What it is

Performance nylon lenses are made from optical grade polyamide. This material is commonly used in premium performance eyewear because it provides very high optical clarity while remaining lightweight and durable.

Why it matters

Nylon lenses produce a clearer and more natural visual experience compared to many standard lens materials. Their lighter weight and reduced optical distortion can help reduce eye fatigue during long days outdoors.

Technical characteristics

Nylon lenses have a higher Abbe value than polycarbonate, which means less chromatic aberration and clearer visual detail. Chromatic aberration occurs when different wavelengths of light focus at slightly different points, creating subtle color distortion around objects.

Optical performance

Abbe value

Polyamide nylon lenses typically have an Abbe value around 40 to 45.

Polycarbonate lenses typically have an Abbe value around 30.

A higher Abbe value means better optical clarity and less color distortion.

Density and weight

Polyamide nylon density is approximately 1.15 g/cm³.

Polycarbonate density is approximately 1.20 g/cm³.

This makes nylon lenses slightly lighter than polycarbonate lenses.

Impact performance

Nylon lenses are naturally flexible and durable for everyday performance use. However, they are not typically used for certified safety eyewear unless specifically tested to meet safety standards.

Comparison to other lens materials

Traditional glass lenses offer excellent optical clarity and very high Abbe values, but they are heavy and can shatter on impact, which makes them impractical for athletic or performance eyewear. CR-39 plastic lenses provide very good optical clarity and are commonly used in prescription eyewear, but they are softer and less impact resistant than modern performance materials. Polycarbonate lenses are widely used in sports and safety eyewear because they provide exceptional impact resistance, though their lower Abbe value means slightly more optical distortion compared to nylon.

Performance nylon lenses sit between these materials by offering a combination of high optical clarity, lightweight construction, and strong durability. This balance makes nylon a preferred material for premium performance sunglasses where visual quality and comfort are prioritized.

Used in:

The Phoenix

What it is

Polycarbonate is a highly impact resistant lens material widely used in athletic eyewear, safety glasses, and protective equipment. It was originally developed for aerospace and industrial applications where durability and impact protection are critical.

Why it matters

Polycarbonate lenses are extremely resistant to impact and shattering. This makes them ideal for high activity environments such as sports, construction, and other situations where eye protection is important.

Technical characteristics

Polycarbonate lenses are known for their exceptional impact resistance and durability. The material naturally absorbs impact energy, which helps prevent the lens from cracking or shattering when struck by debris or other objects.

Polycarbonate is also lightweight and can be molded into wraparound shapes, which improves coverage and protection for performance eyewear.

Optical performance

Abbe value

Polycarbonate lenses typically have an Abbe value around 30.

This lower Abbe value means polycarbonate lenses may have slightly more chromatic aberration compared to materials like nylon or CR-39. In real-world use, the difference is often minimal, especially in athletic environments where durability and protection are more important.

Density and weight

Polycarbonate density is approximately 1.20 g/cm³.

Polycarbonate lenses are lightweight and comfortable for extended wear, which is why they are commonly used in sports eyewear.

Impact performance

Polycarbonate lenses offer extremely high impact resistance and are widely used in protective eyewear. When properly designed and tested, polycarbonate lenses can meet safety standards such as ANSI Z87.1+.

Because of this strength, polycarbonate is the preferred material for safety rated sunglasses and eyewear used in construction and high impact environments.

Used in

The Sedona

The Flatiron (ANSI Z87.1+ rated)

Why it matters

Because gray lenses do not significantly shift color tones, they provide a very natural viewing experience. This makes them one of the most versatile lens tints for everyday use in bright environments.

Gray lenses are especially popular for activities where maintaining accurate color perception is important, such as driving, hiking, and outdoor sports.

Visual performance

Gray lenses primarily reduce brightness rather than increasing contrast. This helps reduce eye strain in very bright conditions while preserving a balanced view of the environment.

Because gray lenses filter light evenly, they maintain neutral color perception without introducing warm or cool color shifts.

Best environments

Gray lenses perform best in bright sunlight and high glare conditions.

