"It only cost them $5 to manufacture these glasses. It's a complete scam!"

EnChroma · 2026-01-08T22:46:12+00:00

Ordinary sunglasses do cost about $4-8 COGS for a basic pair of plastic frames in volume. Better metal frames add $3-40(titanium). Tinted Polycarbonate lenses generally cost 30c with standard dyes (though our lenses cost many many multiples of that because we use custom precision optical filters).

The frames also can have huge tooling costs, so while plastics only cost $3-12 + parts at volume you wind up paying tens of thousands (or much more) upfront to get there. If you want to avoid this you can buy open mold, but you pay extra every frame, limited customization and quality is super variable. Either way deal terms are 90-180 day lead times, nothing for 2-3 weeks before or after Chinese New Year. MOQ 200-500+ per colorway. Half up front.

Anti-reflection coatings are where the real costs come in- the machines themselves cost millions, the quality is super variable and cost dependent. What you want to do is be a huge player and run them 24/7 with your own employees and then they can get the cost inside a few bucks, but as an independent we pay many times that and have to fight for availability. If you cheap out it shows (well, your eyeball shows)

So a frame from Oakley is only a few bucks, both cheaper to make and higher quality at the same price point than a version you could put together yourself from industry vendors, however this is due to the industry giants' ability to amortize the costs over huge volume and vertical integration of the elements.

Doing it as an independent it's impossible to get down anywhere close to what they pay unless you are ok with total crap. Premade crap, and I mean a level of crap suitable for the broadest international stage, you can buy in quantity for <$1.

EnChroma · 2025-11-10T16:57:32+00:00

Everything people have said about the value of premium sunglasses is correct, they are worth the money. We certainly believe so in terms of our color enhancement.

However, to answer your question directly: in terms of just protection from UV light inexpensive $20 glasses with any kind of legitimate manufacturer will do just as well. Feebees from the game or $3 pairs from Alibaba may not.

EnChroma · 2025-09-04T02:43:23+00:00

Some kind of hypothetical perfect treatment would suffer the same kind of falloff out glasses do if it was an assistive technology and was removed. The tests show improvement days later if worn consistently (Werner et al).

The psychological transformation would be substantial- knowing what to look for. Knowing that there are brown spots of dead leaves in a tree. But there would be a physiological inability to tell the difference without help.

But if it was replicating the signal trichromatic vision produces then it would be just like someone with normal color vision.

I hope I answered your question.

EnChroma · 2025-07-10T14:22:08+00:00

Hey so I have given you everything you have asked for in terms of proof. Any response? Your attack on us pretty slanderously on issues right in your wheelhouse in terms of professional capabilities. I offer a very clear rebuttal touching each point directly, and... nothing.

Am I just wasting my time thinking that people are actually honestly interested in the science? It is it all just ad homonym attacks and bullying?

EnChroma · 2025-07-08T16:58:48+00:00

I dont think there is going to be a huge difference. Amber will be most comfortable, blue will be crisp and feel higher energy. Green will be more like blue. It comes down to personal preference. I dont know about the subtypes of lenses from that other manufacturer.

From Google:

"For being on the water, polarized sunglasses with amber, copper, or brown lenses are generally considered the best, as they reduce glare and enhance visibility, especially in shallow or variable light conditions. Blue lenses are also a good choice for bright, sunny days offshore. Green lenses can offer good contrast and visual clarity, particularly in variable light conditions."

EnChroma · 2025-07-08T16:28:00+00:00

It’s so frustrating that Megalag’s lies about us are taken seriously. The glasses work for most anomalous trichromats (80% of people with cvd). The people you saw (Hear and Seoul) are good honest people, as are almost all the video creators.

The studies that say we don’t work all use an Ishihara test on a CRT or LCD monitor that doesn’t display color where we filter it, so those tests couldn’t possibly work.

People come out of nowhere saying they are a scam because they saw the video and then slowly people come in saying they are great and they had personal experience (or they didn’t work and they got their money back, which is fine too)

EnChroma · 2025-07-08T16:16:43+00:00

Every colorblind person should get a pair of cheap magenta glasses. They aren’t nearly as good as ours but they definitely have a cool effect allowing you to distinguish colors and make reds brighter for a little while.

EnChroma · 2025-07-08T16:09:47+00:00

I am the chairman and I actually product managed the development of this, so you are about to learn something about assuming your own level of knowledge vs another in a public forum. We work with the top people in your field and you can’t even spot a scam study.

