13 min read

The Best Prescription Safety Glasses And Sports Glasses

If you have RX glasses, it is critical to protect your eyes at all times. Find the best prescription safety glasses that you can use anywhere.
Outlaw Eyewear's Safety Prescription Transition Glasses and Sunglasses
Outlaw Eyewear's Safety Prescription Transition Glasses and Sunglasses

Introduction

27,000 people with prescription glasses, over a two year period, ended up in the emergency room with severe glasses related injuries. Sports related eyeglass injuries are very common, especially when you have prescription. The injuries are very traumatic because the glasses themselves, when broken, can cut the eyeball and causing tremendous damage. They are one of the leading causes of blindness, especially among working-age adults.

Most of the injuries could have been totally prevented with adequate prescription safety glasses. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with low quality prescription sports glasses, cheap prescription safety glasses, and unsafe prescription sports goggles that cannot handle high impact accidents. Some are only good at preventing dust and flying particles like chips, sand, and dirt. Others are just limited in function like UV Rays protection. So, their use is somewhat limited, and when in extreme situations, they can end up being totally ineffective. It is critical to have good eyewear protection, both regular and prescribed safety glasses. This article will be focused on what are really the best safety glasses prescription and RX safety glasses, for your eyes.

Table of Contents

Introduction
.....The Types of Prescription Safety Glasses
..........Prescription Sports Eyeglasses And Prescription Sports Sunglasses
..........Prescription Safety Goggles And Prescription Sports Goggles
.....The Best Prescription Sports Glasses Should Be Shatterproof
.....So, What Are Really The Best Prescription Safety Glasses?

Military Glasses Prescription Capable, The Best Prescription Safety Glasses Available
.....But Watch Out For Fakes
.....Enter The Standard, ANSI Z87.1
.....The Security Of ANSI Z87.1 Certification
.....The Ballistic Testing Of ANSI Z87.1
.....Each Version Enhances The Standard
.....The Testing of Other Features Of ANSI Z87.1
.....Who Can Use Ballistic Tactical Eyewear?
.....But Just A Shield Is Not Enough, You Need More
.....The Company That Designed Military Prescription Safety Glasses The Right Way

Outlaw Eyewear - The Leader In Military Prescription Safety Glasses
.....Prescription Lenses
.....Side Shields
.....Extra Features
.....Here Is Their Best Seller - Fugitive TAC
.....Another Outstanding Product - Raider TAC

Conclusion

The Types of Prescription Safety Glasses

A traithlon runner with sports sunglasses.
A traithlon runner with sports sunglasses.

Sport prescription glasses can be prescribed for various purposes. There are safety glasses with readers, safety glasses with bifocals, and many other kinds of safety spectacles that can meet your needs. But cheap, low-quality lenses can cause a lot of problems such as eye fatigue and strain. You want to look for safety glasses with high-quality lenses.

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Prescription Sports Eyeglasses And Prescription Sports Sunglasses

Prescription sport eyeglasses are usually used for golfing, fishing, bicycling, running, and many other outdoor activities. If the glare is an issue, then sport prescription sunglasses are used to enhance visual clarity by reducing the glare from the sun, water, snow, and the like. They can prevent squinting and straining so your vision can stay more clear.

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Bike rider with sports glasses.

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Prescription Safety Goggles And Prescription Sports Goggles

For football, soccer, baseball, and racquetball, athletes quite often use prescription safety goggles and sports prescription goggles. They are close fitting eye protections that cover around the eyes and the sides. These provide protection from light impact, dust, and splashes.

Safety glasses should be shatterproof.
Safety glasses should be shatterproof.

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The Best Prescription Sports Glasses Should Be Shatterproof

Whether you are buying prescription safety glasses online or in the store, you should make sure that the safety glasses can truly withstand impact. Last thing you would want is your safety glasses breaking into your eyes. There is a great need for real work glasses prescriptions that are capable of truly protecting your eyes.

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So, What Are Really The Best Prescription Safety Glasses?

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Woman practicing at the shooting range.

