Since 1888, Bollé has provided a variety of products for a wide array of clients. Throughout this 130-plus-year timespan, the manufacturer has remained focused on ensuring its customers remain as comfortable and safe as possible whenever they wear their products.
As a sign of the manufacturer’s dedication to safety, it expanded its product offerings in 1950 with items that would forever change the public’s perception of it: safety glasses.
Consequently, the manufacturer is now known as one of the world’s most prominent safety glasses and goggles specialists, as it has steadily extended its safety glasses and goggles lineup the last few decades, resulting in dozens of offerings.
One such offering is SILEX+ glasses, which provide an assortment of benefits, in addition to eye safety. To fully understand just how much the glasses can increase your on-the-job eye safety, while offering many other benefits too, Bollé recently mailed a pair to me.
Upon wearing them for several hours, I discovered the following benefits, which I believe you’ll notice as well. Due to each of these benefits, I (as well as my fellow IRONPROS colleagues) advise you to consider purchasing them soon, as you prepare to enhance your eye safety in 2024.
Adaptable
Firstly, SILEX+ glasses feature FLEX 160° temples, which enable them to adapt to virtually any head size in a very effortless manner. As a result, nearly anyone can wear them, regardless of their head shapes or sizes, leading to a wide customer base.
Not to mention, since they can adjust to practically 100% of all head shapes and sizes effortlessly, you’ll also be able to adjust their “fits” quickly. Therefore, once they fit properly, you’ll be able to focus on other job tasks in a timely fashion, rather than wasting your energy on size adjustments, resulting in higher productivity in a faster amount of time.
Colorful
The pair of SILEX+ glasses I received in the mail are known as SILEXPPSFSA. Upon purchasing this specific pair, you’ll immediately notice how colorful they are and, in turn, how great they look. Featuring what the manufacturer defines as Blue PC (basically teal) and Yellow TPR (close to light green, in my opinion) frames, the glasses also have “smoke”-tinted lenses, a combination that’s unique, thereby separating them from other safety glasses on the market.
Due to their frames and lenses, you’ll feel very confident while wearing them. Thus, your on-the-job performance will likely increase, as confidence is typically associated with productivity.
Comfortable
Aside from enabling SILEX+ glasses to fit on nearly everyone’s head, the FLEX 160° temples will decrease any pressure points—often tied to safety glasses and sunglasses—too. By diminishing these pressure points considerably, the glasses will not only fit your head properly, but comfortably as well.
You’ll feel very little, if any, tension, with regards to these pressure points, thereby minimizing pain and discomfort long term. Much like confidence will potentially enhance your job performance, so will comfort. The more comfortable you are, as a result of the decline in pressure points, the more likely you’ll be more productive, due to your ability to focus more on your job tasks, rather than any tension that’s tied to pressure points.
Fog Resistant
Each side of the SILEX+ glasses’ lenses feature Bollé’s PLATINUM coating, which resists any type of fogging, leading to clear vision, regardless of when and where you work. This visibility is crucial in any type of situation you may encounter on your jobsites, from low to high light conditions, to rain and snow.
The clearer your vision, the higher your productivity, most likely. And, of equal importance, the clearer your vision, the lower your risks for injuries, as you’ll notice potential on-the-job hazards more easily and quickly, as a result of their lenses’ fog resistance.
Bollé Safety SILEX+ Glasses. Credit: Goldenrod Photography
Lightweight
If you’ve regularly worn safety glasses on your jobsites, you know all too well about two issues that negatively impact workers like you: bulkiness and heaviness. Far too often, safety glasses are way too bulky and heavy, leading them to become cumbersome in some ways.
However, that is not the case with SILEX+ glasses, as they only weigh 1.06 ounces (0.07 pounds). Due to their lightness, you’ll hardly feel them on your face. In addition, you’ll be able to easily transport them from one jobsite to another, while attaching them to your shirt or jacket, placing them in your pocket or putting them on your head. And, consequently, you can take them with you everywhere you go, ensuring you have the lightweight protection you’ll need on each of your jobsites.
Options to Keep in Mind
Aside from the SILEXPPSFSA, SILEX+ glasses are available in two other options: the SILEXPCSPSA and the SILEXPPSISA. Offering a brown lens tint, the SILEXPCSPSA, much like the SILEXPPSFSA, has a PLATINUM coating, resulting in fog resistance. Lightweight as well, they also have FLEX 160° temples, thus ensuring you’ll be comfortable the entire time you wear them. Just as importantly, they provide a characteristic that the SILEXPPSFSA’s glasses don’t: blue light filtration, which is necessary in some on-the-job situations you’ll encounter from time to time.
On the other hand, the SILEXPPSISA has clear lenses, along with frames that are similar in color to the SILEXPPSFSA’s. Due to their clear lenses, the glasses will offer you 90% light transmission, leading to high visibility. Moreover, they have a PLATINUM coating, thereby guaranteeing that they’re fully fog resistant. And, finally, the 1.06-ounce glasses have FLEX 160° temples too, which enables them to minimize your pressure points significantly, as is the case with the SILEXPPSFSA glasses.
