Visors (experience with)

[Phat-S]

Got all caught up reading that music thread forgot why I came in here ... ;)

I have been wearing sunglasses for my lifetime of wearing helmets (motorcycle or auto) as my eyes are somewhat light sensitive. I have never had problems getting sunglasses on in the helmet w/out a balaclava but as I wear them now all the time, its just too much of a PITA to get glasses on and not bunch up the balaclava material. In looking at Bell's visor options (some are not from Bell but made for Bell), there appears to be an amber, a reflective and a smoke tint. I am inclined to go w/ the amber as I presume this is most like a bolle or sun cloud lens. Does anyone know if they are like a sunglass lens and will it help (replace the sunglasses altogether) and give enough contrast that they would not make you lift the visor as the light dropped (think twilight).

And for anyone running smoke, or tinted lenses, any insights?

Thanks.

[disquek]

I have both a smoke and an iridium shield (via a birthday accident). I love them both. But, the iridium seems a little bit better at increasing contrast, and it make me look cool. B)

One thing to consider is that closing the sheild really heats up your head. Having that open eye port helps to ventilate the helmet. For that reason, I'm going to experiment with sunglasses this season. Maybe we should just trade :P

-Kyle

[JamesB]

I used to wear sunglasses and the visor up, I could get them on without disturbing the balaclava. However, not too long ago a friend spun at a HPDE and reared into a tirewall. His sunglasses ejected from the shunt and one of the arms scratched his eye. This made me reconsider wearing sunglasses while racing. So I spend the money on a dark tinted visor.

I am also light sensative (running for my sunglasses the moment I took my helmet off.) And I cannot complain at all. At this point its pefectly fine for me and what I will stick with.

I keep my clear visor with my gearbag just in case now.

[spnkzss]

Since I was in High School I have been weraing sunglasses. I too am very light sensitive. As a matter of fact I tend to get a migrain from the sun if not wearing glasses. They can not be the cheapy 7-11 pairs either. Oakleys are expensive but I will gladly pay $150 for a pair of sunglasses every couple years to not be ill. I couldn't bring myself to wear glasses in the car. I just couldn't make it work, so I went out and bought the blue mirror tinted visor. It works great, looks cool, and no migrains. I would HIGHLY recommend a tinted visor and I will never race without my visor down. My first year in a car I had a rock get kicked up from the car in front of me going into a left hand turn. The rock came between the A-pillar and the window net and hit me sqaure between the eyes on my visor.

FWIW

[Phat-S]

Great to hear I am not alone on this light sensitivity thing.

I presume the iridium is a red or rose tint (??). That's probably what I would go with (that or an amber lens). The mirrorred lenses, are there advantages to the mirror face? Does it reflect more light or something? They do look cool :)

And the thing about keeping the second lens with me is a great idea, I never thought about that but I could swap them out if necca.

Great info guys. On the subject of great info, where did you guys buy yours? I have found listings on Bell and Pegasus. Any other sources?

[JamesB]

No irridium is more like a smoke that has a tint of red or violet with a reflective front. So it looks grey, but it has a reflective front so it reflects and filters light. I wear irridium sunglasses but I dont bother with the visors.

I keep the clear as a just in case/rain thing. As much as I am light sensitive I alway can deal with some brightness if it means I can see my gauges vs having a hard time seeing them. since they are silver backed, it has to be pretty dark not to see them with the dark tint visor.

[charrbq]

Well, I seem to be not alone in the light sensitive department. I'm not severely sensitive, but I do get tired of squinting all day long. I use the clear visor for very, very cloudy days only...and the occassional night enduro. Most of the time I use the smoke visor. I had a room mate in college that flew helicopters in Viet Nam...yep, showed my age. He said the proper procedure for using the yellow shield was for overcast or foggy weather. It gave images a higher resolution when they were blurred by weather. The blue, iridium lenses were never used, as they tended to distort the image when you move your eyes from side to side without moving your head simultaneously. Can't attest to that as I've never used one. I will agree, they do look really cool!

As much as I require air inside my helmet, I never race with the visor open. Crap comes inside the car at every moment! Or, as it happened in my last race, I got punted by an ITA car and took an adventure through the grass. The guy following me, when I came back on course, said he fought grass coming out of my car for a lap and a half. Needless to say, had my visor been up, a lot of that would've been in my eyes.

If you require corrective lenses, they do make sport goggles that will go on inside the helmet, or over if you don't wear a full face.

[Phat-S]

Ok, looking at Pegasus Racing's site, I don't see anything listed as Iridium - is there a different industry name for that?

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productse...sp?Product=2315 (http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=2315)

As long as the amber cuts down on the light, I think that's probably the direction I am heading (unless there is a rose UV lens which I don't see anywhere).

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/bigpicture.asp?RecId=600
-- presume that bottom right one would knock down light to some degree and be a good contrast in overcast/high moisture. Anyone w/ first hand experience? Or am I not looking in a good place for these (and do the fog free ones actually perform that function or do they just have additional perforations?)

[charrbq]

The blue one, bottom left is what you're refering to. I don't know what iridium is...that one's sometimes called "blue blocker". They can be pretty dark. Real good for open cars in intense sunlight or racing into a sunrise/sunset. My experience is they can tend to distort the view somewhat. They are fairly expensive, also...at least the Simpson one is.
I've no experience with the fog free. I've never heard that they work well. I've used anti-fog liquid before, and found it useless in cold weather. I just cracked my visor a touch.

[JohnRW]

Beware.

Played with tinted visors a bit, as I run also race an open cockpit sports racer and wanted to find something more effective for rain & gloom situations. Smokes are fine, but you'll want several levels of smoke, depending on the ambient impending dark looming nasty gloom.

Amber and other wavelength-specific tints ? Yeah...they can really brighten up a dark environment, but guess what ? Try telling the difference between a white flag & a yellow flag. Try telling the difference between a red flag and a black flag and a blue flag.

In my racing career, I did one practice session with a 'color-tinted' visor. Took it off, threw it as far away from me as possible, and never was tempted again.

Beware.

[DavidM]

I've always wondered about the visors. How can a $40 plastic shield be as good as $150 sunglasses? The high end "driving" sunglasses have the polarized lenses, reflective coating, etc. to eliminate glare and block out the light. I remember reading that the el cheapo sunglasses that are just tinted actually hurt your eyes because it's darker and your pupils are more open, but the sunglasses aren't really blocking any of the UV light. Seems like a tinted race visor would be the equivalent of the cheap sunglasses.

I tried wearing my sunglasses for a race and my ears hurt like a mofo after the race where the sunglasses hooked behind my ears. Are people wearing sunglasses using the ones that just go straight?

I'm so damn tall that the roof line blocks most of the sun anyways. So I've just been driving with my clear visor and no sunglasses. I haven't had any issues yet, but I'm sure I will at some point.

David

[JamesB]

They are not as good as a set of polorized glasses but they work well. I figure if I ever find the need ill get a light smoke, but I think I can survive with a clear and a dark.