The Top 10 Best Cheap Gaming Glasses
Tired of digital eye strain getting in the way of a marathon or late-night gaming session? Nothing’s worse than on the fifteenth hour of your boss battle when you realize you haven’t blinked once and your eyes start to water, obscuring that final kill shot.
That’s where good, cheap gaming glasses can help. Not everyone wants to go crazy spending tons on a pair of glasses to wear indoors. We’ve got you: here are the 10 best cheap gaming glasses on the market, ranging from $15 to $50.
In this article
- What do gaming glasses do?
- Affordable but good: how to choose the perfect budget-friendly glasses
- Our top 10
Gaming Glasses: A Gamer's Insurance Policy
If you are a serious gamer who struggles with headaches, trouble sleeping, blurry vision or red and dry eyes, gaming glasses can help.
Whether you’re a late-night gamer or a middle-of-the-day speedrun marathoner, you can reduce these damaging effects, thanks to the blue light filtration and anti-glare technology of gaming glasses.
How to Choose Quality, Affordable Glasses
A good frame, chosen with care, will offer your eyes the comfort and security needed to be efficient throughout the day and (almost) never have any doubts about your in-game performance.
Pay attention to these 5 factors :
- Style: it may sound superficial but if you look good, you feel good, if you feel good, your level of self-confidence increases and you may play better. Even if no one is looking, you are. Don't compromise. Look sharp!
- Comfort: make sure your glasses are designed to be worn for a long time. Especially if you have headphones that will add extra pressure.
- Performance: your glasses should be equipped with a lens that filters UV light, protects you from harmful blue light, and prevents glare. Don't compromise on that, especially on blue light protection. Studies have shown that the most dangerous blue light is from 380 to 450 nanometers, so it's essential you try to find glasses with lens filtration above 85% (pretty rare) or above 50%.
- Price tag: Gaming glasses can range anywhere from 10 dollars to several hundred. Rarely anything under 20 dollars is really serious (it may even not protect you) and above 80 dollars it will be more about aesthetics than performance.
- Warranty: Does the company you are buying from stand by their glasses? We will let you in on a little secret; there is only one pair with a lifetime warranty in this list(see our top choice).
Top 10 Cheap Gaming Glasses
1 - Horus X | The Gaming One
Price: $34.90
Top Feature: best blue light gaming glasses with 100% blue light protection at 400nm and 86% at [380-450] and UV light filtration with a lifetime warranty.
Summary:
Completely biased but we obviously think Horus X is the best there is for the price because that’s what we were going for when we designed them. But we don't need to convince ourselves (the whole team is already equipped and more than 100,000 gamers have already chosen those glasses). So here’s some real reasons why you should choose our gaming glasses:
We offer glasses that provide you with 100% blue light filtration at 400nm and 86% on the widest dangerous spectrum from 380 to 450 nanometers (check out the other brands in this list, we’re one of the only brands doing this).
The days of closing your eyes in bed and seeing your game still play out in front of you are over. The Horus X Gaming Glasses will help you preserve your sleep and have fewer headaches - and they come with a lifetime guarantee, so we're happy to put our money where our mouth is.
Our glasses are designed specifically for gamers and we know how much gamers like to marathon. So, we've used polycarbonate temples and lenses, a light, soft and ultra durable material, for maximum comfort. Plus, no more headaches from too much pressure if you're an online gamer. They're designed to comfortably slip under your headset and look good on men and women.
We are Europe's benchmark brand and now we're branching out into the US, so we recommend grabbing a pair before we realize what great value you're getting.
Nowadays, we’re all a lot more concerned about how we leave the planet. Production of any product can have environmental consequences, and simply, there aren’t enough companies doing anything to mitigate this.
We are committed to improving our environmental impact year on year. We are members of 1% for the planet, meaning that we give 1% of our sales to environmental non-profits that have a direct impact on our future.
