Glare is produced when light bounces off a flat surface and, instead of scattering in several directions, this light travels horizontally. When this light reaches your eyes, it results in reduced contrast and washed-out color in what you see—and it’s squint-inducing, even dangerous (your depth perception can be affected). A body of water, snow, and an asphalt road are all notorious producers of glare. A polarized lens’ primary function is to reduce this glare.
Polarized lenses filter these horizontally moving waves of light while letting the light moving in a vertical direction go through. The result of wearing polarized sunglasses is that contrast, color saturation, and detail return to your vision. Anglers can see through the water’s surface to the fish below when wearing polarized sunglasses.
Non-polarized glasses with a good tint, a lens coating such as iridium, or a quality mirrored lens increase contrast and definition, and even reduce glare by cutting out certain wavelengths of light—but nothing compared to a polarized lens. Polarization acts essentially like blinds, blocking out the offending glare entirely. Although coatings don’t do as thorough a job as polarization, they’re still immensely popular because of price. For activity on snow and ice, a coated lens is actually sufficient. Most glacier glasses are coated in some fashion but not necessarily polarized.
(Top) Smith Parallel Max Polarized Sunglasses; (L to R) Costa Del Mar Howler, Oakley Antix, Maui Jim Shark Pit polarized sunglasses
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backup idea just in case.
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