Polarised Lenses vs Sunglasses (Tinted Lenses) – What’s the Difference?

Do you know the difference between polarised lenses and sunglasses? Let’s take a look at both of them and see what the differences are.

What are Polarised lenses?

Polarised lenses are designed to reduce blinding glare as they only allow vertical light to be passed through to the eye, eliminating glare whilst protecting your eyes from harmful Ultra Violet rays.

Glare is usually reflected off roads, water, snow, glass, and metal making polarised lenses ideal for many outdoor activities such as fishing, skiing, cycling, and golf, and when you’re driving, polarised lenses are particularly beneficial.

Roads, other cars, puddles, and even your dashboard can create glare, which can be very distracting when driving. Only polarised lenses can remove this glare, working much like a Venetian blind to block out horizontally polarised light waves, helping to make your driving experience much safer.

What are Sunglasses (tinted lenses)?

Sunglasses are tinted lenses that help protect your eyes from UV light.

Tinted lenses are great for outdoor enthusiasts, athletes, and anyone who wants to add a pop of colour to their life. In addition to making your environment appear brighter, they reduce glare, improve contrast, and enhance your depth perception.

Coloured lenses are perfect for brightening up even the most basic frames and all our tinted lenses have 100% UV protection.

You may want to read: Dispelling the Myths about Photochromic Lenses

How do Polarised lenses compare to Sunglasses?

Sunglasses are designed to reduce brightness, not blinding glare. Glare can cause eye strain or fatigue, and it can also be strong enough to block your vision. Glare can vary from mild discomfort to blinding, and it can be worse with age or if you have lighter-coloured eyes. Whereas Polarised lenses are designed specifically to reduce this experience. You can also pair your polarised lenses with an anti-reflective coating for further protection.

What other differences are there?

Unless you opt for a mirror coating (available in green, gold, silver, red or blue with either a grey or brown base tint) Tinted lenses offer a wider range of options in terms of colour, therefore they can be more specific to what you like. This is because tinted lenses can be 1 solid colour or a graduated tint (dark at the top of the lens and gradually getting lighter towards the bottom of the lens). Tinted lenses are available in standard brown or grey sun tint or a more specific colour such as green, blue or yellow! Whereas Polarised lenses are only available in a solid grey, brown or green. Each colour has a different percentage of light transmission. As shown below.

Another main difference is the cost, Polarised lenses are more costly, however, you definitely get what you pay for in terms of protection for your eyes.

	Polarised	Tinted
Protect from UV light
Eliminates more than 99% of glare and blocks UVA and UVB light
Blocks blinding glare from reflective surfaces
Improves contrast and colours
Improves visual acuity and comfort
Mirror coating can be added
Wide range of colours available
Most affordable

Polarised
Protect from UV light
Eliminates more than 99% of glare and blocks UVA and UVB light
Blocks blinding glare from reflective surfaces
Improves contrast and colours
Improves visual acuity and comfort
Mirror coating can be added
Wide range of colours available
Most affordable

Tinted
Protect from UV light
Eliminates more than 99% of glare and blocks UVA and UVB light
Blocks blinding glare from reflective surfaces
Improves contrast and colours
Improves visual acuity and comfort
Mirror coating can be added
Wide range of colours available

We hope that this description of the main differences between polarised lenses and sunglasses has been helpful. Do you want to reglaze your sunglasses with polarised or tinted lenses? The team are waiting for you!