GUNNAR Optiks Digital Performance Eyewear @ [H]

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,599
GUNNAR Optiks Digital Performance Eyewear - Who is GUNNAR Optiks? What is Digital Performance Eyewear? Why should you care? Is it all a load marketing BS or do these glasses really work? We put them on, left them on, and three [H] editors are here to share our experiences.


GUNNAR Optiks performance eyewear provided a real benefit to all three HardOCP editors that tried them out. The products and packaging are very high quality, have a one year warranty, so the only thing you have to lose is eye strain and about $200 of your hard earned money. Obviously price can be a big sticking point on buying these.
This morning as of editing this and writing the conclusion statements for this article, we all talked via IM.
Click to expand...
 
It would be nice if they made a prescription version of these things, or of they licensed their technology to frame manufacturers to use with the magnetic clip-on things found on some prescription sets, or make their own prescription frames with magnetic clip-on lenses.

I could do with some eye-strain relief, but if I took my glasses of to wear the Gunnar things, I would have to sit with my eyes 6" from my display.
 
Seems like it'd be worth looking into. Thanks for reviewing products outside of the typical range, guys.

I'm in the same situation as Mark, though. I've got to get uncomfortably close to my screen to read anything without glasses.

edit: By the way, thanks for the 3007WFP-HC recommendation, Kyle. I'm really enjoying it, despite the stuck pixels that will call for replacement.
 
Fharakin said:
Man I really would like to try these out, but not at that price.
Click to expand...

It doesn't help that their marketing department is made up of 12 year olds.

"Be a Gunnar Stunna Like DJ Whoo Kid! Gunnar Optiks Shades for Gamers
Tech junkies and gamers across the net have been pretty geeked over the latest shades from Gunnar Optiks. DJ Whoo Kid rolled with the Gunnar crew down to E3 last week, and was actually able to make a fashion statement out of his shades as he met up with Quincy Jones and QD3! In Hip Hop [...]"

Who are they trying to sell these to?
 
They cost as low as $79 for the Esport line of glasses...

Only the Halogen from the Sphere line is listed at $189.
 
BettiePage said:
They cost as low as $79 for the Esport line of glasses...

Only the Halogen from the Sphere line is listed at $189.
Click to expand...

Did not see this. Then again, they did not send any of these. I will update the article with price scaling.
 
anyone of you nearsighted like me? i sit at a computer and nearsighted glasses i wear everyday put strain on my eyes since they overzoom everything and do not offer tint protection.

how big of a deuche would i look like at work?
 
After doing some looking around, it appears that they do offer prescription versions. There's a place within 10 miles of me that carry them as well.

Do these come with a clear lens, or is the tint part of what makes it work?
 
jroe52 said:
anyone of you nearsighted like me? i sit at a computer and nearsighted glasses i wear everyday put strain on my eyes since they overzoom everything and do not offer tint protection.

how big of a deuche would i look like at work?
Click to expand...

I think all of them make you look fairly douche'ee.
 
well were in IT support so we already look like douches.

lol. but regardless any of you nearsighted like me? i often have troubles studying like PDF books that i buy online... because i get dizzy and fall asleep. or pdfs professors use to send in college.

could you let me know any successes with online reading? or would you say... just like your article... that it was easier to read white background, black text with the glasses?
 
I really agree with all of the above that you would look like a complete twat wearing a pair of those. The thought of everything being tinted yellow, along with magnification, just sounds unpleasant...much less with the cost of those. Makes it difficult to take that kind of a leap of faith.
 
No pics of you guys looking silly in the glasses?

Maybe photoshopped in front of some riced up civics??
 
Monkeypillow said:
After doing some looking around, it appears that they do offer prescription versions. There's a place within 10 miles of me that carry them as well.

Do these come with a clear lens, or is the tint part of what makes it work?
Click to expand...

The tint comes from their iONik technology - http://www.gunnars.com/technology/technology_lenstint.php

It looks like there may be a Crystal version, did not see that before. All their product pages show the Amber tint, and that tint is definitely not advantageous for gaming.
 
Perhaps Gunnar could supply gamma corrections for your PC to help alleviate some of the color difference?

Anyways, watching the video was very interesting. Looking through the lens compared to without it actually hurt my eyes. I need something like this but not for $200 or even $100, heh.
 
