VetroSafe® Guardian OTG Glassblowing Safety Glasses Shade 3 (Didymium-Alternative Polycarbonate Lens) for Lampworking, Flameworking, Glassblowing

I have been using standard Welding Shade 3 over-the-glasses cheap things that I found to keep my eyes safe during lampworking sessions. I've been pretty confident that they've done their job until I asked why we use Didy glasses when the soda flare isn't actually considered to be dangerous. I'm in the UK and the only thing available to us if we wear prescription glasses is 'true' Didy glasses with the associated massive pricetag, hence why I bought the cheaper welding shield when I was setting up. Having tried these out once they arrived, I can say that they are nothing short of transformative. The orange glow of the flare in the flame has been hiding that I have been HORRIBLY overheating my glass for a year. I can clearly see all parts of what I have in the flame and although the colours are of course changed, they're much clearer than with just the smoked glass. Oranges appear luminous, yellows appear orange but all other colours are clear. I wear rather large glasses so they were a tight squeeze - I think I am actually a MM or two wider than the advised limit on these but they do fit. They very lightweight, moreso even than the plastic ones I had and they are formed well enough that they should catch any pings that fly off. They're supplied with a few lens cleaners, a nice carry pouch and a cleaning cloth, as well as a string that the arms slot into if you like to be able to wear them around your neck when they're off. There are also comprehensive care instructions in the pack. All in all, I am extremely pleased with the purchase. I hope you do manage to get a supply line over here but until then, I wouldn't hesitate to buy and ship internationally again if I need to replace - its worth the extra to my mind!

These are lighter than traditional shade 3 from a company like Phillips and normally I would say that might equal less protection but I have very light sensitive eyes and even after 8 hrs of production work my eyes feel great and have zero signs of fatigue I've felt in the past. A wonderful upside to the shade being a bit lighter is that you can see your environment so much more clearly or in my case watch TV without having to look over the top of my lenses like a granny. Finally, the color accuracy is far and away the star of the show for me. Before these glasses every color lense and shade I've tried before tints everything an ugly color but these do not do that and have almost 0 sodium flare. These are technically a blue tint but even looking at the color white through these still doesn't really look blue at all. I had a question for the company and emailed them and got a response within 15 mins and was more than pleased at our interation. If you are looking for lampwork glasses to fit over prescription glasses these are far and away the best pick. I however do not wear any other glasses and so I prefer the "Defenders" from this same company. Another reason I prefer the Defenders is because they really block out all peripheral light extremely well while these frames don't as a result of them needing to be much bigger to accommodate other glasses underneath them. The one other main difference between the two frames is the guardians are all 1 piece whereas the Defenders have 2 removable "arm shields" and also an inner portion that blocks all of the peripheral light. If you wear glasses and/or don't care about light being blocked around the outer edges of the frames then these are the ones to get. If you want smaller frames, don't wear glasses and don't like light leaks then get the Defenders. If you're on the fence then I say get Defenders but that's very much a matter of taste and how they might fit your head shape. I look forward to shade 5s and split 3/5s from this company.

Great glasses for lampworking! They fit over my own eyeglasses and the Didymium filter blocks out the sodium glare very well, without being too dark overall. I can see the glass clearly in the flame.

Comfortable. Comes in an excellent zippered protective case -- best free case I've ever gotten.. Covers all angles well.

I have bought several pairs of safety glasses that I use for flame working soft and hard glass. This pair is the most comfortable. They are lightweight yet strong and well-constructed. They provide adequate blockage of sodium flare and I can see the glass rod colors fairly well through the lenses. They are my favorite safety glasses so far. I still use a darker shade when flame working certain colors of hard (boro) glass for further eye protection. They fit well over my prescription glasses, too. Overall, I am satisfied with these glasses and would recommend them to anyone who needs eye protection for glass flameworking and blowing.

This is the second time I purchased these. I bought a pair back in 2023. I like them so much because they fit securely over my Rx glasses and are very lightweight compared to many glasses I've used in past years. My first pair (2023) lost the pin to the right ear piece somewhere along the way. Easily fixed by my husband with a small piece paper clip. They're still going strong but I decided to treat myself to a new pair and keep the 2023 pair for friends and customers who like to watch the live show. These are great glasses at a fair price. Do not hesitate to purchase them, I don't think you would be disappointed.

I have been a flame worker for several years. I was hesitant to try them, but I am glad that I did. They fit over my glasses perfectly and are so light I don't notice them. The are effective in eliminating sodium flare and I don't have eye fatigue afterwards. Nice!

I bought these glasses because I was bothered by the side flashes coming around my Philips 202 visor lenses, the ones I use for most of my smaller COE 104 glass projects. I paid full Amazon price for them and this is not a paid review. These glasses are roughly similar to my WaleWear "Lampworker Combo" glasses with the WaleWear flip up lenses in the down position. However the WaleWear design is for the main glasses to be just a little darker than 202 didymium with attached flip up W3 lenses but the VetroSafe is a main lens which is W3 and no flip up. This leaves open the possibility of adding a W5 flip up to the Vetrosafe glasses later, if I can ever find one for sale. (I will leave it to the reader to make their own comparisons of advertised spectral specifications from the Wale Apparatus site.) On the Vetrosafe website the maximum size glasses these safety glasses reportedly will fit over is 135mm x 45 mm. Which irritates me a bit since my favorite computer glasses are 138 mm wide! That having been said these are comfortable and fit over my spare glasses, which are 132 mm wide. Still, reviews are subjective so size is where the four instead of five star rating comes from. Referring to the Guide to Safety Ratings for Lampworking Glasses on their website and to the Amazon information listed on their product page the seller reports they are in compliance with ANSI Z87.1-2020 W3.0 standards. As their website explains, that means a transmission rate of 15% of visible light, The website also reports 95% IR filtering (R4) and 99.9999% UV filtering (U6). They do indeed block the yellow sodium flash as well if not better than my Phillips 202 visor, but I'm not sure how to quantify that, especially since light tends to reflect around the edges of the visor, but not the edges of these glasses. I really can't tell about blue since my blue glass rods appear to be easily identifiable when looking through these glasses. The torch flame appears about the same, maybe a bit less intense blue but I can't tell one way or another, since the hot beads tend to make the color of the flame dim by comparison. I also appreciate the storage case included with the glasses, which means I can store my spare computer glasses with them in my glass shop.

not bad

They look good, work great and fit comfortably over my prescription glasses.

Works good, very happy.