Customer Reviews

GUNNAR Computer Eyewear - Edge Onyx Frame

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, a disclaimer: I'm an Optical Technician. I dispense glasses for a living, so I know good eyewear when I see it.

Now, the review: This is good eyewear. It's a quality pair of glasses with all the right enhancements to do exactly what they claim they can do. Specifically, this is a pair of glasses with a +.50 add correction on the lenses, so they do magnify just a tiny bit, but are still comfortable for someone with no prescription for corrective lenses. They have a high-quality gold tint that naturally blocks some of the harsh blues from the light spectrum. They seem to be a high-quality material (I'd guess they're a hi-index, but not a premium brand) and have an anti-reflective coating to cut down on glare from the computer screen (or they'd work equally well when driving).

The frame itself is of excellent quality. I wouldn't say it's a high-end frame, but it's certainly good material and a pleasing design. Nothing cheap here. It's a drill-dot frame, and as such could be prone to loosening or breaking if the end user doesn't know how to properly care for them, though. The included instructions don't tell the user HOW to clean them; Only WHAT to clean them with (the included microfiber cloth).

In case you're wondering what I mean, here's my free advice for owners of these glasses (or any rimless drill-dot frames) - When cleaning your lenses, hold the lens between your cloth-covered thumb and index finger ONLY, and then gently rub the lens you're holding between those fingers. Do NOT hold onto the frame in another spot with your other hand (not the bridge, Not the temples, etc.) with these sorts of frames, because the drill dots are not made to take continual stress.

So anyway, all told, this is a quality pair of glasses. My only complaint, being that they are not prescription glasses, nor are they polarized, is that the price is slightly higher than I'd expect to see from an affordable optometrist or prescription eyewear store. It's not outrageously high, but it is marked up just a bit considering that these are marketed as plano lenses (essentially, competing in the sunglasses market).

You can wear these while driving and you'll see an improvement in clarity. They do help a great deal when sitting in front of a computer all day. The slight magnification will even make it easier on your eyes to focus on small fonts all day, so they function more as a pair of high-quality tinted reading glasses, in that respect.

Tinted, off-the-shelf reading glasses range in price, depending on quality. I'd put these in the "best quality" mark, and then you'd add a double-digit fee for their basic AR coating. So the highest I'd expect to pay for these would still be about thirty dollars less than the list price, at best.

I will add, however, that these do come packaged in an excellent box, with a nice case/cloth. They're very stylish and seem quite high-end. I'd be surprised to find anything this nice in a retail store. My opinion is that you're paying extra for the style, the packaging, and the excellent marketing terms (those fancy names for their lens technologies? They're just cool-named brands of AR coating, tinting, add power, and lens material that you can find elsewhere).

So are they worth it? Well, if you want a nice pair of +.50 reading glasses, they're very worth it. If you want a good pair of glasses for driving, these are just about perfect. If you want something to make computer use less stressful for your eyes, they're also up to the task and will do it with more style than you probably deserve.

They're worth it, but you ARE paying a little extra for style. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find as nice a pair of glasses with such good marketing at your local optical store for under one hundred. And after all, when it comes to glasses we are paying for style as well as function, aren't we?

I was very excited at the prospect of what the Gunnar Optiks eyewear could possibly do for me. I sit at a computer anywhere from 8 to 12 hours per day, and for me, looking at a monitor for any length of time results in headaches, and stressed, tired eyes. Could the claims that Gunnar Optiks make about it's special eyewear hold true? I was about to find out.

Upon receiving my package from the nice folks at Amazon.com, I was instantly impressed with how Gunnar Optiks handled the packaging. Inside a dense cardboard box with the Gunnar Optiks logo, lay another box, presumably some form of aluminum or tin, with a hinged lid. The glasses were pressed into a foam cutout that held them perfectly safe, and covered by a soft cloth pouch. There was no way these glasses could have been damaged during shipping, unless the package were to be run over by a vehicle or some other sort of catastrophe.

The niceties of the product packaging aside, the real question remains, do the Gunnar Optik glasses live up to their hype? Removing the glasses from their nesting place, I was instantly surprised at how lightweight they are. Considering they are crafted of polymer frames and lenses, they weren't expected to be heavy, but I didn't expect them to be quite so feather-light either. Though the glasses are constructed of "plastic", I wouldn't call them cheap feeling. I imagine they would withstand a lot more abuse than metal frames and glass lenses could, before suffering from breakage. As much as these glasses would cost to replace though, I am not about to put that theory to the test.

