I published an anecdotal article in the summer, followed by a humorous dialogue, about the scourge of bright car headlights in Brooklyn, New York City. In summary, there was a point in 2021 when Brooklyn drivers obtained obnoxiously bright headlights, cranked the brightness to the maximum, and threw away the mechanism to dim them (many bikes afflict us with the same). I would say that it is dark stuff, but it would be more accurate to say that it is very bright stuff. I first dealt with the problem on evening walks by always walking in the same direction that traffic is moving. But in September, I was given a more durable solution – BLUPOND’s Knight Visor driving glasses.
In this article, I will offer a Brooklyn walker’s review of the Knight Visor driving glasses.
A Walker’s Review?
I have never driven a car and have no plans to do so. Because cars tend to disagree with me, I try to avoid them when at all possible. Thus, although the Knight Visor glasses are marketed for driving, my review will offer no information about how they work for their intended purpose. With that being said, since I use them to avoid being blinded by car lights, I will venture that they are more than adequate for drivers.
The Manufacturer
The Knight Visor glasses are made by a company called BLUPOND. You can see BLUPOND’s official website here. The website suggests that BLUPOND is only in the business of designing and producing anti-glare driving glasses – but I found that they also make sunglasses and sports sunglasses. It describes all of the glasses as being the product of “Italian design”
My Glasses
I have, and will review, BLUPOND’s titanium-color night driving glasses.
They have a metal frame and semi-polarized polycarbonate lens. For this review, I will use BLUPOND’s provided measurements rather than measuring the glasses myself:
- Frame Length: 5.8 inches
- Lens Width: 2.7 inches
- Lens Height: 1.6 inches
- Bridge Width: 0.5 inches
- Frame Width: 5.2 inches
I received a glasses bundle as a gift. The bundle comes with a case, screwdriver, pouch, cleaning cloth, and car visor clip. In the below image, you will find the glasses, case, pouch, and car visor clip.
The set comes in a gift box featuring the Knight Visor logo. I no longer have the box, but it is well-packaged, making it suitable for gift-giving purposes
My Review
Below, I will review the different aspects of my glasses.
Frame and Nose Pads
My model of the Knight Visor glasses has a metal frame. Some cheaper models that they produce have plastic frames. The glasses are very light, both to pick up and on the face. Nevertheless, the metal feels more than sturdy enough for all normal purposes. I will venture they could probably survive being jostled a bit, but I opted against stress-testing them for obvious reasons.
The arms of the glasses have what seems to be a plastic sleeve. This too is sturdy enough. The end of the arms appear to be malleable for people who may desire a different fit around their ears. The glasses fit me well out of the box, so I have not modified the arms in any way.
The flexible hinges of the glasses are fastened by a single screw. Having worn them for a month, I have not noticed any looseness in the hinges. Again noting that they fit me well out of the box, the hinges feel like they would accommodate most smaller or larger heads without needing adjustment.
The glasses’ nose pads appear to be a soft plastic or rubber over metal. Almost every pair of sunglasses I have owned have had nose pads – and I have no issue with them. However, I know that some (including my New Leaf Journal colleague) do not like nose pads. Since I generally prefer nose pads, I unsurprisingly do not mind these. But for whatever it is worth, they are soft and leave little impression on the bridge of my nose.
Lenses
The lenses are a yellow-tinted polycarbonate. The yellow tint is noticeable. For example, as I wear them now while typing this very article, my computer screen does indeed have a yellow tint. The lenses are very thin and light, adding little-if-any weight to the already light frames. I have not scratched the lenses or had any issue with them in the two months that I have been wearing the glasses.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is subjective, but my pair of glasses check all of my boxes. The lens shape is a sort of rounded rectangle – I prefer this shape in general because I look terrible with round glasses. Moreover, I like that the bridge of the frames is mostly flat, arching down toward the hinges instead of up.
My frames are titanium color, but this specific version is also available in black.
A Walker’s Review
The difference between walking at night in Brooklyn with the Knight Vision glasses and without is like night and day (pun intended). By this I mean that the glasses make it like night. It is my presumptuous opinion that I should not have to squint while walking on the sidewalk when it is dark outside. The glasses handle the car headlights well enough that I do not need to squint at all, whereas without them I try to avoid walking against traffic when at all possible. To test the glasses, I looked straight into some of the most obnoxiously bright headlights – sure enough, I did not need to squint (but I would still avoid looking straight into those – which has to do some kind of damage).
As I suggested above, the build-quality of the glasses is very good. I have not had any issues with them after two months of almost daily use. They are light, comfortable, and pleasant to wear. The glasses feel durable, and I assume that they will hold up for a good while.
A Walker’s Recommendation
If you, like me, do not like walking into a mass of absurdly bright headlights at night, I strongly recommend considering a pair of driver’s glasses. If they are good enough for people who are actually driving, they are good enough for walking.
While I am sure that a cheaper pair of driving glasses would suffice, the Knight Visor glasses are a good choice for people who want a real, durable pair of night glasses.
If you want to purchase out the glasses I wrote about, they are available on the Knight Visor website. I also found that both the gray and the black glasses are available on Amazon, as of November 10, 2021. BLUPOND also produces wrap-around Knight Visor glasses with fully plastic frames that are a bit cheaper, but I have not tried those.
