Best Safety Glasses (Review & Buying Guide) in 2023

Choosing the best safety glasses starts with what kind of work you’re doing. Working in, on, or around cars or motorcycles presents dangers including but not limited to flying particles, heat, unexpected projectiles, scalding liquids, sharp cutting tools, acids, chemical gases, explosive vapors, and more. Unless your car has lasers, ANSI Z87.1 protective eyewear is what you need.

Lens tints and shades, coatings, impact resistance, dust protection, splash resistance, side shielding, ventilation, and prescription lenses are essential factors and comfort counts. No one wants to wear safety glasses or goggles that dig into the side of your head, crush your nose, or give you a headache from poor quality lenses.

We already had a few go-to favorite safety specs in the toolbox. We picked up a bunch of new contenders, from traditional full-frame and ultralight one-piece to over-the-glasses visitor specs and wraparound goggles. Old-school full-frame specs with side shielding are a personal preference, but the ultralight Pyramex Intruders changed our mind about protective eyewear.

We’ve gone through countless pairs of Bouton 5900 specs at work and home but discovered some new favorites writing up this review. The ultralight Pyramex Intruder and full-frame MAGID Y50 found a new home in the toolbox. Safety glasses and goggles are a small part of the automotive personal protective equipment arsenal. The manufacturers in this review are safety suppliers to the world. If you find a set of specs you like, take a look at that company’s PPE lineup and gear up!

More often than not, DIYers buy safety glasses as they need them. The result of doing so is often heading to the local hardware store and buying whatever's on the shelf. This hardly heeds the best results. That's exactly why we've put this buying guide together that will help you ensure you always have the proper eye protection at your disposal.

Safety glasses come in all kinds of types and styles, but their American National Standards Institute or ANSI rating is the primary consideration for eye protection. Look for at least an ANSI Z87 stamp molded into the glasses for basic impact resistance or a Z87+ for high-velocity impact. Additional alpha-numeric codes represent specific types of protection.

While safety glasses are essential to any general labor, they shouldn't be treated as the ultimate line of defense. They do only offer protection for the eyes, not the remainder of your face. That is why we want to talk a little about some other options to consider in this section, not just safety glasses.

Goggles that fit over eyeglasses are an inexpensive and effective alternative to prescription safety glasses. Depending on their rating and type, the larger lens coverage area and ventilation system give goggles the advantage over glasses for splash protection, chemical and organic vapors, dust, heat, and impact resistance.

In other words, you shouldn't solely look at safety goggles as something to wear over set prescription glasses. These are an excellent option to consider if you're working in particularly dusty areas, if you're handling chemicals, or just need a little more protection than traditional safety glasses offer.

Full or partial face shields can add another layer of safety but ensure the shield carries a Z87+ high-velocity impact rating like safety glasses or goggles. Thin transparent face shields might stop some projectiles, but a broken cutoff wheel or fan belt will slice through the shield like butter.

We know you're thinking that a welding helmet with a grind mode is a great choice for a face shield. It might be. It might not. Even if it's able to provide some clarity when using power tools, it might not shield you from much more than harsh light. You should make sure a welding helmet is rated to handle impacts before you lean on it for protection.

Frame design and trick lens shapes aren't all that separate safety glasses. The differences can be quite substantial, depending on the rating attached to the glasses. It should go without saying that you want to pick a rating that matches the abuse the glasses may encounter while in use otherwise, they can cause more harm than good.

We’ve already mentioned the importance of the Z87 rating but what it doesn’t cover is as important as what it does. Z87-rated eyewear does not protect against pathogens, microwaves, lasers, masers, or x-rays. Consult ANSI Z136.5 if your car has onboard laser weaponry or microwave thought disruptors.

Sure, safety glasses can leave you looking dapper if they match your attire and everyone on the job site will envy you. They're intended for work, though, so the shade is more purpose-oriented than style-driven. Like the ANSI rating, the shade of safety glasses you pick should complement the kind of work you intend to use them for.