2 - Gunnar Optiks | Vertex
Price: $49.99
Top Feature: Their focusing power technology and prescription glasses option.
Summary:
They're probably the best-known brand on the market (although that doesn't always mean the best quality).
Whether that makes them better or not is definitely up for debate, but they do make solid quality products and deserve to be in this top 10. These are one of the only glasses other than Horus X on this list that advertise the actual volume of blue light they filter out, with different lens options for different levels at 35, 65, 90 and 98% of protection at 450 nanometers. Weirdly, they highlight this frequency instead of the high energy blue light spectrum (from 380 to 450) but at least they are a bit more specific than other brands.
One unique factor Gunnar’s do boast is their claim to offer “focusing power” with a range of ‘power’ options available. Quite how effective this is isn’t clear but they do claim that their technology helps provide sharper, clearer vision.
Not to diss Gunnar, but considering how much more expensive than regular gaming glasses they are, we’re not sure that’s quite enough of an added “extra”. Also some people experience added strain with this zoom that does not always feel natural so you will have to see for yourself.
One other feature that Horus X do not have yet (coming up very soon) is prescription glasses. If you already wear glasses, this will come in super handy to get that extra protection. Prescription gaming glasses are a must if you need a specific correction for your eyes.
3. Horus X | Casual Gaming Glasses
Price: $34.90
Top Feature: Casual style with 100% blue light protection at 400nm and 50% at [380-450] and UV filtration with a lifetime warranty.
Summary:
Okay look, we’re sorry, alright? We couldn’t quite resist adding two pairs of our glasses, but we promise we have a really good reason for it.
These glasses might be better for gamers who don’t spend quite as much time staring at a screen and need a more casual style to go outside and still be protected from UV rays or blue light from artificial lighting. If you are less sensitive, only game an hour or two a day, or are a streamer or digital nomad, you may prefer these frames as they’re a tiny bit lighter and more stylish, while still offering optimal protection (50% on the widest spectrum).
We won’t toot our horn too much here (we’ve already covered that) but if you’re looking for a more transparent and lightweight lens, then our Casual glasses are your best bet. Like our Gaming Glasses, they’ll reduce glare and headaches, while improving your sleep and filtering out that pesky harmful blue light, and are both anti-reflection and anti-scratch; so that lifetime warranty really will last, well... a lifetime.
And don't forget that by choosing Horus X, you can one-up all your friends by telling them that your gaming purchase helped the planet too.
Check them out here.
4. PlayStation Glasses
Price: $23.99
Top Feature: Increased contrast perception from a household brand.
Summary:
For their low price, these PlayStation glasses seem to be a great deal. They’re the only glasses that can say they are an official PlayStation product, which, for some, may be enough of a reason to purchase alone. Plus, they come with the PlayStation colors of blue and black and have little X and square symbols on the arms - maybe not one for die-hard Xbox fans then.
As well as offering the usual UV and blue light protection, they boast that they’ll also increase contrast perception and sharpen digital screen details. Their tinted lenses shift the color spectrum which they claim helps “visual efficiency”, which when playing a game with a ton of colors like Breath of The Wild can be helpful to your poor achy eyes.
They also sell themselves as the perfect glasses for marathon gaming, claiming the natural arc and nose pads help eliminate fatigue and reduce nasal pressure. For their price, they are probably on of the best cheapest gaming glasses available.
5. Syght Micron Computer Glasses
Price: $39.99
Top Feature: Can be used outside of the computer room.
Summary:
The most interesting thing about Syght glasses is that they all seem to be advertised with the exact same specifications no matter the model, with a standard 'benefit of syght' section on each product page, with no real explanation of the differences between pairs or any real information on the blue light filtration they offer.
That being said, if you're looking for a standard pair of gaming glasses, these will do the trick. They're more stylish than the average gaming glasses, coming in a variety of colors and offering a fade option and advertise that you can go from gaming to socializing without ever having to swap out pairs.
