Anyone use Zenni for sunglasses?

[N8N]

Been buying my backup glasses from Zenni for years, and in fact I'm wearing a pair now because I made the mistake of going to "MyEyeDr" because I finally have vision insurance from my work and they supposedly were good with Silhouettes... well their AR coating sucks compared to Zenni.

However, recently I asked my GF because she was ordering glasses for herself to order me a new pair as well because my current dailies are getting a little battered and I can't wear the Silhouettes anymore because the lenses are *so* shiny and reflective it's distracting. I also threw a pair of sunglasses on the order as a trial; I asked her to get standard polarized grey tint well because she's a turdblossom she popped for the expensive $70-something high index polarized tint option.

The glasses just showed up today and I am NOT happy. They're great looking and the tint is nice, but I suspected a problem as soon as I looked at my cell phone wearing them - I can see my cell perfectly well at anyangle. I can also hold my Ray-Bans in front of my face and rotate them through a full 180 degrees and at no point can I not see through them, I can see clearly through them through the full range of rotation.

Am I missing something before I start bitching, or did they just try to pawn off some standard 15% tinted lenses on me and call them polarized?

[Axius]

All of my Oakley lenses are polarized and I can see my cell phone fine, but I can't see the radio display or information panel in the car unless I tilt my head. If you have an iPhone I can't comment on that as I have a Blackberry Priv.

[N8N]

I've got a HTC One M9, with my Ray-Bans, I can only see the display if I tilt my head at just about a 45 degree angle.

My understanding is that if you put two polarized lenses in front of them, you can rotate them through 180 degrees and if you start at the point at which you can see through them they will go from "I can see fine" through progressively darker to a point at 90 degrees where you have no light transmission, then back to "I can see fine" at 180 degrees where you're back where you started. My Ray-Bans act like I expect polarized lenses to work, with the exception that I have not popped one lens out and set it in front of the other to try the rotation test. The Zenni lenses fail both the cell phone test and the try to occlude the light when held behind my Ray-Bans test.

I don't have a radio display (factory nav) but I do have climate control display and yes the Ray-Bans will obscure that but the Zennis will not. I also get the weird window tint rainbows with my Ray-Bans but not the Zenni glasses.

[Axius]

Hmmm, that's strange, not really sure. My Ray Bans I can see my cell phone perfectly fine, but same thing, in the BMW the red display units I can't see until I tilt my head.

How do they act for glare reduction when the sun is at it's peak or cresting over trees and such? You may have said but what shade are the lenses? My red and blue polarized have a much more extreme change than my brown lenses.

[N8N]

I just got them today, so I haven't driven with them yet, but my recollection of basic high school physics says that these aren't real polarized lenses... unless they are deliberately designed not to be such and have a slight polarizing effect but aren't true polarized filters.

I just looked it up, the lenses she ordered are "1.59 Vision-Ease SunRx® Polycarbonate Polarized Single Vision - Gray -tint at 85%" the Ray-Bans I am comparing them to are prescription G20 polarized lenses from a local optometrist.

Edit: I lied. I just tried it again because I'm really curious. Apparently the Zenni glasses will obscure the radio display I was just holding my head at the wrong angle. They will also obscure my laptop display at about a 45 degree angle.

Also, what's her face has a pair of factory non prescription ray bans that she swears are polarized but they act very much like these Zenni glasses, but unlike my prescription Ray-Bans.

[overcoil]

As you eluded to, since polarized tint is basically a polyvinyl material with a horizontal Venetian blind stencil, if you take one polarized lens and place in front of another lens and rotate 90-degrees the Venetian blind effect black out any light transmission.
If you place one lens in front of another lens and it they are both polarized you will go from light transmission to no light transmission. If you can go through 360-degrees of rotation without any of the dark opaque effect kicking in then one of the lenses isn't polarized.

Also if you look at sunlight reflecting off of water or mirrored chrome and you get a starburst glare, then placing your polarized sun lens on should cut in half (approximately) the amount of glare.

[Axius]

I'd imagine gray tint is going to be the least obstructive as far as color determent and things of that sort, since it's technically a pretty neutral shade. Even the brown tints on the Rays and Oakleys are very subtle compared to red and blue/purple.

I wouldn't completely write them off just because of a difference in visuals, wear them in a practical situation like a normal day, look for glare reduction, reflected light off water, and reflected light off cars. Everything else is basically a mute point if they are indeed refracting light glare. I'm just going off fundamentals, but from my experience not all lens shades act the same.

[Banana Hammock]

I've got a pair of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer Liteforce or whatever they're called. They're polarized and I cannot see the screen on my HTC 10 unless I tilt my head.