Clear polycarbonate lenses filter 99% of UV radiation by nature of the material. Indoor lens tints like yellow, amber, and orange can improve low-light vision but are not recommended for outdoor use. Conversely, dark smoke or mirrored lenses can filter too much light for safe indoor use.

Picking out a proper set of safety glasses when you wear prescription glasses presents a whole new setlist of challenges. So much so that it warrants a full-length discussion of its own. Still, we can take a minute to highlight some of your options here.

Safety glasses that come with prescription lenses are often the best choice, but they can cost hundreds of dollars and styles are limited. Bifocal reader lenses with built-in magnifying diopters are a viable and inexpensive substitute in some cases. Over-the-glasses visitor specs or wraparound goggles are the next best thing.

The most apparent benefit of safety glasses is also the most important. Choose protective eyewear rated and approved for the job at hand. Don’t count on your safety squints. The thing about safety is that you automatically think of the worst-case scenario. Strands flung from a wire wheel are nothing to take lightly, but they aren't the element that's most likely to ruin your day.

Working flat on your back is a great example of when safety glasses are essential but often overlooked. Flakes of rust, dirt, and debris are bound to fall straight into your eyes, and throwing on a set of safety glasses keep you moving along without having to stop and flush your eyes every 10 minutes or so.

Seeing what you're working on can help prevent accidents and mishaps. Lens tint, UV and anti-fog coatings, diopter readers, and even prescription safety lenses can significantly improve vision indoors or out.

Being able to see better typically improves safety as well. There are situations where safety glasses can help you see but compromise some protection for quick tasks. An example of this would be welding-shade glasses that offer minimal protection but can prove useful when laying quick welds. However, they should not be viewed as an alternative or used in place of safety gear intended for more extensive projects.

If you're in the trades, it goes without saying that safety glasses are a required piece of PPE while performing certain tasks. The job site may even provide safety glasses to ensure you have no excuse not to wear what you're required to.

What is often supplied to you is subpar and works just well enough to qualify as safety glasses. You may be tempted to skip past them whenever possible because of it. Investing in your own set and keeping it on hand is a way to ensure you don't get reprimanded at work or dealing with a potential injury because you felt safer going without the safety glasses that were provided.

The good news is that you don't have to spend a fortune on safety glasses, as they can be surprisingly affordable. There are plenty of high-quality safety specs like our best overall Pyramex Intruder that list for under $10, but be wary of cheap multi-pair deals and unsafe knockoffs in this price range. Moving to the $10-$20 price range will typically offer you high-quality full-frame, over-the-glasses or visitor specs, and safety goggles. Some multi-pair deals.  Specialized specs and prescription protective eyewear can cost more than $20, but multi-pair packs can add up to significant savings over a single pair price.

As with something you do for decades upon decades, you pick up a few tips and tricks along the way in terms of selecting the right product, and/or using it. That’s the case with us and safety glasses. To help you bridge the information gap, here’s a selection of what we’ve learned along the way.

You’ve got questions. The Drive has answers!

The answer depends on the job. OHSA requires eye or face protection whenever a worker is exposed to “flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.” Z87+ rated eyewear won’t stop high-powered lasers but are A-OK for automotive and home repairs.

That depends on what kind of welding you’re doing and lens shade or IR rating. Welding or W shades 3-4 are OK for torch brazing, 4-8 for gas welding, and 10-14 and up for electric arc welding. Do not arc weld with anything less than shade 10.

Yes, but expect to pay for it. Consider a pair of over-the-glasses visitor specs or goggles, depending on the work environment. A pair of tinted visitor specs and separate dust-rated goggles offer a more comprehensive range of eye protection at a more reasonable price.

Nope. Not from high-velocity impacts; they won’t. Get the proper protective eyewear for less than a sawbuck and see another day. Some outdoor safety glasses and goggles might double as sunglasses, but Z87 eyewear is not recommended for sports and recreation activities.

A larger one-piece lens offers more protection than smaller glasses, but not all goggles are better. Look for an alpha-numeric code stamp or marking on the goggles. D3 is liquid splash certified. D4 or D5 means protection against dust and fine dust, respectively.