Common use cases include:

Driving in bright daylight

Running or training outdoors

Hiking and general outdoor activity

Open terrain environments such as desert or beaches

Interaction with polarization

When combined with polarized filters, gray lenses are extremely effective at reducing glare from reflective surfaces such as roads, water, and metal.

This combination provides strong glare reduction while maintaining a natural visual experience.

Comparison to other lens tints

Compared to brown lenses, gray lenses preserve more natural color accuracy but provide slightly less contrast enhancement.

Brown lenses tend to increase contrast and depth perception, while gray lenses prioritize brightness reduction and true color balance.

Because of this, gray lenses are often chosen for general outdoor use and bright conditions where color accuracy is preferred.

Used in

The Phoenix

The Sedona

The Flatiron

What it is

Brown lenses are designed to enhance contrast and depth perception by filtering a portion of blue light. This tint creates a slightly warmer view of the environment while making details and textures easier to distinguish.

Why it matters

By increasing contrast, brown lenses can help your eyes identify terrain features and subtle visual differences more easily. This can improve visual clarity in environments where depth perception and detail are important.

Many athletes and outdoor enthusiasts prefer brown lenses because they help highlight changes in terrain, objects, and shadows.

Visual performance

Brown lenses increase contrast and visual definition compared to neutral gray lenses. This makes objects stand out more clearly against their surroundings.

Because they filter blue light, brown lenses can also reduce atmospheric haze, which helps improve clarity in bright outdoor environments.

Best environments

Brown lenses perform well in bright conditions where contrast and terrain definition are helpful.

Common use cases include:

Trail running and hiking

Cycling and mountain biking

Golf and outdoor sports

Mixed terrain environments

Interaction with polarization

When paired with polarized filters, brown lenses provide strong glare reduction while maintaining enhanced contrast.

This combination helps reduce reflections from surfaces like water or pavement while still highlighting terrain details and visual textures.

Comparison to other lens tints

Compared to gray lenses, brown lenses provide greater contrast and depth perception but introduce a warmer color tone to the environment.

Gray lenses maintain more natural color accuracy, while brown lenses prioritize visual definition and terrain clarity.

Because of this difference, brown lenses are often preferred for activities where identifying subtle changes in terrain or objects is important.

Used in

The Phoenix

The Sedona

The Flatiron

What it is

Polarized lenses contain a special filter that blocks horizontally reflected light. This reflected light is what causes the intense glare you see bouncing off surfaces like water, roads, sand, and metal.

By filtering this glare, polarized lenses allow only useful light to reach your eyes.

Why it matters

Glare can make it difficult to see clearly and can cause eye fatigue during long periods outdoors. Polarized lenses significantly reduce this glare, making vision more comfortable and improving clarity in bright environments.

This is especially helpful when spending extended time in sunlight or around reflective surfaces.

How polarization works

Sunlight scatters in many directions as it travels through the atmosphere. When that light reflects off flat surfaces like pavement or water, it becomes horizontally polarized, creating intense glare.

Polarized lenses contain a microscopic vertical filter that blocks this horizontal light while allowing normal vertical light to pass through. This reduces glare while preserving clear vision.

Visual benefits

Polarized lenses can improve visual comfort and clarity in bright conditions.

Common benefits include:

Reduced glare from reflective surfaces

Improved contrast and visual clarity

Reduced eye strain during long periods outdoors

More comfortable vision in bright environments

Best environments

Polarized lenses are especially useful in environments where glare is common.

Examples include:

Driving in bright sunlight

Outdoor training and sports

Water activities

Open environments such as deserts, beaches, and lakes

Used in

The Phoenix

The Sedona

The Flatiron

What it is

Non-polarized lenses reduce brightness using tinted lens materials but do not include the specialized filter that blocks reflected glare. These lenses still provide UV protection and visual comfort in bright environments, but they do not eliminate glare from reflective surfaces.

Why it matters

Non-polarized lenses can still perform very well in everyday outdoor environments. They reduce overall brightness and protect the eyes from harmful UV radiation, but reflections from surfaces such as water, roads, or metal may still be visible.