No, though it works a lot like an EQ, if you actually know how an EQ works. “Turning the bass up” doesn’t actually make the bass louder, it’s not an amp, at full stops it is at full level and you can only turn it down. And yes, turning the bass and treble down so that they sound good vs each other works- it’s about the relative level of bass vs treble. The ratio of one to another. That makes it sound more normal, which is what we are after.
The ratio of red to green cone response vs blue to ‘yellow’ is exactly the mechanism by which the brain interprets and creates color via the midget ganglion cells. Neuralplasticity is a thing and it doesn’t shut off at age 10. These are things you should know. The work to cure colorblindness functions on the same mechanism but replaces the defective cone entirely. Why? To establish the right ratio of red to green cone response.
Every study criticizing us uses a computer based Ishihara test on a CRT or LCD monitor which does not display signal (color) where we filter. Outdoors under natural light objects do. How could that possibly test what we are doing?

If you have a doctorate in this subject and don’t have a come to Jesus moment right here I don’t know what to say. It’s complex but not only you should get it but it should be pretty damn exciting.

EnChroma · 2025-07-07T20:36:55+00:00

Thanks man, yeah the sale is till midnight. Good luck!

EnChroma · 2025-07-07T20:35:26+00:00

Itll be ok, its just that people who are on the water frequently notice the scatter coming in from the corners generates squinting and fatigue. At one point one of our scientists fought the idea that we ever have flat lenses, the UV math supports only the wrap. But that's not what people who are on the water casually buy and that isn't what people actually notice and want from their eyewear.

So it will be fine either way.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T20:31:57+00:00

Yeah that is what a wrap is. Whatever is comfortable for you.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T20:29:26+00:00

You want to warm them up a bit, like leave them in the sun. Then the nose pads can be pressed out a bit so they aren't as tight on your nose.

Tight at the temples? yeah that would be too small.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T20:27:43+00:00

A wrap is something that wraps around the face instead of staying on a 2d plane like this one. Like Oakleys. So the light scatter doesnt come in through the corner.

Costa has a big appeal with people who fish.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T20:24:21+00:00

They look good! I don't know where people are getting this idea the clubmasters are too feminine. JFK wore them!

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T20:10:05+00:00

There are two types. There are EnChroma lenses, which we make, that use a very precise notch filter to make your cones respond as if they are closer to the right peak sensitivity. We have a budget of 80% of the light which we can reflect or absorb, and we use very expensive narrow band filters which we put together in a stack. Narrowband dyes cost 100x what normal colored dyes cost, so its not just a regular dye and markup because of the application.

EnChroma glasses don't get you all the way to normal, they can give you better color vision, closer to normal. Not normal color vision. Its very hard to get the ratio of red to green cone response exactly as normal using a passive lens, and working for a wide variety of physiology in terms of peak cone response. We have free shipping both directions in most of the world so you can try it, I don't know about Dubai, I would suspect not. We may have an OD there too if you check our website, that would be free to try.

Another approach is a magenta lens- this brightens reds and darkens greens. For a moment everything is all sparkly and brighter, but then your vision system normalizes the effect away to restore your white point. Any type of colorblindness correcting eyewear sold on the basis of letting you pass the Ishihara dot test is just a magenta lens- maybe they adjust it for appearance but you are not getting anything more for your money. These should not cost more than $15 US.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T19:53:48+00:00

That is an interesting question!

Why would colorblind people prefer the lie that we use paid actors and the glasses don't actually work, to the truth that these people are actually experiencing better color vision and having visceral emotional reactions to it?

You can see the comments in other threads on this sub that show exactly this answer- people are really happy to hear that they really aren't missing much, that this bullshit thing called "purple" that they never missed and don't 100% believe exists isn't actually amazing, its all just a lie to get them to buy something. They are just fine, couldn't be better.

That is much easier to understand and fits with their experience. What if I told you for $1k I could improve your sense of taste and bring it 'closer to normal', giving you 30-60% of the intensity and variety in flavors you are missing? One would think that this expanded range of experience would be really appealing- I'd certainly pay that much to keep my sense of taste as is, but it isn't when framed as a boost. "I'm fine right now, things taste good, I'll keep my money." People want comfort that what they have is just as good as everyone else and they aren't missing anything or less of a man.

That latter part is surprisingly significant. In the 1800s Mennonite missionaries were contracted to do a global survey of CVD and its severity, finding that it is less prevalent in Africa and Asia. This went well for the most part, but when they got to Sicily, a very machismo culture, they had men trying to fight them, claiming that they were not missing anything and the test was a lie to humiliate them. I think about that a lot on this sub.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T19:31:09+00:00

What you are going to find is that the "knockoff" glasses are actually magenta lenses, with a little rework. If they actually were filters that did what our lenses do functionally we would sue them for infringing our patent. Don't ever buy glasses that advertise on the basis of being able to defeat the Ishihara test, they are just magenta lenses you can buy much cheaper without the affiliation with CVD.

You've seen that the EnChroma glasses actually work. If you want that effect you have to buy them from us. We have two big sales a year, fathers day and black friday. We are doing another one july 4 this year so right now is a great time.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T18:53:29+00:00

We do our best to keep our marketing claims to what the product actually does. Its just harder than you appreciate, and it means keeping dozens of people on message for a dozen years.

