Projectors Reviews, price and comparision

3D glasses typically come in two flavors. If you have an active 3D HDTV, you use expensive and bulky active-shutter glasses that need to be wirelessly synced with the TV to work. If you watch a 3D movie in a theater or on a passive 3D HDTV like the Vizio XVT3D650SV ($3,699.99, 4 stars), you use passive 3D glasses. This type uses filtered lenses instead of LCD shutters to help display the 3D image. Here, the panel does most of the work and the passive glasses are lightweight, cheap, and often disposable. Gunnar Optiks offers a third type of 3D glasses: passive specs built to last. At $99 (list) they're priced more like active-shutter glasses or brand-name sunglasses, but solid build quality and good looks make them a nice alternative to 3D theater glasses. Unfortunately, since they're not dark enough to be sunglasses, their only real purpose is 3D movies, so it's hard to justify dropping $100 on a pair you're not likely to use very often.

For 3D glasses, the Gunnar Phenom pair is very well-made, it looks and feels as good as Oakley or Ray-Ban shades. The sturdy, all-metal frames have hidden-spring hinges that let your temples spread out comfortably. The nose pads are mounted on thick wire arms screwed, resting just right on the bridge of the nose. In tests, with my oversized skull, the Phenom was remarkably comfortable.

The glasses work with any passive 3D display, including select Vizio and LG HDTVs and theaters that show RealD 3D movies. Whether you want to watch a 3D movie at home or in the theater, the Phenom is a much more comfortable option than the cheap, plastic glasses included with passive 3D HDTVs or those you get at the movie theater. Since the glasses use the exact same filters as any other passive 3D glasses, they don't enhance or alter the 3D experience in any way (except for the benefits of the lens geometry, as explained below). The 3D you see through the Gunnars is the same 3D you'll see through the cheap pack-in glasses.

While Gunnar doesn't recommend the Phenom 3D glasses for use as sunglasses, they're still good for partly cloudy days. According to Gunnar, the 3D lenses are tinted to about 50 percent, while typical sunglasses are generally tinted to about 80 percent. This means the lenses aren't quite dark enough for bright days. The 3D lenses are coated with 100 percent UVA and UVB protection, however, so they can still protect your eyes.

I tested the glasses with the LG 47LW6500, a passive 47-inch 3D HDTV. The TV comes with plastic glasses with flimsy cellophane-like lenses. The flat lenses make the glasses especially susceptible to reflections. In comparison, the Phenom felt supremely comfortable, and the curved lenses with anti-glare coating prevented me from catching stray reflections. Though the Phenom's frames are metal and the lenses are solid, at just 0.6 ounces they're similar in weight to the bundled 0.4-ounce LG glasses .

If you have the inclination (and the money to spend), Gunnar's Phenom 3D glasses are a fine technological fashion statement. They look and feel great, and let you watch 3D movies in theaters or anywhere there's a passive 3D TV. Unfortunately, with lenses that aren't quite dark enough to serve as sunglasses, their real value relies upon 3D content. Unless you watch 3D movies regularly, you probably won't often don these $100 shades.