Jay and Christina Salinsky at the autograph booth. Photo: Stefano Fabrizio Darold
I caught up with driver Jay Salinksy, his wife Christine and Fuse Lenses Founder Brandon Dill at The Circuit of Americas Pirelli World Challenge. Jay was signing autographs, and his wife was behind the scenes at the Fuse Lenses booth (a sponsor), where the company was giving away free lenses. Fans were also able to go online to their Twitter or Instagram accounts with the hashtags #fuselenses and #pirelliwc to also take a chance at winning some free lenses or getting a discount on some lenses.
Brandon Dill was in the booth cutting lenses with their custom lenses cutter they had to the track, making lenses right there on the spot. Needless to say, the booth was very popular. I tried it too, as we conducted the interview, they were cutting lenses for a pair of old Vogue brand sunglasses with scratched lenses that I had brought to them. I chose the color from a wide variety of choices that were offered, and the glasses were as good as brand new. It’s a smart idea, good sunglasses are expensive, and fuse’s replacement lenses are about $30.
About Fuse Lenses: Fuse Lenses was developed by optical lab technicians/engineers to finally provide a quality (actual quality) replacement lens option for your very expensive sunglasses. We pride ourselves on the knowledge and technology that our company inherits. We are the only aftermarket lens company to offer 16 different lens colors in every one of our lens models. Check them all out here. They are all pretty awesome!
Quality in sunglasses lenses can be determined by a few major factors. The first of those is durability of the lens. The thickness of a lens has a lot to do with its durability. If a lens is too thin, it flexes under pressure. When a lens flexes, the hard coating cracks and breaks down. We use lenses that are a minimum of 1.6 mm thick, not the very commonly used 0.8 mm thick lenses.
The hard coating, itself, is equally important. All of our lenses use a specialized hard coating that has been fused to the lens and cured through an intense thermal process.
Lens Material can be the difference maker. Not all lens materials are created equally. The “gas station” grade sunglasses that you can buy for $10 just about anywhere usually come with an acrylic material that has a very poor quality of vision and durability. Fuse Lenses only uses the top manufacturers of Optical Grade Polycarbonate lenses (not all polycarbonate lenses are “Optical Grade”). Polycarbonate is the major contributor to bullet proof glass. When the material is thick enough (not 0.8 mm), it can absorb the shock of a .22 caliber bullet from 100 feet away. This may be the least of your worries if you have shots being fired at your face, but, you get the point. You will notice from the picture above, that even when we hammered a nail through our lens, it did not shatter. On top of the strength, Optical Grade Polycarbonate lenses have a reduced abbe value, or less aberrations than their lesser grade counterparts. This allows the wearer to experience a more comfortable viewing experience with less eye strain.