Some performance and safety eyewear uses non-polarized lenses because they provide consistent visibility across different environments and lighting conditions.

Visual performance

Non-polarized lenses reduce light intensity through the tint of the lens rather than through a polarization filter.

This means reflections and glare from surfaces may still be visible, but the lens still reduces overall brightness and protects the eyes from sunlight.

When non-polarized lenses are used

Non-polarized lenses are commonly used in certain environments where polarization is not necessary or where maintaining full visibility of reflections can be important.

Examples include:

Safety eyewear in industrial environments

Situations where reflections provide useful visual information

Certain digital displays or instrument panels

What is the difference

The main difference between polarized and non-polarized lenses is how they handle glare. Polarized lenses contain a specialized filter that blocks horizontally reflected light, which significantly reduces glare from surfaces like water, pavement, and metal. Non-polarized lenses reduce brightness using tinted lens materials but do not block reflected glare.

Why it matters

Glare can make it difficult to see clearly and can cause eye fatigue during long periods outdoors. Polarized lenses reduce this glare and typically provide more comfortable vision in bright environments. Non-polarized lenses still reduce overall brightness but allow reflections to remain visible.

When polarized lenses are preferred

Polarized lenses are typically the best choice for most outdoor environments where glare is common.

Common uses include:

Driving in bright daylight

Running, hiking, and outdoor training

Water environments such as lakes, rivers, and beaches

Open environments with strong sunlight

When non-polarized lenses may be preferred

Non-polarized lenses are sometimes used in situations where seeing reflections can provide useful visual information or where compatibility with certain displays is important.

Examples include:

Some industrial or safety environments

Viewing certain digital screens or instruments

Situations where reflections help identify surface conditions

Quick comparison

Polarized lenses

Reduce glare from reflective surfaces

Improve visual comfort in bright environments

Often preferred for outdoor activities

Non-polarized lenses

Reduce overall brightness but do not remove glare

Maintain visibility of reflections

Sometimes preferred in specialized environments

DSRT lens options

Most DSRT sunglasses are available with polarized lenses to maximize glare reduction and visual comfort in bright outdoor conditions.

What it is

Polarized lenses are designed to reduce glare from reflective surfaces. While this is beneficial in most outdoor environments, there are a few situations where glare can provide useful visual information or where polarization may interfere with certain displays.

Why it matters

In some environments, reflections help reveal important details such as surface conditions, hazards, or digital information. Because polarized lenses filter reflected light, they may reduce the visibility of these cues.

Situations where non-polarized lenses may be preferred

There are a few specific scenarios where non-polarized lenses may be more suitable.

Examples include:

Viewing certain digital screens or instrument displays

Some industrial or safety environments where reflections reveal surface conditions

Situations where glare helps identify ice, oil, or other hazards on surfaces

Most outdoor activities still benefit from polarization

For most people and most outdoor environments, polarized lenses provide better visual comfort and reduced glare. This is why polarized lenses are commonly preferred for driving, sports, and everyday outdoor use.

DSRT approach

DSRT offers polarized lenses on most models because they provide the best balance of clarity, comfort, and glare reduction for bright outdoor environments.

What it is

Mirror lenses have a reflective coating applied to the outside surface of the lens. This coating reflects a portion of incoming light away from the lens before it reaches your eyes.

The mirror finish is what gives the lens its reflective appearance when viewed from the outside.

Why it matters

By reflecting additional light away from the lens, mirror coatings help reduce the amount of brightness entering the eye. This can improve visual comfort in very bright environments such as deserts, beaches, and open terrain.

Mirror coatings are commonly used on performance sunglasses designed for strong sunlight.

How it works

The mirror layer reflects some incoming light before it passes through the tinted lens. The remaining light then passes through the lens tint and polarization (if present), which further controls brightness and glare.

This layered approach helps manage light more effectively in bright outdoor conditions.

Brightness reduction

Mirror coatings reflect additional light away from the lens surface, which helps reduce overall brightness in intense sunlight.

This makes mirror lenses especially useful in environments with strong sun exposure.

