Gunnars Advanced Gaming Eyewear Review

If you are unfamiliar with Gunnars, they are advanced computing eyewear for both everyday use and gaming. What catches the attention of pc users is the claims that they are able to reduce glare, eye strain and dry eyes. Do the Gunnars stand up to this claim or are they just a pair of shades

The Packaging

The Gunnars are packed in blister packaging which does not make for good presentation in this instance. If these were on a shop shelf along with the price tag I would personally not pick these up as the quality of packaging does not line up with the product. As sales are mostly picked up online the packaging is not as important but it is quite hard to get into blister packs and you want to be careful using sharp objects around the lenses.

On the back of the packaging you get all the information about the Gunnars and what they do. Opening up the back door you can see the glasses from a different angle and you are greeted with the scientific words for the technology used in the making of the Gunnars. As mentioned before in store these would probably not attract my attention but online you see the glasses themselves outside the packaging and they do look fantastic.

The Feel

Having been using the Gunnars for a couple months I can say that they do help to reduce eye strain, which you can get from staring at a bright screen for long periods of time, but they are not the ultimate solution. They do help with the eye strain but after long periods of time I still felt tired eyes and needing to take a break from the computer.

An added bonus of a glasses bag helps keep them clean

If you are like me and you do not naturally wear glasses, you might find these uncomfortable for long periods of time. Having worn the glasses consecutively for long periods I still find the glasses giving me an ache on the top of my nose. The longer you wear them however the more you do get used to them.

If you wear glasses naturally you will probably adjust to these easily, and even come in prescription so you do not have to wear reading glasses underneath them. If you are not someone who regularly wears glasses or sun glasses you might find these awkward for some time, but the benefit to wearing them outweighs the short term feeling

The Gunnars offer a useful very minor magnification to help further reduce eye strain from looking at the screen, this is a great idea but if you get Gunnars with slightly narrow lenses like the ones reviewed you might find yourself being thrown off when looking down at the keyboard and getting half magnification and half normal vision. This is probably biggest problem with the glasses the shifting between tint and magnification is something you might not ever get used to.

The Look

The look of the Gunnars is down to personal preference as the lens technology is the same as the way the Gunnars look is all down to the user. If you want something that looks more formal than you might want to go for the standard Gunnars, but if you want something more stylish then you can have a look at the more expensive Gunnars.

Price seems to be influenced by design and also by brand name. If you want to buy your favourite gaming brand name on the Gunnars, be expected to pay that little bit more. It does have the bonus of getting a different style, but it will depend on you if you think the price is worth it.

Personally, most of the Gunnars on the site look great and outside the packaging they are clean and sleek looking. The ones reviewed are lightweight and have a great minimal design if that is the look you are going for.

Do they work?

The best way to describe the Gunnars is they are an enchantment product, but not a cure. They do help to reduce eye strain and glare for those who sit at their computers for long periods of time. However, they do not get rid of the stress on the eyes completely only help reduce it so you will find yourself still needing to take breaks.

The most impressive function of the glasses is the way they make text and other things a lot sharper, this is great when typing documents as it makes the text very clear. The bigger benefit to the sharpness is in gaming, while using the glasses playing Battlefield 3 I found that it was a lot easier to distinguish scenery from one another and spot enemy players further away than I would without them.

To support the clearer and sharper images the magnification boosts your gaming further. Not only can you see more clearly you can see things a little better because of the very minor magnification. In a game such as Battlefield 3 this helps greatly as the quicker you can see something in the distance when it is a tiny couple of pixels moving across the screen the better you can fight or react.

Overall, the Gunnars are a great addition to the hardcore gamers arsenal looking to improve your overall game by reducing the stress to your eyes and making your vision just that little bit clearer. If you are a casual user you should still consider these if you spend long periods of time at your PC to help reduce the strain to your eyes. Finally, they might help if you suffer from headaches and migraines while using computers with bad glare.

Finally as mentioned before when it comes to price it is down to what you want the glasses to look like and what logo you want on the frames. The cheapest pair of Gunnars Eyewear is $69.99 and for what you get that is a good price, but if you are a gamer I would recommend the frames with the widest lenses to also encompass as much of your peripheral vision as possible.