If these prove to have a beneficial advantage to the health of your eyes you could probably get them for free or small co-pay with your medical/eye care insurance. I will have to talk to my HR rep about these because my vision is very good and I haven't been to a doctor in a long time but last time I was there I had 20/20. However I spend 8 hours a day looking at computer monitors and there are just some days when it hurts my eyes just to stare at a screen with a lot of white on it or text is blurry.

These also might make work easier when I hungover... those days really suck :D.
 
I wear a hat everyday to work and have my monitors shoved as far back under my cube overhang as possible to protect my sensitive eyes. Between having two flat panels, staring at them for 8 hours, always on and excessive flourescent lighting above and behind. Im always looking at ways to save my eye strain and inevitable blurred vision. I have never used glasses and have near 20/20 vision. If $200 helps protect that, thats a tiny investment. Will be doing more research on this.
 
Mark_Warner said:
It would be nice if they made a prescription version of these things, or of they licensed their technology to frame manufacturers to use with the magnetic clip-on things found on some prescription sets, or make their own prescription frames with magnetic clip-on lenses.

I could do with some eye-strain relief, but if I took my glasses of to wear the Gunnar things, I would have to sit with my eyes 6" from my display.
Click to expand...
They do make a prescription version. I just called Trinity Eye Care in Plano and they quoted me a price of $450 for just progressive (bi-focal) lenses. They also come in single vision. The gentleman I spoke to said they can be made for any frame, or any of the Gunnar frames, but the Gunnar frames work best "due to their curvature". Production time is 5-7 days. Evidently what makes these work is the tint, the anti-reflective coating and the curvature of the lenses (which gives the magnifying effect). I imagine you could get the same effect with a good pair of (progressive) lenses with a comparable tint and an AR coating, and maybe even a polarized lens.

Mark, I strongly recommend Zenni Optical if you have never given them a try. I bought a pair of single vision glasses for watching TV with AR and titanium frames and they were $75 shipped. Glasses website with links to other online glasses shops. Glassy Eyes.
 
That_Sound_Guy said:
I wear a hat everyday to work and have my monitors shoved as far back under my cube overhang as possible to protect my sensitive eyes. Between having two flat panels, staring at them for 8 hours, always on and excessive flourescent lighting above and behind. Im always looking at ways to save my eye strain and inevitable blurred vision. I have never used glasses and have near 20/20 vision. If $200 helps protect that, thats a tiny investment. Will be doing more research on this.
Click to expand...

Its always the lighting.....

Last place I worked at we kept the lights off on our portion of the floor. Now I am kind of the same, the monitors are now pushed under the overhead bins, but luckly my cube doesn't have any lights directly over it.
 
qdemn7 said:
... I imagine you could get the same effect with a good pair of (progressive) lenses with a comparable tint and an AR coating, and maybe even a polarized lens. ...
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I was thinking. :)
 
i want to get a pair for the lady (gamer) this summer ill post if they are douchy or not on a lady vs a dude. most likely douchy on the dude only
 
qdemn7 said:
They do make a prescription version. I just called Trinity Eye Care in Plano and they quoted me a price of $450 for just progressive (bi-focal) lenses. They also come in single vision. The gentleman I spoke to said they can be made for any frame, or any of the Gunnar frames, but the Gunnar frames work best "due to their curvature". Production time is 5-7 days. Evidently what makes these work is the tint, the anti-reflective coating and the curvature of the lenses (which gives the magnifying effect). I imagine you could get the same effect with a good pair of (progressive) lenses with a comparable tint and an AR coating, and maybe even a polarized lens.

Mark, I strongly recommend Zenni Optical if you have never given them a try. I bought a pair of single vision glasses for watching TV with AR and titanium frames and they were $75 shipped. Glasses website with links to other online glasses shops. Glassy Eyes.
Click to expand...

Here's Gunnar's page on the prescription versions: http://www.gunnars.com/gunnar_prescriptions.php
 
I spend about 14 hours a day in front of a computer and have been using these since about January. You couldn't make me work without these now. Everyone at work liked them enough that they all have a pair. :cool:
 
I'd like to note that as a prescription eyeglass wearer, headaches/nausea is normal when moving to new prescriptions (ie. stronger magnifications). Your body's just not used to the extra magnification the glasses provide. Like Steve said, his headache disappeared in an hour or so; that's about the same for me when I get a new set of lenses.
 
