ESS 5B Mirrored Gray

The mirror works before the tint. It reflects part of the incident light on the surface of the lens before it penetrates it – the filtering is therefore done in two steps instead of one.

What it changes

On a simply tinted lens, all light reduction relies on the mass of the glass. With a mirror finish, part is reflected immediately and only the rest is absorbed.

A often sought-after side effect: from the outside, the eyes are not visible.

Mirrored Gray vs. Smoke Gray

The 5B Smoke Gray offers the same tint family without the mirrored finish, at a slightly lower price. If the discretion of the eyes is not important to you, there is no other justification for the difference.

Construction

Frame injected in high-resistance polymer, with wider temples that close the peripheral protection instead of leaving a gap on the sides.

The temple tips are low profile: fewer contact points under a cap, hat, or helmet.

Unbreakable polycarbonate lenses extruded, cut, then thermoformed, covered with a hard anti-scratch and anti-reflective coating.

The 5B Range

Smoke Gray - Hi Vis Orange or Tan frames.
Hi-Def Bronze - Olive or Camo frames.
Mirrored Gray - Black frame.
Copper - Black frame.
Polarized Mirror Green - Grey frame.

The price depends on the tint and the frame: two frames with the same lens may not be the same price.

5B or Credence

Both ranges share the construction, coating, and standards. The difference is morphological: the manufacturer explicitly destines the Credence for faces above average. If a standard frame compresses your temples, the Credence is what you should look at.

Standards declared by the manufacturer

Lenses classified as ballistic according to MIL-PRF-32432 and ANSI Z87.1-2015, with 100% UVA and UVB filtration and distortion-free optical clarity.