The amber tint of the lenses reminded me much of the shooting glasses I wear during range sessions. They seem to result in the same effect too, when looking at the computer monitor. Contrast is increased, and the overall screen looks sharper and easier to read text. These glasses will not work well for when I edit photos or do other color-accuracy demanding visual editing however, as the tint does affect how colors are seen. These glasses are best left for reading text, playing games, or other non-color accurate work.

The fit of the Gunnar Optik glasses are surprisingly good, they stay on my face where I put them, and even after hours of wear, they don't slide or feel heavy or irritating. I found I have to physically move them with my hand if I want them to move. I am exceptionally pleased with how well they fit my face and stay put.

The glasses do indeed work as advertised for me. While wearing the glasses, I have not had any more headaches, or tired stressed eyes from long hours at the computer each day. I can see these glasses becoming an important staple in my daily life.

Now for the flaw. The bridge that crosses between the lenses on these particular glasses flow far enough into the lenses that they are visible as a dark blob in the field of vision. Most persons can adjust to this and learn to ignore it, but it is there nonetheless. If you're the type that thinks this would be an unforgivable annoyance, I would recommend looking for a different style of Gunnar Optiks.

The bottom line is this: The Gunnar Optiks eyewear works as advertised. Whether the results are scientifically backed or mere placebo effect is not important to me, as the end results are the same, and just as beneficial.

I am a software developer who is in front of the computer for 8 hours a day. I love the way these glasses seem to enhance the text and images on the screen, and I definitely notice less fatigue on my eyes. The last 3 hours of every day is usually when the eye fatigue starts setting in, but since I've been using these, there seems to be a lot less strain.

However, there is one obnoxious thing about these glasses that is driving me crazy. The plastic part in the middle that connects the nose piece to the lenses stretches a bit too far onto the lens, so while you are wearing them it gets a little annoying to have this black thing right there in your line of sight. It's not obtrusive per se, but it is a bit distracting at times, particularly when you move your head. For as much as this product costs, I would think they would not have an issue like this. These seem to be very cheaply made overall, but I would look past that if the nose piece attachment wasn't so noticeable while wearing them.

Length:: 2:29 Mins

Okay... diAMIX, fRACTYLlens geometry, i-FIlens coatings, iONIK lens... umm WHAT?! Basically, does it work? Well, in short... yes. But is it revolutionary? No (but it sounds and looks kind of cool).

First of all, sadly, I spend too much of my life on the computer or some other form of digital screen, so I was really curious to try this out. I keep my monitor brightness as low as possible without colors ending up too dark, but the white is still bright and can be harsh on my eyes.

Having these glasses on definitely help in that regard. I never realized how bright it still was until I put these on and then removed them to see the difference. There is a yellow tint, but you're not just looking through a yellow glass. You can still see the colors and you'll soon forget there's even a tint after awhile, especially on darker backgrounds.

I wear contact lenses and having that slight extra magnication on these glasses definitely help ease reading. The text is definitely easier to read, not only because of the slight magnification, but it separates the harsh background with the tint. Before getting used to it, a lot of people will feel as if the text is somewhat popping out at you.

The magnification also helps without having to squint at small text, so that alone will of course help ease your eyes. I know most people are not a fan of the extra magnification, but I'm glad they added it. It also create an illusion as if I got a bigger computer screen or when I'm using my portable video player.

This may be going too far, but I think it's great not just for electronic screens, but for reading regular books. (I never realized how bright white pages can be too). They probably don't recommend this, but I also went driving while wearing this during the day time and night time. On a dark cloudy day, the yellow tint made things slightly brighter, so it actually helped me see better.

My biggest complaint would be the comfort of the earpiece. Although it helps long hours for the eyes, there's a trade off on the comfort of wearing this after awhile; it's a bit tight for me and it feels like it's putting more pressure than it should on my head (my head size is pretty average). I know I would be able to play rough sports with this without ever falling off. However, I don't think it has to be that secure/tight, since I'm just going to be sitting in front of a computer. The material used doesn't help much either. It could be much softer and the quality actually feels kind of cheaper. I wish they would have used a much lighter or thinner earpiece.

The black plastic nose-piece that connects to the glasses can also feel like it gets in the way if you become conscious about it. I don't know why they couldn't use a clear type than black; I feel they put cosmetics priority for some issues than comfort/use.