Maybe I'm just an idiot but couldn't someone simply lower the color temp and brightness of their monitor to alleviate harsh white bits?
 
Might be useful, but I am kinda of figuring the cost tacked on to my prescription is going to be a big turnoff for something I only wear when using my PC's...and there is probably no way to test drive prescription lenses.
 
I work from home and spend 10-12 hours in front of a computer every weekday and 4-6 hours on weekends. My desktop consists of two separate dual-head workstations: one for personal/[H] stuff and one for my FT job. I deal with eye strain constantly but have really noticed the fatigue since I started working from home 100% of the time.

I just saw my eye doctor and got some computer glasses prescribed. I chose very lightweight frames and the glasses have a very mild magnification, probably similar to what Steve experienced. Even with my vision plan paying for a big chunk of the glasses, total cost sans tax was about $150. Without the vision plan, it would have been closer to $350 so it appears that the Gunnar stuff is competitively priced.

I've been wanting to try these glasses since they first came out last year but never got around to ordering some. I look forward to less strain when my glasses come in next week. Kyle, if you'd like me to compare the prescribed ones I receive to your old Gunnar Shredders, let me know. I'd be glad to help out.
 
i was thinking about getting some, but the yellow colour puts me off. as someone linked here before there should be other colours available but as long as there are no photos i´ll wait with getting a pair
 
the other colors are to help your eyes, orange is good too... these were most likely inspired by shooting glasses hence the name is my guess... alot of hunters wear such glasses to reduce glare and increase field of vision.

IF YOU USED BLUE/RED/BLACK ETC you'll end up like bono and look not only like a douche but going blind due to wearing shades indoors 24/7 like a douchebag that makes me cringe when i celebrate my irish heritage when drinking and beating my wife.

jk, but the only thing i dont like about my heritage is U2. fark
 
I have the same problem as Kyle being sensitive to certain nose pads. There is a reason I switched from wearing glasses to contacts, I do however wear sunglasses. I have been interested in these for a while and seeing that they do in fact provide tangible benefits to "work related tasks" makes me more interested. I spent the overwhelming majority of my day glued to various text screens and then added to an active gaming life in the evening I easily break 16 hours a day staring at a monitor. My reservation is of course comfort, dropping up to $200 and not knowing how it fits is a big holdup for me. I am not a huge fan of the amber color and would be more interested in other colors, but given the chance to try them on, I wouldn't likely be as bent about waiting for a better color if I found a pair that were comfortable to me.
 
Mark_Warner said:
It would be nice if they made a prescription version of these things......
Click to expand...

They do in a way.

There are lots of anti glare coatings on glasses these days. I have a Teflon anti-glare coating on mine. Big difference. Worth the extra $60

Better lenses will be thinner. The thinner the lens, the less chance of distortion towards the edges, it reduces eye strain. Worth the extra $50 for me.

Because of the inferior contrast of LCD monitors, often the amount of light from a LCD is greater than that of a CRT. This also causes eye strain. Adding a very slight gray tint to your glasses will also reduce strain but maintain the same contrast. You can do the same thing by turning down brightness....but some people just have this bad habit turning it to max.
 
so, If i change my monitor to show more yellow will that work?


I just changed my monitor to be yellowish and it works! It is much eaiser to read with the yellow type color. I guess the real problem is websites designing with bad color schemes. Yellow color really does make stuff clearer to read for some reason.
 
Last edited:
Bigbacon said:
No pics of you guys looking silly in the glasses??
Click to expand...


Personally, I hate reading a product evaluations from people that always have to somehow get themselves into the review so I avoid it when I can.

Regardless, I look silly no matter what I wear....that's probably why they use of models and booth babes became so popular ;)

http://www.****************************/gunnar_nerd.jpg
 
I vote for Steve to be Gunnar's boothperson at the next CeBIT. Who's with me?

(Maybe you can go for a technoviking look. Badass.)
 
those look pretty pimp... your less douchy, i do see an big h on your forehead with them on though.

[h]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top