I often find myself wearing sunglasses while trying to look at my phone to check emails, coordinate plans with my family and friends, and scrolling through the many apps I use on a regular basis. Sometimes the polarized sunglasses that I love so much affect my vision when I am constantly looking at my phone with my sunglasses on. So, when I heard about the technology that GATORZ uses for their OPz lens, I was extremely curious to find out more!

Let’s explore the reason polarization is such a popular option for sunglasses in the first place.

Photons are the particles that makeup light. These photons that occur in natural light travel through the space (vibrate) from the object you are looking at toward your eye. Since there are many objects in your field of vision, the photons bounce in many directions all at once. Wearing plain (non-polarized) sunglasses treats all (sun)light equally which reduces the overall intensity. However, non-polarized protection will not tackle shimmer and sparkle if you’re around water, snow, or glass.

So, what exactly do polarized lenses do that regular ol’ “non-polarized” lenses do?

When these photons hit reflective surfaces such as a body of water or an asphalt road, these particles begin vibrating in one direction (instead of bouncing in multiple directions all at once), usually in a horizontal manner. This is why the glare you normally see in bright sunlight, even without sunglasses, intensifies when you are looking at that body of water, or asphalt road.

Polarizing filters absorb light waves that are vibrating on that horizontal axis. Therefore, only vertical vibrations get through the filter to reach your eye. This allows a reduction in intensity of the reflective glare without blocking too much of the surrounding light so you can still see the object you are focusing on.

Wearing polarized lenses also increases the maximum protection from UVA/UVB rays, which ultimately protects the long-term health of your eyes.

So, why am I having such a hard time seeing my screen when I look at my phone with polarized lens?

LCD screens (such as the ones found on your phone screen, altimeters, mobile police computers, aviation, and smart watches) are already polarized to reduce glare, because they are made to be able to look at while in bright sunlight.

When you have polarizing filters in the screen you are looking at, and polarizing filters in the sunglasses you are wearing, aligning in opposite directions, the light from the screen will be cut out.

Think about it like this: if your screen emits horizontal vibrating light, and your sunglasses block vertical vibrating light, you are stuck with a dark, if not completely black, image.

Although there are some modern, high-tech devices that have been designed to work around this, you usually will have to play around with rotating or tilting your screen to see better (therefore, aligning the polarizing filter from your screen to the one on your sunglasses, which will then allow the light particles to pass through to your eyes).  

INTRODUCING GATORZ EYEWEAR OPZ TECHNOLOGY…

GATORZ Eyewear understands their customers, especially members of the Military and Law Enforcement community who spend time looking at digital screens such as: digital altimeters, computer screens, police mobile computers, motorcycle windshields, aircraft windshields, phones, smart watches, and various optics.

Many select GATORZ glasses are offered with the OPz (Optimized Polarized) lens as an option. This versatile lens provides the glare reduction of polarized lenses without restricted view of digital screens, allowing the user to see clearly when it’s mission critical, while still requiring eye protection.

The OPz lens are partially polarized lens, allowing the necessary light particles to pass through.

The OPz lens are perfect for skydivers, police officers, motorcyclists, pilots, shooters, or any mobile phone user!

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