, R&D or specialty usage, it is paramount to have quality laser eyewear that matches your needs. Hi-Tech Optical provides laser safety glasses and goggles from the best brands in the industry in a variety of styles to offer top-notch technology, comfort and wearability.