One of the questions we have been asked many times over the years is “are all polarised lenses the same?”. The simple answer is no! But first let’s recap on why polarised lenses are different to standard sunglass lenses: they have a special film which helps eliminate glare reflected off a surface like a pavement, road, water or snow.
Lower priced polarised sunglasses (typically under £50) use a multi-layer material called TAC (Triacetate). Even though it’s multi-layer, a TAC lens is thin: usually no more than 1.2mm. Most inexpensive sunglasses with TAC lenses have the polarised film on the front so it can scratch and eventually lose some of its polarising properties. It’s important to recognise that TAC polarised lenses provide little impact protection and they can shatter, so they should not be used if impact protection is important like clay target shooting.
On higher priced polarised sunglasses (typically above £50) the lens material is likely to be polycarbonate; here the polarised film is sandwiched between two layers of the polycarbonate (or a similar material called Trivex) meaning the polarised film can never wear out. Importantly, a polarised polycarbonate lens also provides impact protection.
Most Evolution polarised sunglasses (typically under £20) use TAC lenses and they will do a perfectly good job but will eventually lose some of their polarising performance. Recently we have introduced two models with polycarbonate polarised lenses: Carmel and Novara. Their superb lenses are the type you’d find in competitors’ models costing upwards of £60 but both these models are under £30! Unbeatable value.
Carmel
Novara