Like all gaming glasses, their primary intent is to offer blue light blocking technology (although Syght aren’t super clear on the filtration numbers). Instead they seem particularly proud of how light the glasses are, boasting that they are almost 'weightless' which if you have a heavy headset could be a great asset.
6. AOMASTE Blue Light Blocking Glasses Retro
Price: $15.97
Top Feature: The retro look + ultra cheap
Summary:
These glasses are ideal for the hipster gamer, or any who enjoys vintage/retro fashion. Although the lenses are clear, they claim to offer 95% protection against blue light and help minimize headaches. Be super careful here! 95% protection on what range of blue light? They don't say, but we suspect it is on a limited wavelength. We don't recommend them for intense gaming.
There’s not much to say about these ones, to be honest. The best thing about them appears to be their stylish factor and the fact you can choose from 12 different colors and patterns for a very cheap price. Beyond that, they don’t have the fancy gimmicks of the more expensive pairs, but if you’re just looking for something simple, these could be a decent pair at a good price.
7. JS Vision Blue Light Shield Gaming Glasses
Price: $28.99
Top Feature: 2 lenses for 2 uses
Summary:
J+S claim their glasses stop 95% of harmful blue light at 400mm (reminder: Horus X are at 100%) and their color distortion lenses have an overall blue block rate of 52%.
The best thing about J+S vision is the lens options that can help distinguish the ‘casual’ gamers from the ones that are up all night. The high-definition would be best suited to the marathon gamer who needs better eye protection, but the flip side is that they have to deal with amber lenses which distort the color slightly - unlike the other lenses they offer.
These seem relatively popular glasses with good reviews and are made using polycarbonate. They have some color choice and look very much like regular glasses with the classic bridge frame, which could be a good thing but could also become heavy under headsets or other equipment over long periods of time.
8. AHT Gaming Master Glasses
Price: $26.99
Top Feature: Their balanced lens
Summary:
Behold! Another pair of glasses that actually tell you the blue light filtration! You’d think this would be a standard piece of information but shockingly it isn’t.
Now the bad news...at 450-470 nm they only block 40% of harmful blue rays. That's pretty low. But it’s better to know how much exactly than not know at all which is why we’ve placed these higher up the list.
Their biggest claim is that they better balance the color-blocking rate without color distortion thanks to their TAC lens, so you can still view your game as the developer intended - in bright, bold colors.
They’re not the most attractive glasses (the arms are a bit... holey) but you can get them in a cool electric blue, so that’s something.
9. Altec Vision
Price: $14.99
Top Feature: Get a pack of 2 for cheap!
Summary:
These are simple, seem to do what it says on the offer. There's none of the fancy additional features offered by a lot of top brands, but that's reflected in the price. They do the basic job they're intended for - help reduce eye strain with amber tinted lenses, and have built-in non-reflective blue light blockers.
For a simple set with lightweight frames, you can't go wrong if you want something cheap and cheerful.
10. Gamma Ray Carter
Price: $17.99
Top Feature:
Summary:
Gamma Ray glasses are a bit of a strange one. Despite having a variety of models on their site, every single pair of Gamma Rays have the same description, suggesting their variety is more based on style and lens color than blue light filtration or anything else that helps reduce harmful gaming effects.
While they advertise their glasses as reducing the amount of harmful blue light, there’s zero information on the percentage or range in which they do this.
All in all, Gamma Ray glasses is not our favorite brand and could benefit from more information on their technology. They are mentioned in this guide as they are one of the most popular models at this price range but we'd recommend you to look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
Overall, if you’re looking for the best cheap gaming glasses out there, it's hard to not take Horus X as the best option. And if you don't, no hard feelings, we hope you got all the info you need to find the right pair. Any of those glasses will protect you to some degree from artificial blue light.
Less eye fatigue, less blurry vision, less long term impact and more satisfaction in the game.