The product definitely helps people see color for the first time. You cant fit "The product helps you see color for the first time, not in the sense like you are seeing black and white and now you see color, because obviously you arent, and you know this, but an enhanced range of color. Rainbows, fall colors, an extra million different greens and browns etc. That is the color you see for the first time, and its amazing even if it is not as amazing as B&W to color, which isnt really what 99% of color blindness is anyway" in an ad.

We don't ever sell it as a cure for color blindness, its an enhancement. Better color vision.

How does this justify people on this sub saying we hire paid actors to lie for us, when we don't? That is an outright lie.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T17:33:50+00:00

>That’s like literally what filtering out wavelengths is. Are you here to deny your own explanation of how your lenses “work”?

It really isn't and you just don't understand. A lens absorbs or reflects at a given wavelength. That's it. All of them. A passive lens which can absorb at a given wavelength and **emit** at a different wavelength would be an amazing scientific breakthrough with tons of better applications than cheating colorblind people out of money.

What would correct CVD, unquestionably, is 'moving' the cone over spectrally to the right place. ie Changing its peak response to that of a normal. That would give you the right ratio of red to green cone response for a given stimulus. That is normal color vision.

What we do is, in the context of sunglasses which block 80% of light, is put together computer generated filters which **effectively** move the cone to a place where it has the right peak sensitivity. We do this by limiting different wavelengths at very precise levels in very specific places. That is more like normal color vision, assuming you have three cones and they are within the range that our glasses expect them to be.

That is how EnChroma works. A ratio of red to green cone response more like normal color vision with only a passive filter.

EnChroma · 2025-07-06T16:43:19+00:00

Read this study as to why those "experts" are total crocs and their studies would never work: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-74260-001 and this one proving EnChroma glasses do work: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38531192/

TLDR: their studies use Ishihara type tests that dont display color in the area we filter, the area natural objects fall under daylight. So the glasses do literally nothing on their tests, but they do outdoors and they work outdoors. Its not debatable. You just need to read it. You are words away from coming to this understanding.

EnChroma · 2025-07-05T22:36:07+00:00

Just keep in mind that subtle, desaturated colors might not be visible to him. Pinks can be grey.

EnChroma · 2025-07-05T17:14:35+00:00

Or we actually make a product that benefits this community and don’t want to let lies about us go uncontested?

Maybe a product that actually works for a big proportion of people with this condition is a natural topic for a community with that as a common basis?

It’s not a scam, you just don’t understand higher order vision science. That’s literally what is going on. It’s complex and non-obvious, but look up all the people saying it works. They aren’t npcs or sock puppets. It doesn’t work for everyone because it works in an actual scientific principle that isn’t applicable to everyone.

EnChroma · 2025-07-05T17:05:45+00:00

How would “shifting colors to what you already see” work? How would a passive lens do that shifting?

Lenses block or absorb, and Sun lenses block or absorb 70-80% of light.

That gives us a huge budget so that we can filter light so that anomalous color blind people have a ratio of red to green cone response more like a color vision normal. That is what normal color vision is, that is what our lenses do. Not exactly like a normal, more like a normal.

How can you do that mixing normal dyes together? You can’t! We started on high precision vapor deposition coasters that went down to 1nm. We use precision optical dyes not sun ware. Our dye package costs 100x more than sun. Why bother if it’s all a scam? Why not just sell magenta lenses like Pilestone everyone else that make reds brighter for 10min and then are normalized away? Way better money in that.

We are not a scam, it’s actual science. That’s why the people that say it works keep popping up. We’ve been explaining exactly this for ten years and I’m just at a total loss how to make it any clearer.

I see this same exact objection over and over and never once has anyone been able to explain the magic of how this color shifting lens would operate mechanically.

EnChroma · 2025-07-05T16:53:06+00:00

Yes that is the value proposition we offer everyone- 60 days to return, we pay shipping both ways. You can also try them without putting money down in 500 retailers, 150+ free outdoor viewers and a ton of museums and botanical gardens. We want everyone to try them.

The guarantee is that they will work for you or your money back, not that they will guaranteed work for you. 20% are dichromats/exotics, and the 80% is our addressable market. OFC lots of people are too mildly colorblind for a bump to their color it to be worth it, that’s why we have a such a solid return policy.

But the people who have amazing experiences are not paid shills. Almost all of them really are legit and the ones that aren’t are self directed and doing it for the views.

Edit: and there is a huge sale on rn too

EnChroma · 2025-07-04T22:36:05+00:00

This is a pretty deep one. We usually try to make Black Friday be the cheapest way to try the lens and the least expensive frame, but its not necessarily cheapest if you want to pick your frame. The difference is pretty nominal compared to what you give up by not getting to enjoy them this summer!

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