Despite that problem, and some people may not even feel the same about the earpiece, I still feel this helps my eyes stare at the screen for longer hours than usual.

Pros
- Feels like it creates more depth to what you're looking at, separating from background. (reducing the harsh brightness, giving it more contrast)
- Really great for gaming (easier to see enemies separating from backgrounds with the addition of slight magnification)
- Helps eyestrain.
- Recommended if you do a lot of text reading on the computer

Cons:
- The earpiece could be more comfortable. (feels too tight on the head)
- The black plastic nose-piece can get annoying (if you become really conscious about it)
- Not really recommended for graphic designers (obviously if color accuracy is crucial because of the slight yellow tint).
- Expensive (but most eyeglaseses are)

After using the "Gunnar Optiks Catalyst Edge Digital Performance Eyewear" (man, what a name) for almost a solid week I feel like I can write this review ... and it's not particularly glowing.

First, these glasses are designed to eliminate eye strain by limiting your eyes' exposure to the bright light coming from your computer screen (this is done by using tinted lenses) and make it easier to read what is on the screen (done by optical correction ... sort of like over-the-counter reading glasses). If this is what you need to be comfortable while using the computer then these glasses might be perfect for you.

Unfortunately, using these glasses didn't help me at all. In fact, rather than reduce eye strain I suffered from increased eye strain and a sense of nausea that almost felt like motion sickness when I was using these glasses. Because of the corrective lenses my eyes were thrown out of their usual focus and I could literally feel my eyes staining to compensate for the magnification caused by the glasses. This is exactly the opposite thing you want from glasses designed to reduce eye strain.

I can say that the tinted lenses did make the computer screens I use look less bright, but I could resolve that simply by turning down the brightness on my computer screen ... or wear a pair of sunglasses indoors.

Bottom line, these glasses might help some people to reduce eye strain while using a computer, but if you're like me then these glasses will have the opposite effect.

These glasses are light and comfortable and they do actually work to reduce eye strain and discomfort. But they're not perfect. I am a person that does not wear glasses normally, but I do sit in front of the computer all day because I'm a programmer.

Let's start with the construction. These glasses are very light. I don't even notice them on my face after a while. The nose pads are soft and easily adjusted by bending the wire frame, though I did not need to. The parts of the frame that go over your ear (forgive me, I don't know what they are called) are also comfortable. They have a piece cut out at the ends that make them more flexible, and it takes away slightly from the weight. It's a nice design. All the connectors between the lenses and the frame are small pieces of metal so it makes for a rather futuristic kind of look. However, they also look and feel very fragile as if the lens connectors could break off at any time -- especially the center connector that joins the two lenses. It's a small piece of metal with tiny rivets that join to a small plastic cap on the other side of the lens. I feel that if these glasses were to break, that is where they would fail and it would be beyond my ability to repair. But, they are still intact, so I guess the construction is fairly sturdy. These are not sports glasses after all.

The lenses themselves do exhibit all of the properties described in the technical details of this product, but I did not test the durability of the lens with regard to scratching. The "fRACTYLlens geometry" provides a slight magnification. It is definitely a noticeable difference that makes reading text easier, and the effect is far greater if you are unfortunate enough to have to work all day on a CRT monitor.

The "i-FIlens" coating does have an anti-glare effect. It can make your CRT look like an LCD, but it does nothing for the horrible flicker of CRTs.

The "iONIK" lens tint gives a yellowish hue. Surprisingly, it does not have color-distorting properties. I find that it actually helps to provide a clearer distinction between colors. However, I would not recommend these glasses if your job relies on your accurate interpretation of color.

And finally, the case provided is a great way to store these glasses. You get a soft pouch as well as a hard plastic, foam-lined protective case that lets the glasses sit snuggly in a carved foam seat.

My biggest problem with these glasses cost them one star. The lenses are so small that they don't cover your bottom field of vision. So when you look down to the keyboard your eyes have to readjust. Constantly going back and forth with your eyes and having them refocus all the time actually causes more strain for my eyes than the glasses protect me from.

These glasses are almost a necessity if you stare into CRT monitors all day. If that's the case, the price is easily justified. But if you work on LCD monitors that are far more easy on the eyes than CRTs, these may be a bit of a pricey way to get only marginal benefit.

