Heading out for a long drive after the sun's gone down? You might find your usual glasses aren't quite up to the task.
Night driving can be challenging for many, especially when faced with the glare of oncoming headlights, street lights and signs. Glare can reduce your visibility, contrast and depth perception, making it harder to see the road and any potential hazards that might jump in your way.
If that wasn't enough, doing this for a prolonged period can also cause eye strain, fatigue and headaches. In short: without the right glasses, you'll likely arrive at your destination feeling rather run down.
While we can't quite promise you night vision akin to wolves or owls, we can point you in the right direction of anti-glare night glasses that offer the best substitution.
These glasses have yellow-tinted lenses that filter out blue light, which is the main source of glare. They also have anti-reflective coatings that reduce the amount of illumination bouncing off the lenses. The best options around should be polarised, which means they block horizontal light waves that cause glare from reflective surfaces.
What should you look for in a pair of anti-glare night driving glasses?
Some of the features that you should look out for when buying a pair of anti-glare night driving glasses include:
- Anti-reflective coating: This is a thin layer of material that reduces the amount of light bouncing off the lenses, which can cause glare and distort your vision. Anti-reflective coating can also protect your lenses from scratches and smudges - perfect if you're someone who doesn't tuck them away in the glovebox before stepping out of the car.
- Polarisation: This is a feature that blocks horizontal light waves that cause glare from reflective surfaces, like water, snow or metal. Polarisation can also improve colour perception and reduce eye fatigue - ideal if you'll be on the road for a few hours.
- Fit and comfort: If you spend a lot of time driving at night, it's worth looking for night glasses with a little more padding than your standard specs. Lightweight materials and flexible frames also go a long way in ensuring your comfort.
How we tested
Driving at night comes with its own set of challenges; dazzling headlights, reflective road signs and glaring streetlights can make even short trips feel stressful. To see if there’s a way to make after-dark journeys more comfortable, the ES Best Shopping team put anti-glare night driving glasses to the test.
We tested these glasses in a range of settings; on long evening drives, during quick trips around the city, and even after a day spent staring at screens. Some of us needed help with tired, overworked eyes, while others were dealing with the extra challenge of poor eyesight. Across the board, we looked at how well the glasses reduced glare, improved visibility, and made driving more comfortable overall.
Best anti-glare night driving glasses at a glance
- Best for overall excellence: Zillerate Night Driving Glasses - £21.95, Amazon
- Best for cool, classic style: Ray Ban Clubmaster Optics - £157, Ray Ban
- Best for: Noughties style: JML Polar Optics HD Tortoise - £19.99, Boots
- Best for comfortable and lightweight: Oakley Field Marsh - £100, Oakley
- Best for glare-free vision: Bloomoak Night Driving Glasses - £19.98, Amazon
- Best for a wide scope of vision: I-Sential Anti Glare Polarised Night Driving Glasses - £12.99, Amazon
- Best for budget: Gesruny Clip On Night Driving Glasses - £9.49, Amazon
- Best for dark daytime use: Gwawg Sunglasses - £7.99, Amazon
- Best for alleviating visual fatigue: TJUTR Polarized Night-Vision Glasses - £18.99, Amazon
We've rounded up all of the best anti-glare night driving glasses below.
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Zillerate Night Driving Glasses
Best for: overall excellence
You may find with a lesser pair of glasses that your ears and nose bridge start aching after a while on the road. That’s not the case with ZILLERATE’s Night Driving Glasses. Designed specifically for longer drives, these versatile anti-glare lenses come with rubber-padded TR90 frames that promise to sit snug on your face and refuse to fall off while driving. They’re also renowned for their ability not to fog up, making them ideal if you’re driving through varied temperatures.
Buy now £21.95, Amazon
Ray Ban Clubmaster Optics
Best for: cool, classic style
You can’t go wrong with a pair of Ray Bans - and that applies to night driving, too. These Ray Ban Clubmaster Classics are anti-reflective and you can opt for clear, sun and light-intelligent lenses which, offer all the protection you need. The perfect combination of functionality and design, they can even be tailored to your prescription.
Buy now £157.00, Ray Ban
JML Polar Optics HD Tortoise
Best for: Noughties style
We can just imagine these glasses perched atop some frosted tips or space buns. Great for night drives, they’re equipped with HD Polar Optics which reduce glare without effecting clarity or colour. They also provide 100 per cent UVA and UVB protection.
Buy now £19.99, Boots
Oakley Field Marsh
Best for: comfortable and lightweight
There’s a lot to love about Oakley’s Field Marsh glasses – especially for driving. They’re super lightweight, ultra comfortable thanks to the clear nosepads and non-slip earsocks, meaning you can wear them for hours with no complaint, and they can be fitted with the Oakley Blue Ready lenses which help to limit glare.
Buy now £100.00, Oakley
Bloomoak Night Driving Glasses
Bets for: glare-free vision
It doesn’t matter whether you’re driving day or night, these Bloomoak Night Driving Glasses ensure the road is clear and glare-free, while protecting your eyes from harmful UV rays. These special lenses make colours and objects appear clearer, so you can see every detail of the open road. With anti-glare and UV400 protection to reduce surface reflections and block both UVA and UVB radiation, they offer protection against 99.9 per cent of harmful UV rays, keeping your eyes healthy when you go out.
Buy now £19.98, Amazon
I-Sential Anti Glare Polarised Night Driving Glasses
Best for: wide scope of vision
These I-Sential Anti Glare Polarised Night Driving Glasses come with classy tortoiseshell frames as well as a comfortable case to pack them away in - rather than just throwing them in the glove box. Their polarised, HD UV400 protection category one yellow lenses come with an anti-glare coating to greatly reduce the effects of dazzling headlights, reduce headaches and increase colour definition and visual clarity when you drive at night, dusk or during overcast low light conditions. They also have a larger wide-angle lens for greater all-round vision.
Buy now £12.99, Amazon
Gesruny Clip On Night Driving Glasses
Best for: budget
If you already wear specs and don’t want to fork out on a prescription pair just for driving, we have the budget-friendly option in the bag.
These clip-ons attach to the frame of your usual glasses, cutting headlight glare and surface reflection instantly. They are helpful in low-light conditions too - say when it’s foggy or raining. They are lightweight, so won’t feel like a heavy load and come with their own carry case, the perfect storage for the glovebox.
Buy now £9.51, Amazon
Gwawg Sunglasses
Best for: dark daytime use
If you’re mostly a daytime driver rather than an after-dark one, you probably don’t want to spend a fortune on your night-driving glasses. Instead, opt for a budget-friendly pair like these GWAWG Sunglasses. Designed for safe driving at night as well as in cloudy, rainy and foggy conditions, these glasses do the job with no unnecessary bells or whistles to distract from your goal: driving from A to B in one piece. Better yet, their wrap-around design takes into account your prescription glasses, allowing you to wear vision correction lenses and night driving glasses at the same time.
Buy now £7.99, Amazon
TJUTR Polarized Night-Vision Glasses
Best for: alleviating visual fatigue
With four different frame colours, these TJUTR Polarised Night-Vision Glasses suit pretty much everyone. Designed to help alleviate visual fatigue and brighten up things when driving in low light conditions, their polarised lens cut out some glares and haloing from headlights when driving at night time. Combined with their ultralight frame and classic integral nose pads, you’ll barely even notice you’re wearing glasses on the road.
Buy now £18.99, Amazon
Verdict
Budget-friendly, designed for longer journeys and equipped with all the essentials to keep you feeling comfortable, the ZILLERATE Night Driving Glasses are your best bet when it comes to anti-glare night driving glasses.
