Clear faceshields and polarized sunglasses

I have prescription sunglasses (finally), and picked up polarized lenses due to all the glare here in Cali. I just checked with my helmet visor (shoei), and in the shade, everything is ok.

But when the sun hits the shield, there ate faint rainbows in the plastic, and all reflections are rainbowed. This isn't a problem in the cars. Although in the cars there's a faint pattern of shadows from the factory tinting on the side windows.

Any recommendations?

 

ALL THOSE PREETY COLORS!! kinda suck don't they?

I've been a parts and apperal guy for a few years and have had this conversation a lot. The part to be aware of is that you are gonna have a hard time reading road surfaces with the rainbow effect, especially when liquids are present. Unfortunately you've spent some $$$ on new peeps that won't be the best choice to use together with your lid. There is no solution, switching to a helmet that uses a polycarbonate lens (yours is acrylic, i believe) still produces the effect.

 

Thats odd. I use polarized Raybans with the shield down and never had any kind of distortions. Is it possible that it is the polarized lense and something else, such as scratch guard lense protection or high index lenses?

 

polycarbonate lenses, polarized, grey tint, and then my prescription (which is pretty light at +2 diopters, although a fair bit of astigmatism). For the car, they look like they're going to rock. For the bike (which was a MAJOR part of getting them), less so.

I think I'm going to go to RoadRider today and poke at shield options for my helmet, and see if any match up well. If not.. Well, I can go back to the dark smoke visor that I've been using, with my normal glasses (whose frames work well with my helmet).

Expvet - what kind of helment and visor are you using?

From a bunch of reading online today, it seems like it's a mix/match issue more than anything else. Some combinations work, some work poorly, some are fantastically bad. In the shade, my clear shield is fine, and in the sun, the shield itself is ok, but the reflections are all a bit trippy. OTOH, they stand out nicely as things to be wary of.

 

Handed lemons > making lemonade!:biggrin:

 

I ride with Transitions prescription lenses and wear a Shoei X-11 with standard clear shield. I have no problems with reflections. Although I don't know how Polarized compares to the Transitions.

 

I have an HJC and use the standard clear faceshield.

 

My normal "clear" lenses are transitions, but they don't transition in the car or in the helmet because the glass/visor blocks the uv trigger.

I went to cycle gear and poked at a bunch of faceshields and all were doing the same, so I just picked up a tankbag.

I'll use my clear lenses on the bike and swap faceshields. But I'm still glad I have the sunglasses for in the car. They were fantastic today while driving to road rider and cycle gear to look at visors.

 

When I was racing cars back in the day, I made the mistake of wearing polarized glasses.
Depending on where the sun was I could not detect oil on the pavement and sometimes
it would look like there was oil when there wasn't any.
I think polarized glasses are okay when boating but not while riding/driving on the street.
Try using a plain clear faceshield and "normal" tinted glasses.

 

The visual effect as pointed out depends upon the type "plastic" of the faceshield. There will be some crosspolariazation using a polycarbonate shield and scratches in same will enhance the effect.

The quickie check is to hold polarized eyeglasses or a cheap camera polarizer up to a given face shield, turn the glasses or the polarizer 180 degrees and see the difference.

More poop on this on Wiki-Google-or any good photograpny site. See "Birefringence."

 

You may not want to wear your sunglasses but insted get a polorized sheild.
Currently, i thnk that Bell helments has transision and polorized full shileds. But if you get a face sheild with the pinlock system,
You can get a polorized lens. These are as easy to install and remove as putting on a pair of sunglasses.

Update:

I found this article you might fnd interesting.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/polar-optics/polar-optics.htm

 

Then ya got your variable polarization with chromogenic optics. There is a lamination of polarized material in any flatscreen LED or LCD TV or monitor. Not sure about plasma TVs. If anyone is consideriang making a polarized cover for a faceshield, don't waste your money on the Chinese made stuff, it's crap. The coating is chemically iodine and the chinese stuff scratches off when touched.

 

My transitions don't work in the car but work pretty well under the faceshield. Not as dark as full sun but still pretty good.

 

Plasmas are fine, or at least mine is. The LCDs in the car and both laptops are polarized about 45 degrees from the glasses, so I get a pretty consistent image. The iPhone screen is... psychedelic.

I think the tank-bag with spare visors is honestly the best solution.

Somewhat annoying as I specifically hunted for sunglasses that would be comfy in the helmet, but oh well.

I'm still not sure the rainbows in the reflections would be bad while riding, I'll at least try it once or twice to see how it goes. But I think I'll mostly be using the clear glasses with dark smoke visor

 

Honestly look t the article and or the pinlock system. The pinlock gives you fog free tint clear yellow ert. As easy to install at putting on sunglasses

At minimum, the shoei visor change is easy tho be it a pain

Let us k ow how the rainboes affect he driving. I would think seeing pavement details etc would be compromised?

 

I've looked at pin lock in the past, and the polar optics idea is definitely interesting, but I was hoping for a single car+bike solution. I may come back to the polar optics idea, but it looks like it would really take a beating, being on the outside.

Pin lock has the advantage of being behind the polycarbonate shield, but they don't have polarized. Maybe as an option for yellow/clear/smoke, but I've got tons of room for spare shields in my tankbag.

 

Some of the photochromic lens' are made of polycarbonate. "Transitions" is a brand. So it's possible that some cross polarization is possible using a polarized or partially polarized face shield.

Chromogenic is a type of photo film.. OMG What was I thinking.. ? This is right up there with pinlocking at the ton or hauling around half a dozen helmets in one of those little trailers hung off the assend of a VFR.. Eeeek!

No wonder Oprah look so strange on my my new handlbar mounted TeeVEE when I got me shades on.

 

Polarized lenses cause strange effects in various situations. When I wear my ray-bans some rear windshields look polka dotted to me too. From inside and outside of the car. I have also experienced the rainbow effect inside the helmet. Get a smoke shield and wear your regular clear glasses with your helmet for better vision. I hate glasses when inside a helmet personally, well, outside a helmet too. I wear contacts and either a my ray-bans or a helmet.

 

Though I bought the pinlock for a differing reason, and was very skeptical about them, I am really pleased with the end result. One face shield and two visor films. One clear for night time and one smoked for day time. If the film gets marred up, you can order just the new film. I don't like to wear glasses at the best of times and absolutely hate wearing them in my lid so I wear contacts. I find that the glasses tend to fog up any time I am stopped. I seldom even wear sun glasses even though I know I should. My eyes are very sensitive to reflected light.

 

From all the personal anecdotes submitted, there are some dudes who might be due for a visit to an eye doc and some further reading to understand how polarization affects light.

Reflected light? refracted light? loss of night vision? After 40 or so any eye exam should include looksees for glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration.


So from what I am reading, nobody ever flips up those faceshields when riding? Without some eye protection? LOL

Maybe we should include in those seemingly never ending piles of "must haves" for trips to Wallymart should include a change of sox and skivvies. After overhearing this advice given to my sis by my mom (thanks mom!) I always pack same.

Rule of thumb.. When it takes longer to run a checklist, plug in all the gadgets stowed in bags, trunks, panniers. dress in, fire up the old VFR, talk to no less than half a dozen friends and relatives than it does to get wherever one is going to and fro, it is much easier to just hop in the Winnebago or maybe just order online from Jo-jo's togo.com.

The land of 800lb VFRs is not too far in the future.