The best safety prescription glasses and sport glasses are really the ones that are prescription shooting glasses. Why? Well, it is real simple. They are better built to be shatterproof even against very high impact. Good quality glasses for shooting have better performance than your typical sports spectacles. You get one set of safety RX glasses for everything. The eye protection of shooting glasses are far superior for eye safety than normal safety glasses. Especially those for prescription. Your eyes are always vulnerable, especially when you are involved in shooting, skiing, racing, cycling, extreme sports, self defense, construction, and the like. And even more so in dangerous occupations such as law enforcement who use police glasses and police sunglasses. When you are in practically any type of dangerous situation, look no further than shooting glasses with prescription for your eye safety needs. But to kick it up a notch, you need to make sure to get shooting glasses of the best quality. Then which ones are the best of all and can be used in practically any activity ??

Look no further than the military.

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Military Glasses Prescription Capable, The Best Prescription Safety Glasses Available

Military safety glasses, the best of the best.
Military safety glasses, the best of the best.

The best glasses for shooting are the military ones by a mile. These are the strongest safety shooting glasses and goggles, and some of them cover prescription. They can cover sports prescription glasses, prescription safety sunglasses, prescription safety glasses for women, work glasses prescription capable, prescription running glasses, safety reading glasses, bifocal safety glasses, and so much more. You don’t have to be in the military to get these. The tactical military glasses and goggles perform like the bulletproof windows you see on the presidential limo and space shuttle windows. They are hands down, the best eye protection glasses you can get. This type of shooting glasses prescription capable is more versatile, more resistant, more durable, and gives you maximum protection from extreme impact.

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But Watch Out For Fakes

Unfortunately, anyone can claim that their safety glasses are “Military-Grade”, whether it is true or not. If you are just taking a manufacturer’s word for it that their product is safe without looking into it further, then I have a bridge to sell to you. It is really easy to lie and make up false standards and say their glasses are certified. Manufacturers should be held accountable by a third party for the level of safety they deliver in their products. And that is what the United States government decided to do by introducing a new standard, ANSI Z87.1.

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Enter The Standard, ANSI Z87.1

The US Federal government saw a high need to safeguard those in law enforcement and military. So a standard was needed. As a result, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) stepped in to oversee the safety for eyes. They came up with ANSI Z87.1, the top standard for eye protection from extreme impact. You can’t do better than the US government. That is why you really should look for only those that are certified as meeting the ANSI Z87.1 standard. Look for ANSI Z87.1 safety glasses and sunglasses. The best military sunglasses are built on this standard.

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The Security Of ANSI Z87.1 Certification

This standard's certification helps ensure that lenses, frames, and tactical sunglasses can successfully withstand extreme high impact, non-ionizing radiation (visible light and UltraViolet light), chemical exposure, and durability to flammables and corrosion. Proper safety eyewear and shooting sunglasses based on this standard helps ensure protection for eyes world-wide and are verified by extensive research, testing, and analysis. Purchasing safety glasses backed by this standard gives you the best eye protection available. As a result the best hunting sunglasses and eyewear go by the ANSI Z87.1 standard which gives you the ultimate protection. You want the best shooting eye protection you can get. Being ANSI Z87.1 certified is the way to go, so look for Z87 prescription safety glasses.

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The Ballistic Testing Of ANSI Z87.1

Safety eyewear that are certified ANSI Z87.1 are also known as Z87 safety glasses. You should know that Z87.1 certification at military-grade level requires eyewear to pass extensive ballistic testing for safety. Ballistic means military-grade impact protection, designed to survive the military's high-speed impact on the battlefield. Below are some of the Z87 qualifying tests.

  • 1st Test - The lowest level test is performed by dropping a 1-inch steel ball (2.4 oz) directly on the eyewear lens from a height of 50“.
  • 2nd Test - A 0.25” steel ball fired at 150 feet per second, to 20 areas on the eyewear lens. Bulletproof protection is the goal.
  • 3rd test - A high mass impact test, a solid steel missile (500 grams weight) dropped from a height of 50“, hurtling downward toward the lens. It is like getting slammed in the eye with the end of a crowbar or the head of a hammer.
  • 4th Test - A puncture test, an extremely sharp needle (1.56 oz), dropped on the lens from a height of 50“. Like getting hit in the eye with a dart that is extra sharp.

ANSI Z87.1 testing takes into consideration the different types of extreme impact. You want to be ready for anything. And if you are around guns, you should seriously think about owning a pair of Z87 certified eyewear and Z87 safety glasses prescription capable when needed.

