At SHOT Show this year Beretta had not one, but two high-tech new safety products. Previously we took a look at their Off Shot active hearing protection, and here we’re checking out their B-On active sunglasses. That’s right, they go from nearly clear to shaded sunglasses in under 0.1 seconds, while also offering full ballistic protection.
The B-On lenses can switch between shaded and nearly clear either automatically or manually via a button. In either case, they switch almost instantly. In auto mode, the user can adjust the lighting threshold at which the shades do their thing.
The battery lasts for approximately 72 of use, and recharging can be done via a standard micro USB cable. Power is used only in shaded mode. Should the battery die on you, the lenses revert to clear.
Beretta’s B-On glasses are slated to arrive in May, and MSRP should be about $399.
Well, I was interested right up until the price. pffft.
Yup.
If the price of auto-darkening welding hoods has come down to As Seen In Home Depot levels, then there is no reason shooting glasses should cost $400. Except that a lot of shooters are gullible cash tossers when it comes to new stuff.
Yeah, I’d rather buy another gun for that cost.
I simple got some photochromatic lenses for my Wiley-X’s from:
http://www.fuselenses.com
Nice, thanks for the link!
Yeah sounds great, but, at $399 way to expensive.
If they could be adjusted to the equivalent of say, 3 different Pilla shades with Pilla’s accompanying background muting and target enhancement I’d buy….
This technology is nothing new, auto-dark welding visors have been available *decades* now.
Harbor Freight has cheap China versions for about $50…
http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/welding-helmets.html
I never had any luck with auto darkening welding helmets. I always got a bad flash on the first arc. Sometimes subsequent arcs would get a quick enough reaction, but I was always looking at blue spots by then due to the first flash. YMMV though.
Okay, in the nicest possible way, you’re doing it wrong.
Either you tried someone’s hood once and the sensitivity and shade settings were all jacked up, or you used a really shitty hood, or the sensor was partially blocked. Or you have magical eyeballs that can detect a welding arc in 1/30,000th of a second, in which case the government would probably like to talk to you.
Speaking of the government, is it yet common knowledge why auto-darkening technology was first developed? Forgive me if so: It was developed in the sixties for pilots. The idea being that if they were on mission and there were a nuclear strike, the auto-darkening visor would keep them from being blinded so they could continue their mission.
Edit to add; Or you used a Harbor Freight visor. Or a Harbor Freight welder. Or were welding near a Harbor Freight store, and the badness just leaked out, that wouldn’t surprise me either.
I was not aware of that, I’m familiar with the thick, black ‘curtains’ they drew across the cockpit windows when they were about to release their weapons.
I do know there is a specification on how quickly the LCD goes opaque. (Nice, fast ones make the image less ‘jittery’ on an LCD panel making fast motion video look ‘smoother’.)
It’s possible the hood he used had cheap, slow LCD that didn’t ‘shutter’ fast enough when the arc was struck…
Agreed, my cheap HF hood works great.
Are they available in prescription?
I’d settle for that, for that price, but I’d rather have them big enough to fit over my prescription glasses.
I tried some FitOvers a few years back, lost them, looked into them again, but their choices are too confusing. Lots of colored lenses — green, blue, rose, yellow — all claiming to be “best for natural colors” which don’t make no sense no how. I had soem colored lens sunglasses once, I think amber, which changed traffic light colors and scared me half to death. Never wore them again, too dangerous.
Lots of people need Rx glasses. Personally, I HATE the ones that fit over my regular glasses. Didn’t much like the dang gas mask lenses either.
I wonder how much Rx would cost and where to get them.
“The battery lasts for approximately 72 of use”
72 what?
of