Gunnar Optiks Intercept Onyx Review

One of the more prominent gaming accessories, other than PC peripherals is gaming eye-wear. Here in India its sorta new concept, but in other places around the world, there are many gamers who reply heavily on strain-reducing eye-wear, which facilitates their long hours in front of a screen.

Having said that, we have our first gaming eye-wear product that we’re gonna review for you’ll. What we have here is the Gunnar Optiks Intercept Onyx. 

Specifications:

Not really sure if these measurements are going to be of much use to you, but here they are anyway-

Eye Size: 59 mm
Bridge Width: 18 mm
Temple Length: 132 mm
Bridge Width: 18 mm
Lens Height: 41 mm
Weight (only glasses): 35 grams

Look and Feel

From the pictures below, you’ll can make out that the frame design is pretty large and looks sorta retro-ish.  Other than it looking like giant ant eyes(which is a look I kinda prefer), its wide format lenses allow for greater field of view. These glasses are available only in one colour, which is the black ‘Onyx’.

A pretty damn good pair of eyewear. I mean when I first heard of glasses that enhance your gaming experience, I wasn’t too convinced that it’d do anything spectacular. But honestly, I was pleasantly surprised from the change in contrast that the tint brought and how it actually allows your eyes to rest for a bit, by which we mean that it doesn’t strain your eyes as much. It looks quite stylish, and can easily be mistaken for a decent pair of shades just based on the looks itself.

The Intercept Onyx is sleek, light and not to mention very comfortable, almost feels like there’s nothing on your face. However, it doesn’t sit well with when you’ve got a pair of headphones strapped around your head. This isn’t the first time we’ve put headphones and a glasses on together, so its not like we didn’t expect it to be comfortable. But you’d think that someone would have come up with a solution to this problem, considering almost all PC gamers use headsets while gaming. Gunnar has other models that deal with this issue but its definitely not this pair.

Gunnar Lenses (By Carl Zeiss, USA)

One of the things that you’ll immediately notice about these glasses are the slightly yellow tinted lenses. A protective anti-glare lens coating increases on-screen contrast and reduces the strain taken on by your eye when staring straight into a monitor for extended periods of time. The lens have a slight power in them which improves detail for clearer vision. The tint isn’t too much that it goes down a shade and isn’t too less that its virtually nothing. Its just enough to keep that bright lights at bay and not too much to distort colours. It’s almost if we can say, the perfect amount of tint on lenses, which facilitate with the contrast and the colour enhancement.

I’ve been using these glasses for a while now, and day by day I see myself getting extremely comfortable with them. I almost just cannot look into a monitor without my “Gunnars”. They are just that easy to get used to.

Gaming Perspective

Its a common misconception that the more equipment, accessories and stuff you have, the better gamer you are, which we all know isn’t quite true. So if you think buying these glasses is going to make you a better gamer and is going to improve your chances of asking out that hottie in math class then you’re sadly mistaken. Honestly, the chances of that chick suddenly finding you cute with your new glasses is probably higher than you magically becoming a better gamer with these glasses.

These glasses won’t make you a pro at gaming, but what it will do is allow you to become a better gamer much faster. Let me explain how. I used these glasses while playing FIFA’14 on the PS4 the other day. And I ended up playing for 5-6 hours without even once rubbing my eyes or even getting up to wash them. In fact, I stopped playing only because my buddy couldn’t go on playing cause his eyes were dry and surprisingly red.

So essentially what I’m saying is that you’ll end up spending more time playing games than you would without these glasses. Your eyes just seem so much more at ease, and feel less strained out and this all ultimately adds up to a making a memorable and enjoyable gaming experience.

Our Verdict

In the beginning I mentioned that I’d never assumed I’d ever need glasses like these while I was gaming, or even just while working on my laptop. But I have a completely different opinion now! You won’t realize how much of a difference these things make until you use them. Its sorta like an iPhone, you never really think you need one, but when you start using it and realize how much better it makes your life, you sometimes find it hard to imagine how you’d manage without it.

Obviously a lot will depend on the condition of your eyes, but these glasses, like most others in the Gunnar catalog, act as a safe guard for your eyes and can only possibly do good for your eyes. These glasses may cut a decent shaped hole in your pocket but are oh so worth it, and after all its for your eyes that’s at stake here.    

So yeah, an amazing pair of glasses for a fairly decent price considering its advantages, and is definitely something we recommend you get your hands on, oh and yeah we should warn you, once you use these, they’re very hard to get rid off or find a replacement for.