[fagbreak]

Hi all,

I thought I’d knock together (by the use of copy and paste and re-writing) a quick guide to safety marking on goggles; we only have one set of eyes so it’s worth looking after them and I’ve seen a worrying amount of goggles being sold on eBay / supplied with cheapsoft etc as suitable for airsoft when in reality they’re probably not!!

EN166 is the Core Technical Standard and deals with the properties of an eye protector such as Optical Class, Mechanical Strength and Fields of use, each of which is denoted by a number or a letter.

Firstly always get the full EN number and not just EN166. On my current goggles the full number is EN166 1B.

The first number relates to the optical class and relates to how much they distort what you are looking at.

Optical Class - The first digit seen after EN166 notation either a 1, 2 or 3.

1 = Class 1 (high optical quality) Refractive power of ± 0.06 dioptres
2 = Class 2 (medium optical quality) Refractive power of ± 0.12 dioptres
3 = Class 3 (low optical quality) Refractive power of ± 0.25 dioptres

So the higher the number the worse the image will look, that said most of the goggles available will be class 1 as this is the normal optical quality for all safety spectacles & goggles.

Mechanical Strength - The letter following this first number is the most important to us and denotes the mechanical strength of the lenses and is either F, B or A.

F = Low energy impact, resists a 6 mm 0.86 g ball at 45m/s (0.87075 Joules)
B = Average energy impact, resists a 6 mm 0.86 g ball at 120m/s (6.190 Joules)
A = High-energy impact, resists a 6 mm 0.86 g ball at 190m/s (15.523 Joules)

Please note that both the frames and lenses are rated individually and can be different. The number in the full EN number will relate to the lenses as this is the most important figure to know and is the one that could save your eyes!!

There you go, at the end of the day it’s up to you. You might get lucky and your F rated specs take hit after hit but at the end of the day I’d rather know my eyes where safe than risk it for a couple of quid.

From what I’ve found the cheapest place for goggles / glasses is Health and Safety suppliers; I use Bolle Tracker II’s and they cost under £7 delivered.

There’s loads more information on the web expanding this to full welding face shields etc and additional information on UV ratings (EN170 & EN172) but if you want to find them remember Google is your friend!!



[edit for smelling mistakes]

This post has been edited by fagbreak: 11 January 2010 - 13:51

[Warrior]

Cracking idea :) Stickied

[Niall]

As a spectacle wearer, a couple of years ago I looked at Specsavers prescription safety glasses. They were suitable for airsoft but in the small print in the brochure it stated something like "the listed protection is only at room temperature". So be sure to check the small print before buying.