The best sunglass lens colour for driving, and the two that are not

For driving, a neutral grey lens is the safest all-round choice, a brown lens is better when the sun is low or the light keeps changing, and dark blue or heavily mirrored lenses are best kept for the water. Grey dims everything evenly and changes colours least, which matters when the colour is a traffic light. Brown removes some blue, which lifts contrast and cuts haze at the cost of a warm shift. Both should be polarized, and neither should be very dark: how much light the lens lets through matters more for driving than what colour it is.

The rule that matters more than colour

Sunglass lenses are grouped by how much visible light they let through. Very light lenses pass most of it; the darkest pass a few percent. For driving, the guidance from standards bodies and driving authorities is consistent: a general-purpose daytime lens should not be in the darkest bands, and no sunglasses of any kind should be worn at night.

The reason is simple. Inside a car you are already behind tinted glass, often in the shade of the roof, glancing between a bright road and a dark dashboard. A lens that is comfortable on a beach can be too dark for that. So before colour, ask how dark the lens is. If a label gives a category, category 2 or 3 is the daytime driving range; category 4 is not for driving anywhere.

We do not publish a transmission figure for our lenses, because the frame maker does not state one. Each product page prints what they do state, and nothing beyond it.

Grey: the neutral choice

A grey lens attenuates the whole visible spectrum together. It does not favour red over blue or blue over red, so the colours you see are the colours that are there, only dimmer. That is exactly what you want when the colour carries information: a traffic light, a brake light, a warning sign.

Grey is the lens for flat, bright, midday driving and for anyone who wants one pair that is never the wrong choice. It is also the tint we recommend first to anyone buying a single pair: the T01 Grey.

What grey does not do is lift contrast. On a hazy day, or with the sun low and ahead, it dims the haze along with everything else.

Brown: the contrast choice

Blue light scatters more than the longer wavelengths, in the air and inside the eye, and that scatter is the haze that flattens a road into a single plane. A brown lens absorbs more blue than a grey one. Remove some of the scatter and the road, the verge and the car ahead separate; edges get crisper, distance is easier to judge.

Brown is the lens for long drives, low sun, patchy light under trees and overcast-but-bright days. The trade is a warm colour shift: the world looks slightly amber, and a green light looks slightly less green. Most drivers stop noticing within minutes. That is the T01 Brown.

A brown lens that darkens toward the top is the gradient version of the same idea; our gradient lenses post covers when that split earns its place on a road.

Why not blue, and why not a heavy mirror

Blue and blue-mirrored lenses are built for open water and snow. Their base tint is usually dark, and a blue-tinted view is the least helpful one for distinguishing the greens, ambers and reds of the road. Keep the Dark Blue Mirror for the boat.

Heavy mirror coatings reflect a slice of light before it enters the lens, which is a way of making a lens effectively darker. On a road that pushes you toward the darker bands you want to avoid. A light mirror is fine; a full mirror on a dark base is a beach lens.

Yellow and amber are sold for low light and night driving. They increase apparent brightness and contrast in dim conditions, but they do not make it safe to wear tinted lenses at night, and no driving authority recommends any tint after dark.

Polarized or not, for driving?

Polarized, for most drivers. The road surface, the bonnet and the windscreen of the car ahead all throw horizontal glare, and a polarizing film removes most of it. The gain is largest in low sun and after rain.

The one thing to check is your own dashboard. Some LCD displays go dim or show rainbow bands through polarized lenses at certain angles. Our post on screens explains why. Sit in your car with the lenses on before you decide; most displays are fine, a few are not.

Quick guide

Frequently asked questions