On average, I spend up to 12 hours a day staring at a computer screen. Those 12 hours are normally split up between web development, video editing and general computer use. The web development and video editing are graphics intensive and by the end of the day my eyes are definitely feeling the strain. In some cases, I am forced to quit working, simply because my eyes are so uncomfortable.
This is exactly why I decided to try out a pair of the Gunnar Performance Eyewear. You may be asking yourself, as I did. What exactly is "Performance Eyewear"? Well, according to the Company's description, Gunnar Optiks are designed to relieve the dryness and strain on your eyes, which is caused by the hours of computer use or gaming. I, without a doubt, fall into that group of people.

Skeptical? To say that I was skeptical about the glasses would be a gross understatement. We've all purchased a product that claims to be "The solution to (Any problem you can think of)", and in far too many cases, they don't work anywhere near as well as the manufacturer promises! Nothing is worse than spending your hard earned money on something that ends up being junk!

So, I received two pairs of glasses today, one for indoors and one for outdoors. The indoor glasses have an Amber tint and the outdoor glasses have a Gradient Grey tint.
From the Gunnar Optiks website
Amber tint:
Optimized for LCD screen general use and fluorescent lit environments. This tint and coating combo gives the best enhancement of contrast while minimizing screen glare and the overabundance of high energy visible light found in typical computing environments.
Gradient Grey:
Designed to reduce the total light transmitted, this lens excels in harsh or highly lit environments. This tint and coating combination is engineered for digital viewing in bright light and outdoor applications.

The glasses came in a nice case with a cloth carrier, which also doubles as a cleaning cloth. I personally am never impressed by fancy packaging. Not that it's a bad thing, but something being packaged like it's a diamond ring doesn't necessarily mean its worth all the effort.
My first impression of the actual "eyewear" is that they are very well made and seem to be of high quality materials. Believe me, in this day and age, I would not have been surprised if they had come out looking like the glasses I could have purchased at the local corner store for $4.99 US. Luckily that wasn't the case.
The glasses are very light, which I am thrilled about. Any eyewear that has hardly any weight to it has always caused me to get headaches and simply be uncomfortable. Had they been "heavy", I would more than likely have simply packaged them back up and sent them back. I have no intentions of trading one problem for another.

Note: I will be posting updates to this article over the next couple weeks so that I can give my thoughts on how well they work over a longer period of time.

Now on to wearing these and what they actually provide.
My first impression is WOW! The difference in clarity of everything on my monitor is immediately noticeable! I even took them into my wife who put them on and said "OMG, I want a pair....those are awesome!"
I have now been wearing the glasses for several hours and can without a doubt say that they are doing exactly what they say they do. Now, to be fair, this could simply be my excitement about them leading me to falsely believe that they are doing more than they actually are. Which is exactly why I will be doing updates for a few weeks to let everyone know how they are holding up. By this time of the day, my eyes are normally feeling somewhat strained and I am usually starting to take more frequent breaks to try and ease the strain. At this point, in regard to my eyes, I don't feel like I have been at the computer for anymore than an hour or so.

Couple of interesting points.

• The amber tint is not noticeable on my computer monitors.
  
• The amber tint is noticeable when looking around the rest of the room, these two points somewhat illustrates that these lenses are Neoscopic, which means they are designed for close viewing. They are NOT recommended for general use.

The Outdoor lenses I ordered because I am always complaining about the LCD screens on my video cameras in bright sunlight. With typical sunglasses, it's really hard, if not impossible to really see what colors are on the LCD. Most typical sunglasses (at least the ones that I have owned) cause a drastic difference in color. This causes me to have to take them off most of the time when shooting, which inevitably leads to another headache caused by squinting for several hours.

I only had the opportunity to wear the outdoor glasses for a short time this afternoon, but my first impression of them is very good. The glasses seem to do a great job of blocking excess light without changing the normal color spectrum. I will be doing some surface shooting over the next couple days and will provide my assessment of the outdoor glasses in my updates.

Future Products from Gunnar:
Gunnar Optiks has a new style lens that is due to be released at anytime. These glasses, according to their description, have a Crystal tint and "are designed specifically for the graphic designer, video/film editor, or creative visual artist that requires an equally balanced color spectrum.   If
your profession does not allow for a shift  towards the warmer part of the color spectrum, with enhanced contrast ie. your tasks require you to design or work in true color, then this lens option is for you." These are very interesting to me as there are certain days that I spend just processing and editing video. Having a pair of glasses that will actually help me get through some of those arduous days would be a blessing.

At this point I am very optimistic that the Gunnar Eyewear is capable of living up to all the marketing promises, but the next few weeks will definitely bring out the facts.

For more information on Gunnar Optiks and to Get 5% OFF - GUNNAR Digital Performance Eyewear