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Each Version Enhances The Standard

The standard Z87 also has been improved with new versions every now and then. The recent ANSI Z87.1-2015 version enhanced the standard on UV radiation protection and also addressed emerging technologies. The military is always looking to improve their safety technology. If you have safety glasses certified under the ANSI Z87.1-2015 umbrella, you have rock solid protection fit for any upcoming danger.

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The Testing of Other Features Of ANSI Z87.1

In addition to ballistic performance, the U.S. military standard also includes requirements for polarized safety glasses with optical clarity, protection from UV rays, chemical resistance, and stability even in exposure to a range of temperatures and humidity. Unquestionably, getting military-grade eye protection is a really smart thing to do.

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Who Can Use Ballistic Tactical Eyewear?

Ballistic eyewear is commercially available for anyone who wishes to buy it, not only the military and law enforcement communities. People who would benefit from it would especially be those in dangerous high impact situations such as hunters, shooting enthusiasts, high impact sports, skiing, racing, construction work, security occupations, and the like. They would all benefit from serious eye protection.

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But Just A Shield Is Not Enough, You Need More

Unfortunately, many manufacturers neglected other important features of eyewear, such as the capability of anti fog safety glasses, the optics technology, and especially the design. When developing their army sunglasses and eyewear products, some developers just focused on meeting the ANSI Z87.1 2015 standard and neglected the other critical features. As a result their eyewear are seen as just shields for eye protection. Nothing more. If your eyewear gets fogged up at a critical moment, they become useless during a critical moment. Some have even forgotten the importance of the eyewear design. In other words, the aesthetic qualities, the appearance, and the usability for everyday wear. Ugly looking sunglasses usually end up being tossed away in the drawer or lost on purpose. Why is that? Because everyone wants to look cool with their eyewear. It would be better to have fashionable safety glasses that you can wear on any occasion. And naturally you would want stylish safety glasses that give good impressions. To some people, image is everything.

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The Company That Designed Military Prescription Safety Glasses The Right Way

Soldier wearing Outlaw Eyewear's Fugitive TAC
Soldier wearing Outlaw Eyewear's Fugitive TAC

One of the eyewear manufacturers not only worked on meeting ANSI Z87.1 standards but they also paid careful attention to the looks, design, aesthetic quality, anti-fog capabilities, and clear optics. As a result, in our honest opinion, they have some of the nicest looking shades sunglasses that are also of military-grade. These are great looking sunglasses and safety glasses that are pleasing to the eye. Their protective eyewear line exceeded expectations on safety, vision capability, functionality, appearance, and comfort. The one thing that really stood out was their prescriptions. We were thoroughly impressed. They really did cover all the bases in developing their products. We would like to applaud Outlaw Eyewear for a job well done.

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Outlaw Eyewear - The Leader In Military Prescription Safety Glasses

Outlaw Eyewear, Transition Glasses and Sunglasses With Prescription.
Outlaw Eyewear, Transition Glasses and Sunglasses With Prescription.

After personally evaluating Outlaw Eyewear, we were thoroughly impressed with their expertise of ballistic standards regarding professional and military eyewear. That was their specialty and they are really good at it. Their eyewear meets the standard of 100% ballistic sunglasses, certified ANSI Z87.1 2015 military-grade. They totally exceeded our expectations and their line of eyewear products are the coolest safety glasses.

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Prescription Lenses

Outlaw handles the prescription area better than any of the competition that we looked at. They have the highest quality lenses available, sharp and crystal clear. If you are familiar with prescriptions, you would understand the difficulty of curving the outer edge part of the lens on wrap sunglasses or transition glasses. While curving the lens around the eye gives you far greater range of vision, there is just one problem. What you typically get in that situation is distortion at the outer edges rather than a clear view. Fortunately, Outlaw Eyewear's cutting edge technology overcame this issue of optical distortion by having their laboratory use wrap compensation algorithms during the lens fabrication process. This brilliant process gives their eyewear precise edge to edge vision correction. You get corrected vision even on the outer edges of the eyewear. Most prescription glasses only give you corrected vision in the center of the lens, thereby leaving you with blurry vision when you look to the sides. With the high tech optical vision correction Outlaw Eyewear has, these are the best prescription shooting glasses you can find. You can get the best progressive safety glasses right there at Outlaw. They are easily able to meet any prescription you need whether it is single vision, progressive, bifocal, etc. Do you need extra sharp vision and the best shooting glasses for sporting clays? Then this is the place to get your Z87 prescription safety glasses. You cannot say the same for other brands that only give you a column of vision correction in front of your pupils, neglecting the peripheral vision. Proper vision is critical, and you should treat it as such.

