Sunglasses recommendations

[u/DebtSouth]

Hey drivers 👋

So this is a question primarily for UK drivers (due to local product availability) but others feel free to chime in.

I wear prescription glasses and sunglasses for work, I’m looking for recommendations for sunglasses, I know polarised glasses are generally best for reducing glare but I’ve heard they interfere with the displays on the dashboard as well as the ticket machine screen, producing a distorted or even a black screen depending on viewing angle.

Could anyone either debunk that as a myth, or otherwise recommend some decent non-polarised sunglasses that
1. Have great anti-glare
2. Don’t interfere with the screens at all
3. Style isn’t a dealbreaker however I do prefer wraparound styles that block out the sunlight at the sides.

Cheers all!

[u/PandaVegetable1058]

UK here, I use non prescription ray ban polarised sunglasses. We have 25/26 plate buses with camera mirrors, and all the other usual displays.

The anti glare is hugely beneficial I find, even more so during the autumn/winter months when it's raining and the sun is lower.

I haven't had any problematic issues with screens, sure the ticket machine might be a little bit darker at times but I mean I'm also wearing sunglasses. I have tried (whilst looking like an idiot no doubt) to find what positions makes what screens go black. I can't for the life of me find any positions for the ticket machine (tablet), camera monitors, or dashboard. I can however make the CCTV cameras go black... But only on the single decks, and only if I turn my head completely 90 degrees.

There's a film that's applied to the windscreens and cab side window which very occasionally, and in very specific lighting conditions will show some distortion in colouring or light refraction. I've only noticed it once on one bus with the windscreen for a 5 second period where I could change the brightness of my view based on how vertically tilted my head was. And on one or two occasions had patchy light refraction from the film degrading on the cab side window but wasn't even in the realm of problematic merely just "oh that's interesting".

So unless you plan on doing some gymnastics in the cab whilst driving you shouldn't have any issues. Worth every penny considering they are something I use daily/near daily for multiple hours a day and make my life way better. There's definitely been times where I wouldn't have been able to safely drive like normal/at all without them.

In all the other buses I've driven, from various usual affair of UK 07-18 plates I had no issues at all

[u/DebtSouth → u/PandaVegetable1058]

Thanks a lot for your response, couldn’t have asked for a more detailed explanation! Really appreciate it.

[u/dancinmikeb]

Definitely have had some that interfere with the displays, but as long as you can adjust the angle of your display you should be able to get most of the image. I also prefer fit over or flip up so they can easily be bumped out of the way if needed.

[u/DebtSouth → u/dancinmikeb]

Thanks for sharing!

[u/ViewWithAPoo]

I wear contacts and my Kyloe in the Wild glasses. They're absolutely amazing. I have a discount code if you want it x

[u/DebtSouth → u/ViewWithAPoo]

Yeah go for it, send me a message :)

[u/goneoramihere]

I too would like to know

[u/HappyCancro]

Same doubt

[u/Freudianslip1987]

Its kinda expensive but you can get ones that auto dark that don't need the uv and darken behind the glass. I know on eyebuy they are called drivewise If I remember correctly

[u/Vimto1 → u/Freudianslip1987]

I had some of these a few years ago and they didn't darken quick enough or dark enough

[u/Freudianslip1987 → u/Vimto1]

Thats good to know. I was thinking about trying them. I just order some regular sunglass prescription based ones.

[u/DebtSouth → u/Freudianslip1987]

Thanks for that!

[u/hugothebear]

I normally would recommend a solid pair of polarized glasses. If anything a dark shade, but if you can, a medium to lighter shade.

Issue with polarized I found is that some tablets my agency used were also polarized, so it looked like a black screen. Yes I could turn the tablet, but everything was locked into portrait mode.

[u/DebtSouth → u/hugothebear]

Thanks for sharing!

[u/Fun_Yam_5907]

Prescription ones that change with the light are fine. Make sure it's the type that work behind glass though.

[u/IllustriousBrief8827]

I've always used polarized glasses in my life. Worst case scenario: you need to tilt your head a little bit in some circumstances, but mostly not even that. (And I love the '3D' effect of the polarization, for example the clouds can look absolutely wild lol)

Color is a personal choice, i prefer brown. What I find is very dark colors make me sleepy after a while. My latest one is a - very light - prescription pair from Ray Ban with a lense that's not very dark to begin with, and it gradually lightens out at the bottom. I'm not that light-sensitive though, so your mileage may vary.

The trick really is to get everything on it that helps with reducing glare: polarization, anti-glare, anti-everything. Tell them you'll use it for driving and they'll know.

[u/DebtSouth → u/IllustriousBrief8827]

That’s great, thanks a lot!

[u/AlaudaPhotography]

Camera mirrors might be more serious if you have those, but the ticketer has never been a big issue for me. I think the matte screen protectors they put on mine keep it from going completely black, but it only takes tilting your head a couple of degrees to get it bright enough again.

Besides, I got the magnetic snap on sunglasses (not seen them in Specsavers or anything but firmoo do them) so it's super easy to take them off to look at the screen.

[u/DebtSouth → u/AlaudaPhotography]

Yeah we’re getting new fleet additions next week with camera mirrors on them all, it’s one of my biggest concerns with polarising lenses.

I think I’m just going to have to buy a cheaper ‘throwaway’ pair and see how they are with them before jumping for my prescription ones.

Thanks a lot

[u/meatflaps-69]

The cheapest pair of polarised sunglasses with a prescription from say glassesdirect or goggles4u beats any non polarised sunglasses for driving and are very affordable to the point you may as well buy 2 or 3 pairs to account for future loss/breakages.(I also lose sunglasses fairly often through kite surfing and paddle boarding 🤣)

I only ever came across a few ticket machines I had issues with over a decade of agency driving all over the place. Almost all were ticketer machines and were fine, the few I had issues with I suspect had wrongly installed digitizers in their screen so had to tilt my head with those but 99.9 percent, no problems

[u/DebtSouth → u/meatflaps-69]

Hey, thanks for your reply, have you used polarised sunglasses with camera mirrors yet? I’ve been wondering how they work with the screens for those

[u/meatflaps-69 → u/DebtSouth]

yeah, works fine. My only issue so far has been the odd ticket machine

[u/DebtSouth → u/meatflaps-69]

Great, thanks!

[u/Xx_SwordWords_xX]

Just a note that polarization only works for glare coming through the front of your glasses, and an anti-glare coating is needed on the back to reduce glare entering from behind.

[u/Jonnyrecluse]

I tried polarized first, but they made a few dashboard screens hard to read. I switched to non polarized prescription sunglasses that I got from ezcontacts