Glare reduction

While polarization is the primary technology used to reduce glare from reflective surfaces, mirror coatings can provide an additional level of brightness control in high glare environments.

Visual comfort

By reflecting some light before it enters the lens, mirror coatings can help reduce eye strain in very bright outdoor conditions.

For this reason, mirror lenses are commonly used in performance sunglasses designed for bright environments.

From the wearer's perspective

Mirror coatings do not significantly change how you see through the lens. Your visual experience is primarily determined by the lens material, tint, polarization, and visible light transmission (VLT).

The mirror coating simply reflects some incoming light before it reaches the lens.

From the outside

The reflective mirror surface makes it more difficult for others to see your eyes through the lens. This is why mirrored sunglasses often appear highly reflective when viewed from the outside.

Interaction with lens tint

Mirror coatings are usually paired with darker lens tints designed for bright environments. The mirror layer reflects some light while the lens tint controls how much light ultimately reaches your eyes.

What it is

An anti-scratch coating is a hardened surface layer applied to the outside of the lens. This coating increases the lens surface hardness and helps protect it from small abrasions during normal use.

Why it matters

Modern performance lenses are lightweight and durable, but the base materials are naturally softer than glass. The anti-scratch coating adds an extra protective layer that helps improve durability and maintain lens clarity over time.

How it works

The coating forms a thin hardened layer on the lens surface. This layer helps resist scratches from dust, debris, and everyday handling.

While no lens is completely scratch proof, this coating significantly improves resistance to minor surface damage.

Used in

Phoenix

Sedona

Flatiron

What it is

An oleophobic coating is designed to repel oils and reduce smudging on the lens surface. This includes oils from skin, fingerprints, sunscreen, and other substances that commonly come into contact with sunglasses.

Why it matters

Oil and fingerprints can create smudges that reduce clarity and make lenses harder to clean. Oleophobic coatings help prevent these oils from sticking to the lens surface.

How it works

The coating creates a smooth surface that reduces the ability of oils to bond to the lens. This makes fingerprints easier to wipe away and helps lenses stay cleaner during everyday use.

Additional benefit

Oleophobic coatings are often paired with hydrophobic coatings so lenses resist both water and oils at the same time.

Used in

Phoenix

Sedona

Flatiron

What it is

A hydrophobic coating is designed to repel water from the lens surface. The coating reduces surface tension so water forms small droplets that bead up and roll off the lens.

Why it matters

Water droplets on a lens can scatter light and reduce visibility. Hydrophobic coatings help keep lenses clearer in wet environments and make it easier to wipe away water, sweat, or rain.

How it works

The coating creates a water-repelling surface that prevents water from spreading across the lens. Instead of forming a film, moisture beads up and moves off the lens more easily.

Best environments

Hydrophobic coatings are especially useful in environments where lenses may be exposed to moisture.

Examples include:

Rain or humid conditions

High intensity workouts and sweat

Water environments such as lakes or beaches

Used in

Phoenix

Sedona

Flatiron

What it is

An anti-reflective coating reduces internal reflections that occur when light enters the backside of the lens and reflects toward the eye.

Why it matters

Light entering from behind the lens can cause distracting reflections and glare. Anti-reflective coatings help reduce these reflections and improve visual comfort.

How it works

The AR coating reduces the amount of light that reflects off the backside of the lens surface. This allows more useful light to pass through the lens while minimizing unwanted reflections.

Lens design considerations

Flat lenses such as those used in Phoenix and Sedona can allow light to enter from behind the lens. A backside AR coating helps reduce these reflections.

Wraparound lenses like Flatiron naturally block much of this peripheral light, which reduces the need for an AR coating.

Used in

Phoenix

Sedona

What it is

An anti-fog coating helps prevent condensation from forming on the lens surface. Fog occurs when warm moisture contacts a cooler lens surface and forms tiny water droplets.

Why it matters

Fogging can temporarily block vision and become a safety issue in certain environments. Anti-fog coatings help maintain visibility during intense activity or rapid temperature changes.

How it works

The coating helps disperse moisture across the lens surface rather than allowing it to form visible droplets. This helps reduce the appearance of fog and maintain clearer vision.

