Polarized Sun Glasses

On May 25, 8:22*pm, Richard wrote:
How many of you use polarized sun glasses? * *Are they common? *Are
they popular? *Do they work?

I personally use Sun Tigers.

Richard

If you already wear glasses, I like the nerdie flip up pola sunglasses
sold at Meijer (Michigan discount store chain) for 12 bucks. You can
quickly flip them up under a dark cloud, or when you want a non
polarized look at something. They may reduce glare at some angles but
half of angles are not effected at all by pola sunglasses. To prove
this look at a blue sky 90 degrees to the sun and the sky gets much
darker. But if you look at the sky directly toward the direction of
the sun or directly away from the sun, the pola has no effect. This
holds true with objects that glare and reflect as well. Only some
angles are polarized. As a result, sometimes white gliders really pop
out of a deep blue sky, there will be other times when glare reduction
might make it little harder to see. But glare reduction is less
effected by white. Dark colored gliders would be bad.

I really think one can not say for sure that pola sunglasses are worse
for seeing other gliders overall. I've just spent 35 years as an
automotive photographer. I used pola filters about 90 percent of the
time. They make it easy on your eyes and cut reflections inside the
canopy so you can see out better. So as long as you can read your
displays. Mine all work OK. ..Aaron

When my prescription sunglasses (with non polarized Serengeti Driver lenses) broke just before my gliding holidays, I bought polarized clip-ons as a quick fix (no non-polarized clip-ons available!). It worked more or less, but I had problems with Cambridge L-nav and other LCD display instruments. Worse, I noticed dark spots and waves in the perspex of the canopy, reducing visibility. I have the same problem with the rear window of my car: I can see a dark wafer pattern...

So as soon as I came home, I had new prescription sunglasses made, non-polarized again. I now use the polarized clip-ons when not aviating.


On Saturday, May 26, 2012 2:22:56 AM UTC+2, Richard wrote:
How many of you use polarized sun glasses? Are they common? Are
they popular? Do they work?

I personally use Sun Tigers.

Richard

Some people like polarized, some people don´t..
I have been using polarized Serengeti Drivers for years and I think
they are fantastic for flying and driving.
Regards,
Juan Carlos

On Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:34:36 AM UTC-4, JC wrote:
Some people like polarized, some people don´t..
I have been using polarized Serengeti Drivers for years and I think
they are fantastic for flying and driving.
Regards,
Juan Carlos

Right, personal preference rules. If you want reflections on the inside of your canopy to block your view of the sky, use unpolarized. If you want black spots on the inside of your canopy to block your view of the sky, use polarized. In practice, the mind filters out the black spots and the reflections. The gaps in your view of the sky only become obvious in photographs..