The Next Wave of 3-D Specs Look More Like Regular Glasses

Today’s high-def 3-D looks amazing, but those movie theater glasses are dull, dirty and wasteful. every year, tens of millions of theater-provided pairs are used. now, makers of 3-D glasses are letting you swap those frames for reusable polarized specs that look and feel more like sunglasses.


Military Grade

Gunnar’s lenses have an anti-reflective coating used in military binoculars to prevent flashes from revealing soldiers to enemies. They lose fewer rays to reflection, letting in 10 percent more light than most lenses for brighter, more vivid images.
Gunnar Midnight Onyx, $150; gunnars.com

Hot Curves

To create its wraparound lenses, which help viewers perceive shapes and distances more clearly, Polaroid uses heat and pressure to shape a lens (embedded with 3-D-enabling polarized film) into a curve.
Polaroid Premium 3-D glasses $30; polaroideyewear.com

Double Vision

Keeping you from looking like a dweeb on a movie date, Marchon3D’s new EX3D line also works in the 2-D world. The circularly polarized lenses won’t distort linear outdoor light and are 100 percent UVA/B protective, so they can double as sunglasses.
Marchon3D EX3D $30-$35; marchon.com
 
Home/Theater

A leader in “activeshutter” 3-D, in which lenses flicker, Vizio (along with other TV makers) is trying something new: passive circularly polarized specs. Built to the same standard used in most 3-D cinemas, they work at the movies or at home.
Vizio Theater 3-D Glasses, From $30; vizio.com