I am an IT pro that probably spends anywhere between 8-12 hours a day on a computer....a myriad of different types of screens. My eyes usually start to get soar about 1-2 hours into the morning.

A bit of background....I had an astigmatism in both eyes before I took the plunge and had Lasik eye surgery done. Lasik tends to increase glare and eye dryness....so these came along as a present surprise for me.

I got them because I wanted to avoid the glare from computer screens as well as night driving. The definitely do what they intend to do.

Yes...they have been helping with the glare both near computer monitors and while driving at night. For that I am grateful. My only issue is that the lenses are somewhat corrected (.50 if I am not mistaken from another reviewer). This makes me go crazy....its like wearing prescription glasses again. Now....if this is bothering me then I can only imagine that it will put stress on eyes that have perfect vision to begin with.

I do notice that the harsh blues are being taken out when viewing computer screens..and that is PERFECT...because it adds a warm touch of color and allows for easier workability during the day.

Driving is awesome with these in the dark hours as there is very little glare for me from cars either coming towards me or in the rear view mirror...with bright HID lights now a days...these make it easy.

I am not expert in optics and thus I am giving this a 4/5 due to the prescription/correction which seems to drive me nuts.

After 1 full day of use at work, these dried out my eyes and made them burn for days. Like one of the other reviewers on here, I am a programmer that can't live without using 2+ monitors. I'm not convinced that this is the only reason my eyes burn, though. The magnification strained my eyes, the glasses didn't cover enough and block enough light, even with one monitor some light would come through the center of the glasses, and there were no suggestions on the pair i got as to what distance the monitors should be from my face.

I noticed the colors appeared warmer through the center of the glasses, but this is something you could get from any $5 pair of sunglasses.

When I bought it, the first thing I noticed was the cheap packaging. It allowed the glasses to bounce around the inside and looked as if it was something cheap as opposed to what you'd expect from an $80 product.

Then, I open it up and discover the glasses themselves are flimsy, and although lightweight, feel like they'd break with a small amount of pressure.

Supposedly they come with a microfiber cloth used to clean them. Mine didn't, and it was very difficult to clean them especially with the flimsy frame.

After the first day of wearing them, the tops of one of my ears was sore because of how the frame contacted with it. I'm not use to wearing glasses, but the construction of these frames reminded me more of what you get in the glasses section of wal-mart and not glasses people wear every waking hour.

I really wanted to like them, but other things such as exchanging fluorescent lights for warmer incandescents, and turning down monitor brightness and contrast help a lot more than these glasses did. These glasses made me blink more because my eyes burned terribly with them on.

I've never worn prescription glasses, but was suffering from eye strain caused by working long hours behind a computer. It had reached a point where I could not read anything written on the television screen in the evenings. Using these glasses while I work during the day has completely eliminated the problem of blurry vision in the evenings.

These are expensive glasses and were my first attempt at reducing eyestrain via eyewear. I did some research on the web and these seemed to pop up all over the place. While I was a little put off by the marketing hyperverbosity...I mean iONIK and diAMIX - really, the iPod has a lot to answer for!?

I have to say though, that after 3 weeks of use, my eyestrain has gone down noticeably. I am not entirely sure, but there also seems to be a small (5%?) magnification with these glasses which helps with some of the hires icons and stuff we work with.

The yellow tint does interfere with color rendition giving everything a jaundiced appearance. So if you are working with digital pics or textures you may want to expose your eyeball to the raw photon spectrum and raise your Gunnar Optiks from the nose bridge for the color work. Hey guys, any chance of a monitor color profile that compensates for the yellow shift?

I am at my PC pretty much every day for 8-10 hours which is more than was the case 5-10 years ago. Of course I am getting older which doesn't help, but the other factor is high contrast/brightness LCD screens compared to the old CRT units. I know, being at the end of a phosphorescent gun wasn't ideal, but the new LCDs with their sharpness and high contrast do contribute to eye strain, even though my DNA is safer now from marauding electrons and secondary radiation...

As far as style goes, I get mixed reactions, everything from "n00b they look so dorkey" from my kids to appreciative nods to my new health awareness from some of my vitamin-eating - urine enriching colleagues. I look at them as safety glasses rather than a fashion item - although some of my programmers think they really are very cool.

So if you are finding yourself rubbing your eyes, your eyes are feeling scratchy or the headaches are getting more regular, try these out, they may help.