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The Black Ops WX Censor, like all Black Ops eyewear, meets ANSI standards for high-velocity and high-mass impacts. The Censor now offers the advantages of polarized lenses. Like the Censor and Valor styles, WX Twisted is available in polarized smoke green lenses, which has advantages at dusk and dawn, and overcast haze conditions. With smoke green lenses, the frames are either gloss black (Censor, Twisted) or metallic silver (Valor). Polarized vs. Non-polarized The introduction of polarized lenses to these three Black Ops styles raises the question, Why wouldn't polarized lenses always be the better choice? When would non-polarized lenses have an advantage? Polarized eyewear has always been more expensive than standard eyewear, but there was a more important reason for law enforcement. In some cases, polarized lenses may make it diffcult to read an LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, display or image. A lot of enforcement and communication devices like radar and radios use LCD displays. Of course, most smartphones and tablets also use LCD displays. We drove a fully upftted NextGen Dodge Charger and NextGen Ford Police Interceptor Utility to see the effect of polarized eyewear. All of the OE displays and controls were easy to read, in fact, much easier to read than darkly tinted non-polarized eyewear. The same goes for most of the modern DIFFERENT LENS COLORS While the Wiley-X Twisted, Censor and Valor are available in a wide range of lens colors, the Black Ops version of these styles comes with smoke grey lenses. This lens color gives the maximum glare reduction in intense sunlight with the minimum eye fatigue. Smoke grey will not distort colors; instead, it gives the truest color reception without color distortion. Smoke grey is the best general purpose lens that works well under the widest variety of scenarios. All of the Black Ops eyewear uses matte black frames. However, smoke-green polarized lenses are available in the Censor and Twisted with gloss black frames and in the Valor in metallic silver frames. Smoke green offers excellent glare reduction and color defnition. Smoke green passes a bit more light than smoke gray, making smoke green a good choice for dusk/dawn, overcast haze conditions, and in shadowed areas. Under bright sunny conditions, smoke grey has the edge. While not polarized, the bronze (copper, brown) lenses have superior visual defnition. Bronze lenses block blue light while improving the contrast in other colors. Bronze enhances ground level contours in most light conditions. Think hunting or shooting targets against a green feld or forest background on a bright day. The Valor is also available in non-polarized light rust. This color of lens flters out most blue light waves, the main component of glare and haze. Like pale yellow, light rust enhances contrast under low-light conditions. aftermarket emergency, communications and enforcement devices upftted in the vehicles. On the other hand, the iPhone/iPad and in-car LCD camera display did indeed take on a slight holographic appearance when wearing polarized eyewear. However, the smartphone/tablet and video display were all fully clear and all of the content was completely visible. The icons were easy to read, and it was easy to key in phone numbers and type text messages. In other words, the polarized lenses did not interfere with the functions in any way. Impact Resistant The Street-series Censor and Twisted and the Changeable-series Valor all pass ANSI Z87.1 safety and impact standards. In the ANSI High-Velocity Impact Test, the eyewear must withstand the impact of a 25-caliber steel ball fred at 150 fps, a test that is repeated 20 times. In the High-Mass Impact Test, the eyewear must withstand a 1.1-pound pointed anvil dropped from a height of 50 inches. Two of these, the Censor and the Valor, are also Ballisticrated, meeting MIL-PRF-31013, the U.S. military ballistic standard for protective combat eyewear. That said, the choice of which Black Ops style to select becomes a bit easier. The Twisted has the ANSI impact rating, but not the MIL rating, like the Censor and Valor. The Black Ops version of this eyewear is available with either polarized or non-polarized smoke grey lenses. Both have integrated nose pads and straight temple tips (ear pieces). Censor and Valor The full-frame Censor has a bit larger area of protection with wider temples bordering on side shields. The half-frame Valor uses changeable lenses. The version we tested comes with polarized smoke grey lenses and smoke green lenses are available. Non-polarized lenses in smoke grey, bronze fash, clear and light rust for times when non-polarized lenses may be preferred. The Valor felt weightless, and it ft just right. The wrap-around style did not catch on anything during head movement in the patrol car. They remained in place while running in hot, humid conditions. The polarized lenses did exactly what polarized lenses do—totally eliminated glare. Check out the WX Censor and WX Valor. They have our thumbs up. LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting www.lawandordermag.com www.lawandordermag.com 51