Shooters know that it's critical to wear eye protection while enjoying our sport, but many don't know that your shooting glasses can actually help improve your performance in addition to protecting your eyes...especially when it comes to the shotgun sports. That's the concept behind the new Howard Leight by Honeywell Shooting Glasses system, which offers a wide variety of ANSI-rated and UV-protectant tinted shooting glasses in various colors. The reason behind this is rooted in the way that human eyes perceive color.
For a primary example, the human eye is most sensitive to the color green during the day. (That's why green laser targeting systems are so popular among armed citizens...in case they have a daylight encounter, the green is easier to see on a target than other colors.) Green might be terrific for a self-defense encounter, but when your eye is trying to pick up an orange object (such as a clay pigeon), the green wavelengths that are part of sunlight serve almost like a kind of visual static. How to counteract that? Well, with pink-tinted lenses. Although rose-colored glasses may not be the best eyewear to be rocking when making a major life decision, they really can help you bust clays! (But let's call them "vermillion" instead of "pink" or "rose.")
Mark Mclear is a national sales manager for Honeywell’s Specialty Eyewear Division. He knows safety glasses, having been in the business for 32 years. And as a point of interest for shooters, while Howard Leight has been firmly established in the shooting sports business for over 25 years now, it’s their background in industrial safety that has allowed them to make such high-quality safety eyewear available to shooting enthusiasts.
Mclear explains that vermillion-tinted lenses are part of Honeywell’s SCT Spectrum Control Technology family. “Basically, we are controlling the light spectrum, minimizing some wavelengths, which in turn enhances others,” he said. “Our vermillion-tinted lenses really make certain colors pop. They make scenes appear brighter, while also making everything appear clearer and crisper.”
Vermillion isn't the only lens color that can give you an edge behind the trigger. Amber-tinted lenses—lenses that appear yellowish— work very well, particularly when wingshooting in late afternoon. Flying birds appear sharper, and it’s easier to pick them up through amber lenses, even in waning light.
Mclear says amber lenses are a wonderful all-around choice for wingshooting or busting clay pigeons, helping improve contrast and depth perception. They’re also great for use at a rifle or handgun range, especially when the sky is overcast. Next to clear, amber lenses have the best visible light transmission at about 90 percent, which is why they perform so well in low-light conditions.
All Howard Leight by Honeywell Uvex shooting sports lenses absorb 99.9 percent of ultraviolet radiation, meaning that these shooting glasses protect your eyes from sunlight as well as shooting hazards...so you can leave your regular sunglasses in your range bag.
Prices vary slightly from frame to frame, but all are between $9 and $16; the Genesis models at the upper end of that range come with a Lifetime Frame Guarantee. If the frame breaks, Howard Leight by Honeywell will replace it at no cost. To see the full lineup of Howard Leight shooting sports eyewear, visit howardleightshootingsports.com.
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