Any Kind of Prescriptions
Any Kind of Prescriptions
Single vision, bifoclas, and much more.
Single vision, bifoclas, and much more.

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Side Shields

Outlaw Eyewear's Military-Grade Aluminum Frame and Side Shields.
Outlaw Eyewear's Military-Grade Aluminum Frame and Side Shields.

We are acutely aware that safety glasses or side shields are a must have, and Outlaw did not disappoint. Outlaw Eyewear built in superior side protection for their safety glasses with military-grade aluminum (this is the best material for eyeglass side shields that results in the most durable sunglasses). You won't need to worry about any flying objects hitting you from the side.

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Extra Features

  • Clear or transition lenses (transition lens are clear safety glasses that can darken in sunlight like sunglasses).
  • Colored tinted or color mirrored lenses (A large selection of lens colors on tinted and mirror technology).
  • Anti-Fog, high tech (making them the best anti fog safety glasses available).
  • Lens coatings: Scratch protections, anti-reflective, blue light filter, water droplet repelling, etc.
  • Frame coatings, durable even under harsh conditions.
  • A new 10 year warranty.

Pick Your Choice of Clear, Transition, Tinted, and Mirrored.
Pick Your Choice of Clear, Transition, Tinted, and Mirrored.
Coatings for scratch protection, anti-reflective, blue light filter, water droplet repelling, etc.
Coatings for scratch protection, anti-reflective, blue light filter, water droplet repelling, etc.

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Here Is Their Best Seller - Fugitive TAC

Outlaw Eyewear's Fugitive TAC
Outlaw Eyewear's Fugitive TAC

These are solid aluminum frames, prescription capable, and built like a tank. Regarding prescriptions, they can do any kind of lens including single vision, multifocals, bifocals, trifocals, and progressive. They are high quality, adjustable, and made in USA. The frames have a good looking sleek appearance and are a comfortable fit. Lens clarity view is crystal clear. Transition lenses quickly darken in sunlight, freeing you from the need to change lenses. Fits the face like a glove. Lots of positive reviews saying these are bad-ass shades. Blocks the wind from coming in very well. Sharpest vision sweeping even the outer sides of the lenses. With these glasses, they have a special lab setup that uses the necessary wrap compensation lens fabrication process to give precise edge to edge vision correction with no distortion. Extremely protective of wind, dust, and the sun. Slim temples arms fit under a helmet comfortably. They also block light and debris coming from the side very well. They have excellent stability and stay on well even during rough movements such as when you are riding in a helicopter, skydiving, alpine skiing, or motorcycle racing.

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Another Outstanding Product - Raider TAC

Outlaw Eyewear's Raider TAC
Outlaw Eyewear's Raider TAC

A classic design with the same excellent prescription eyewear protection.

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Conclusion

Outlaw made the right moves for quality, having their safety glasses USA made and built like a tank. Your search for the best tactical sunglasses with prescription stops here. I personally purchased one of their military safety sunglasses, and had a prescription for progressive lenses in it. They are the best safety prescription glasses I have ever had. The vision is crystal clear, even off to the sides, just like what we mentioned earlier. These are hands down the best sunglasses for eye protection. I carry these Z87 sunglasses with me wherever I go.

They sure do give the competition a lot to worry about because as the leader in the space, they keep improving their products and have extremely competitive prices. Even their basic frame and sunglasses or safety glasses without prescription is unbeatable.

Outlaw Eyewear has a nice set of choices to pick from regarding tactical glasses. They look extraordinary on men and their safety glasses for women look awesome. Talk about making a statement. Check them out when you get a chance.

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P.S.- Also, you should read our article comparing the 10 best military grade sunglasses. And yes, Outlaw outperformed them all.