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Uvex Sexes Up Protective Gear

By Rain Noe - October 24, 2013

in Hand Tools

When did protective eyewear get so sexy? I haven't purchased a pair in fifteen years; now in the market for a new pair of safety glasses, I stumbled across Uvex's Pheos, above. The things practically look like they were designed by Oakley; I wonder if they took they step of bonding the one-piece lens to the hinges because it confers some structural benefit, or simply because it looks cool.

On a more functional front, Uvex recently released their AcoustiMaxx model, which features stereo Bluetooth earbuds. For shop guys that need to constantly field phone calls, I guess this is the hands-free way to go. I'm not sure how good the system is at filtering out machine noise, but the company claims to deliver "crystal clear, acoustically-isolated in-ear voice communication through its dual microphone technology."

Then there are the guys who need serious protection, i.e. full face mask rather than the wimpy goggles your correspondent wears. For that market Uvex makes their Turboshield Headgear, which can be adapted to work with hardhats, and leaves room underneath to wear a respirator and/or goggles.

Puzzlingly, Uvex adds that it can also be worn over goggles; now that's a lot of protection. In any case, the Turboshield is presumably a big-ticket item for the company, as that's the only recently-released product that parent company Honeywell has released a video of. Here's Honeywell Product Marketing Manager Kevin Beckerdite discussing the design and features of the Turboshield:

Am digging the Cobra-Commander-esque compound curve of the face shield.

Beckerdite keeps referring to it in the video as "toric-shaped," but we all know where the real inspiration came from.

"Bring me my angle grinder! You fools!"

"Bring me my angle grinder! You fools!"

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Bill B

11 years ago

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It's impressive that companies like Uvex are truly stepping it up, investing in and offering great looking protection without the stigma of functional eyewear.

Edge eyewear is another example of protective eyewear that pass as "regular" sunglasses, which I hope can only encourage increased adoption/compliance and fewer injuries!

Note: You should always wear safety glasses under a face shield. You never know what you will kick up when you are grinding, cutting, etc. Light impact riochet(s) finding their way under your shield (deflecting off of your clothing for example) are more likely than you think, and safety glasses greatly improve your protection in this regard.

Check out: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/eyeandface/ppe/faceshields.html

...and stay safe!
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C

11 years ago

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Still waiting on earmuffs/glasses combo!!!
The biggest pet peeve ever is when the ear muffs push your ear onto the glasses arms... I can think of a very simple solution right now.. Wish some designers would actually design some safety gear. It's all crap.
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