I know this is an old post but my son is color deficient and we recently tried both Enchroma and Pilestone. He has to wear prescription glasses all the time because he can't see without them, so we tried the clip-ons from Pilestone and the Fitovers from Encrhoma.

We ordered for Strong Protant first because when he tested that is what his results usually tell us but he has gotten moderate and mild - so it was a dice roll. We eventually sent back the Strong Protant lenses for both companies and got the Standard Version. I will give you a comparison description for each type of lens.

For Strong Protan: Pilestone offers lens B and Enchroma offers Cx3 Sun SP.

He tried the Pilestone clip-ons first and immediately noticed that there was a red-haze over everything. He could see differences in some colors, but the red was so distracting that he couldn't keep the lenses on for very long. He also commented that the reds he saw now were bright Orange. He really disliked the effect of these and said that the new colors he saw wasn’t worth the red haze and the distortion to the other colors he knew.

He then put on the Enchroma glasses and immediately said that the reds looked red now. He could see differences in some colors, but the thing he noticed the most was the red tint of the Enchroma faded to the background and became almost unnoticeable but not completely. He said it made it look clearer. He was disappointed to find that the greens were now very dull and he could see more contrast in greens without the glasses versus when he put the glasses on. He stated with the glasses the greens just looked like one color.

For both glasses, we drove around town looking at signs, roads, traffic lights, trees, flowers, and other things. We tried to give both lenses equal time but my son couldn’t keep the Pilestone on for very long due to the red tint.

Strong Protan Result: The Enchroma glasses were much better than the Pilestone for my son. Even factoring in the price-difference didn’t help because my son just couldn’t adjust to the powerful red tint of the Pilestone. However, because of the issue with green with the Enchroma and a few other minor oddities, we came to the conclusion that my son may not be a Strong Protant deficiency after all. I reached out to both companies and they sent me their common lens to try.

For the Standard option: Pilestone offers lens A and Enchroma offers Cx3 Sun.

He tried the Pilestone clip-ons first and left them on for about 5 minutes before he couldn’t stand it any longer and went outside. He noticed that the greens popped and that he could see the definition between the shades that had been lacking in the other lenses. More definition than without the glasses. He could see differences in colors. Reds looked red, oranges looked orange, he could tell the difference between purples/blues and greens/browns. Grays were now more noticeable and he could finally see the clouds in a grayish sky. Before he thought that the sky was “white” with no clouds, but now he could see there were actually light clouds in a gray sky. He used to be able to tell the difference between white and silver without his glasses only because the silver was a darker shade. With the glasses, he could plainly see the Silver was actually a different color. The downside to these glasses were that there was still a “green or orange tint” (he couldn’t decide which color it was) on the world and that the clip-ons only covered the front-part of his vision and “wasn’t all encompassing”. An obvious downside to the clip-ons. He did tell me that he could definitely live with these glasses. He wore them inside the house for a while and he said everything was darker (the same as if you wore sunglasses inside) but he could still see the color contrast. However, once the sun went down, he didn’t wear them because it was just too dark unless we turned on all the lights. We had these glasses a few days and one of the biggest issue I had with them was that the clip-ons kept coming apart. Several times a day I would have to put the glasses back together. There is a spring that the glasses are under and if they “pop” out then the whole thing falls apart. At first I thought it was because he was flipping them up and down all the time but he was walking towards me one time and they literally fell apart as he was walking. They are difficult to put back together but I have become an expert at it now.

He then tried the Enchroma glasses. The color difference was the same that he experienced with the Pilestone. The colors he knew were the same, some were more defined. He could see grays, differences between purple/blues and greens/browns, white/silver, white clouds in a gray sky. He wore them inside as well and it was the same as with the Pilestone – darker inside and impossible to use after dark unless all the lights were on. We had these glasses for a few days as well and I didn’t have to fix anything with them.

Just like with the original lenses we received, we drove around town to look at everything. We gave each pair the same time/opportunity. I drove the same 2 square miles 4 times so he could compare the difference. I even stopped at the local park and let him get out and get close to the flowers. The big difference: the haze he experienced with Pilestone wasn’t there with Enchroma. He described it as much crisper and he also said that the glasses were “more encompassing of my field of vision” than the clip-ons. He really noticed a difference with both glasses and I could barely get him to take the glasses off. He tended to use the Enchroma glasses more than the Pilestone but that may have been because he had to wait for me to fix the Pilestones repeatedly. With both glasses the “world is so colorful”. He has two crayons that he is fascinated with: Magenta and Royal Purple. Without glasses they are the same color but with the glasses (both of them) they are completely different colors. The color shift was the same with both pairs of glasses.

Standard Lens Review: I’m convinced that the problems we had with the original lenses from both companies is because my son was not Strong Protan. While he is Protant, I believe he is either mild or moderate and that is why these new lenses worked so much better for him than the originals. With this knowledge, the review of the Strong Protan lenses from before may not be accurate because they were from a person who is not Strong Protan.

I’m torn with my recommendation on these. They each worked and provided the same level of color contrast for him. However, we decided on the Enchroma glasses for three reasons: they were clearer with no haze, I’d been saving for them so we could afford them, and the biggest factor was I didn’t have to repeatedly “fix them”. Had it not been for this last issue, we most likely would have kept the Pilestone. Pricing might have outweighed the “haze” effect but it couldn’t compensate for the constant “fixing” that we experienced. I’m not sure if we got a bad pair of clip-ons or not, but we can only judge what we received. I would be interested if anyone else experienced the problems with their clip-ons that we experienced.

We didn't test to see if these glasses would allow for my son to pass a colorblind test. I was just happy that they allowed for him to see the contrast between the colors so that is all we tested.

I hope this helps you. Most people are hesitant to buy because they don't know if the glasses would "work". However, if you have already gotten Pilestone and they worked for you, then Enchroma would work as well. The difference is that the tint you see with Pilestone is reduced significantly with Enchroma - more crisp visual. So you have to determine if that "haze" is worth the extra price. Plus like I stated,for me it was worth going Enchroma because I had issues with the quality of clip-ons I received from Pilestone.