Scratch Resistant
In addition to their fog resistance, SILEX+ glasses’ polycarbonate lenses’ PLATINUM coatings provide scratch resistance. Therefore, the glasses won’t only increase your visibility and safety, but they’ll also allow you to have a pair of safety eyewear that’s built to last.
Despite their lightness, which is tied to a lack of durability from time to time, with regards to workwear, SILEX+ glasses are very robust too, as they can withstand almost anything they encounter on your jobsites. From Mother Nature, to man-made hazards, to everything in between, these glasses’ lenses will resist any negative issues that are caused by each of these risks, which may have otherwise destroyed or at least damaged some other safety glasses’ lenses.
Alongside their lenses’ scratch resistance, the glasses’ frames have also been created for the long haul, as they’re sturdy, in spite of their lightness. Whether you drop them on your jobsites or they’re impacted by hazards, SILEX+ glasses’ frames will hold up just as well as their lenses. In other words, you’ll likely have these glasses for a long time to come, resulting in potentially many years of comfort, confidence and eye safety.
UV Protection
For even more eye protection, SILEX+ glasses filter out 99.99% of all UVA and UVB rays. Gone are the days of squinting as the sun shines directly in your eyes on a hot summer day. Gone are the days of high glares that minimized your visibility. And, thus, gone are the days of errors, directly related to minimal eyesight.
You’ll be able to see everything on your jobsite, from the task at hand, to the potential hazard that’s located a few feet away from you. Your safety, productivity and on-the-job confidence will, in turn, rise even further. To say the least, your supervisor will appreciate the positive impact they’ll have on you and your efficiency.
Wash Resistant
To ensure the glasses maintain their durability for as long as Bollé intended them to, you’ll need to do your part, too. In particular, you should clean them regularly, preferably with soap and water.
Despite their PLATINUM lens coatings, SILEX+ glasses are considered “wash resistant”, as you’ll be able to clean them with soap and water for more than 100 times without noticing any negative effects, concerning their lens coatings. After all, according to the manufacturer, the coatings will remain efficient after 100-plus washing cycles, enabling you to clean them often, potentially for years to come.
Wraparound, Wide Frames
Finally, SILEX+ glasses have wrapround, wide frames that will fully guard your eyes from the sun, while also ensuring you have a panoramic field of view. Each of these benefits will enhance your visibility considerably, leading to a keen awareness of your surroundings, whether they’re nearby or a decent distance away from you. As a result of this awareness, you’ll be better prepared for jobsite hazards, better equipped to see whatever you need to visualize for your particular job tasks and more likely to avoid errors and eye-related injuries.
Bollé Safety SILEX+ Glasses. Credit: Goldenrod Photography
Should You Buy Bollé Safety SILEX+ Glasses?
Considering each of these benefits, without question! Normally costing only $22.60, SILEX+ glasses were available for a discounted rate on Bollé’s website for $16.50, as of early December 2023. Whether you pay $22.60 or $16.50 for them, I believe you’ll be receiving a great deal, especially with all of their benefits in mind.
Assembled in the United States, the glasses are primarily renowned for four key characteristics, aside from affordability: their comfort, durability, lightness and protection.
The first significant quality is mainly due to their FLEX 160° temples. Enabling nearly anyone to wear them comfortably, the temples aren’t only highly adaptable to your particular head shape and size, but they’ll also decrease any tension related to pressure points, thereby reducing pain and discomfort. As you know, more often than not, when you wear safety glasses, you’ll notice considerable discomfort on certain pressure points, so this significant reduction in such discomfort is a critical component.
To ensure your comfort remains as high as possible for as long as possible, SILEX+ glasses are also built to last. First, both sides of the glasses’ lenses feature PLATINUM coatings, guaranteeing that they’re scratch resistant and, consequently, able to withstand practically anything they’ll encounter on your jobsites, from contacts with hazards, to drops and scrapes. Regardless of the conditions you work in and the hazards you may face regularly, the glasses will remain durable well into the future. You’ll even be able to wash them with water and soap for well over 100 times without damaging their coatings, thus increasing their likelihood of longevity even further.
Additionally, SILEX+ glasses are light, as they only weigh 1.06 ounces (0.07 lb.). Hence, you won’t hardly feel them on your face—and you’ll be able to place them on your shirt or jacket, as well as in your pockets or on your head. And they can easily be transported from one jobsite to the next, allowing you to have the eye protection you need on a consistent basis.
Finally, their protection capabilities also stand out. Offering fog resistant lenses that block 99.99% of all UVA and UVB rays, the glasses enable you to see your surroundings clearly, thereby minimizing your likelihood of errors and injuries, as you’ll notice hazards faster and more steadily than before. Of equal importance, due to their wrapround, wide frames, you’ll not only have fuller views of your surroundings, but you’ll also have more protection around your eyes, as hazards won’t be able to enter them or any areas around them, for that matter.
In conclusion, to acquire these four key characteristics, which are especially essential for construction workers, at an affordable price, look no further than SILEX+ glasses. They’ll provide nearly everything you’ve been seeking in safety glasses, along with some qualities you may have not even considered whenever you’ve purchased other safety glasses in the past. Consequently, there is no better time than now to enhance your eye protection—with assistance from Bollé!