Best environments

Anti-fog coatings are especially useful in situations where lenses may experience rapid temperature changes or high humidity.

Examples include:

High intensity workouts

Humid environments

Safety or work environments where eyewear coverage is higher

Used in

Flatiron

What it is

Visible Light Transmission (VLT) refers to the percentage of visible light that passes through a lens. The VLT number indicates how bright or dark the lens will appear.

A lower VLT percentage means the lens allows less light to pass through and will appear darker. A higher VLT percentage allows more light to pass through and appears lighter.

Why it matters

VLT determines how well a lens performs in different lighting conditions. Lenses with lower VLT values are better suited for bright environments because they reduce the amount of light reaching the eyes.

This helps reduce glare, improve comfort, and prevent eye fatigue during long periods in the sun.

How it works

Lens tint and coatings work together to control how much visible light enters the eye. By carefully selecting the VLT level, sunglasses can be optimized for specific environments and brightness levels.

DSRT lenses are designed for bright outdoor environments and strong sunlight.

12 percent VLT

Designed for intense sunlight and high brightness environments such as desert terrain, open landscapes, and midday sun.

14 percent VLT

Provides slightly more light transmission while still offering strong glare reduction. This option works well in bright to moderately bright conditions.

Why these levels were chosen

These VLT levels provide a balance between brightness reduction and usable visibility. They reduce harsh sunlight while still allowing enough light for clear vision during active use.

This makes them well suited for outdoor training, driving, and performance environments.

What it is

All DSRT lenses provide UV400 protection, which blocks 100 percent of harmful UVA and UVB radiation from reaching the eyes.

Why it matters

Ultraviolet radiation from sunlight can contribute to long-term eye damage when exposure occurs over time. Proper UV protection helps protect the eyes during extended periods outdoors.

How it works

UV protection is built directly into the lens material rather than applied as a surface coating. This ensures consistent protection throughout the life of the lens.

Important note

UV protection is independent of lens darkness. Even a dark lens should always provide full UV protection to properly protect the eyes in bright environments.

What it is

ANSI Z87.1+ is a safety standard developed by the American National Standards Institute for protective eyewear used in industrial, construction, and high impact environments.

Eyewear that meets this certification must pass specific impact and durability tests designed to ensure the lenses and frames can protect the eyes from flying debris and other hazards.

Why it matters

Not all sunglasses are designed to withstand impact. Safety rated eyewear provides an additional level of protection in environments where the eyes may be exposed to hazards such as dust, debris, or fast moving objects.

ANSI Z87.1+ certified lenses are designed to reduce the risk of eye injury in these conditions.

What the "+" rating means

The "+" symbol indicates the eyewear meets the high impact testing requirements of the ANSI Z87.1 standard. This means the lenses have been tested to withstand higher levels of impact compared to basic protective eyewear.

Impact testing

To earn ANSI Z87.1+ certification, lenses must pass multiple impact tests designed to simulate real world hazards.

These tests typically include:

High velocity impact testing where a small steel projectile is fired at the lens

High mass impact testing where a weighted object is dropped onto the lens

These tests ensure the lens can resist breaking, cracking, or dislodging from the frame.

Frame retention

The frame must also hold the lens securely during impact. This helps ensure the lens remains in place and continues to protect the eye during sudden impacts.

Coverage and design

Safety rated eyewear often uses wraparound designs that provide additional side protection and help prevent debris from entering from peripheral angles.

Flatiron

The Flatiron model is designed to meet ANSI Z87.1+ safety standards. It uses impact tested polycarbonate lenses combined with a wraparound frame design to provide additional coverage and protection.

This model was built for environments where both performance and protection are important.

Examples include:

Construction environments

Industrial job sites

High impact sports and training environments

Phoenix and Sedona

Phoenix and Sedona sunglasses are designed for performance and everyday outdoor use but are not classified as ANSI safety rated eyewear.

They prioritize optical clarity, comfort, and performance rather than certified impact protection.

The Flatiron combines ANSI Z87.1+ protection with performance optics designed for athletes, workers, and outdoor environments.