For as long as I can remember, I’ve been in front of some sort of electronic device, either on a computer, or playing a game on my television. I guess this contributed to me wearing glasses, and later in life contacts. Nowadays, not much has changed, always in front of a computer for personal and work related reasons. Oh, and lets not forget playing all those video games. Over the years not much has changed – until now! The awesome invention of Gunnar Optiks has made it into my life and damn, are they awesome! Long nights behind a computer have never been the same ever since I got these.
Hit continue reading for the full post, and a few pics.
First, lets get into what Gunnar’s actually are. The short answer is simple; glasses with a yellow tint to them. That may sound extremely dumb but that is exactly what they are! For the scientific answer, just hit up their FAQ page: Gunnar Optiks – FAQ
Simply put, these glasses are mostly used for those who suffer from eye fatigue or dryness while working in front of a computer, or even while watching television. They improve the sharpness of the image and makes it much clearer. When you first start using them you’ll feel like they have some sort of magnification on them but they really don’t. It is simply your eyes adjusting to the yellow tint and the pop of the contrast and resolution of what your looking at. Sounds strange I know but they work really well. Before I used them, I found myself tearing up because my eyes would feel like they were burning or itching due to dryness after about an hour of being in front of a computer. Now that I’ve been using them for over a month, I feel like I rarely itch, I still get eye fatigue, but its not as bad as it was before and it takes a lot longer for it to kick in. In terms of time, I honestly don’t know because it varies a lot on how my day was, but it definitely feels different than how it was before.
I was a bit skeptical when I first heard of these, I still had my doubts. I mean the $80+ price tag for a pair of glasses is a bit much for something your really not sure about. I first got to see these for myself at the PAX East 10, where I tried on a pair, looked at the monitor they had and saw absolutely no change. Mind you the monitor was the size of a DS screen, and it didn’t do their glasses justice. By this point I was certain that they were a scam and told myself they they were a horrible company for scamming people into believing in these. It wasn’t until about ten months later that I finally came around to hearing the name again. This time I wondered, oh how could they still be in business, the product must work if they are still around. Sure enough I check out their site and not only were they still in business, but they were expanding! Many more products to chose from, and they even had prescription versions of their glasses available! At this point a friend of mine had contacted me with a deal I could not refuse!
It is seriously a good thing to have friends from all over the place to be able to give you some amazing deals on various things. The offer was to get any set for half off! Now I said, $40 for a pair, that isn’t too bad. Hell at that price if the offer still stands and I like them, I might just get two for the price of one! I just couldn’t refuse. I ended up buying the PPK model and now every time I’m on the computer, I have them on. Honestly, I got them at a steal, and would want to get another pair for my console gaming. Sadly for me, the hook up is over, but honestly after seeing how amazing these glasses are, I wouldn’t mind paying full price for them now.
Now you may be asking, why would you want to buy another pair if you already own a set? The only problem I was faced with the glasses is the coverage. When I’m gaming, I want nothing to be left out of the yellow tint. My peripheral vision has to be fully covered in order for me to have a smooth game session, unfortunately for me, the PPK model has a lot of open space, this is why I rather go with something bigger. This doesn’t mean that I dislike them, I simply just prefer using these at my desk, in front of a laptop, or desktop. My next pair is most likely going to be one of the following: Legend, Phantom, Halogen.
If you are lucky enough to find Gunnar Optiks at a trade show like I did, at PAX East both in 2010, and 2011, they normally offer you a good deal on their products, I don’t recall how much they were in 2010, but I know for a fact that this past PAX East, they were selling the majority of their products for half off. If you can’t make it to any trade shows, or get offered a sweet deal, just get them out right – they are worth every penny!
