Blue light glasses, which cut down on blue light from your monitor to reduce eye strain, are a computer accessory that often flies under the radar. Gunnar Optiks makes a wide range of them and announced a bunch more at CES 2024. Among them is the Cupertino, a product I've been using for a couple of weeks now.

A little over a year ago, I had some health problems that led to some gastrointestinal tests. When the results came in, the doctor asked me how often I take antiinflammatories and was horrified when I told her that I take aspirin almost every afternoon due to headaches. Her suggestion was to try blue light glasses, and they've changed my life.

Switching to the Gunnar Optiks Cupertino from the cheap ones I had been using has improved it even more. They offer different lens choices that block different amounts of light, and there are even lenses to make them sunglasses.

Pricing and availability

The Gunnar Optiks Cupertino is now available, and it comes in bundles that cost either $175 or $200. One unique feature is that you can easily swap out the lenses, so the lower-priced bundle comes with two lenses, while the $200 pack comes with four. The four lenses offered with the Cupertino are Clear, Amber, Amber Max, and Sun. For any two-lens bundle, you'll get Amber, pretty much the standard for Gunnar, along with one other of your choice.

Gunnar Optiks did introduce one other lens today, called the Clear Pro. It's not available for the Cupertino, but it's designed to block less blue light and offer more color accuracy.

What I like

Customize your experience

The Cupertino glasses come in black with gold-colored accents on the hinges and the magnets. I like the style, but there's not much I can say about it. For one thing, I don't normally wear regular glasses, so it's not a world I'm immersed in. For another thing, style is such a personal thing. Gunnar has many designs available, including collaborations with companies like Razer, Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Marvel. And at CES, it's announcing new designs for Overwatch, Wolverine, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Tokidoki.

One thing I really like is that the lenses are interchangeable. Those four different lenses are good for different things, and I want to use them at different times. To change the lens, you press forward from the inside, and then they magnetically attach.

There are four lenses for the Cupertino: Clear (35%), Amber (65%), Amber Max (98%), and Sun (90%). The percentages by each one indicate how much blue light is blocked. Amber is the standard for Gunnar's products. It's what the company considers the right balance of reducing eye strain and keeping to a certain amount of color accuracy. Remember, the more you block out blue light, the more things will look yellow or even brown.

Clear is designed for more color accuracy, but your eyes may be more strained. However, your workflow might require things to be properly color-accurate. That's also why Gunnar just announced Clear Pro, which only blocks 20% of blue light and is more color-accurate.

Amber Max is all-in. Nothing looks color-accurate in the slightest, but it's great for use before bed or even temporarily when you're working on something you'll be staring at. Finally, Sun basically turns them into sunglasses. They're marketed as being for outdoor screens.

For me, Clear and Amber are the two sweet spots. Clear feels the best to use, but I wish I used Amber later in the day. It's nice that you can just pop out the lens and pop in new ones with minimal effort.

What I don't like

Expensive with an obnoxious logo

There are two main things that I don't like about the Gunnar Optiks Cupertino glasses. The first is the branding in the top-left corner (when you're looking out) of the glasses. The 'GUNNAR' text is meant to be out of the way and unnoticeable, and most of the time, I don't notice it's there. But sometimes I do, and it's a little annoying because there's no reason for that branding to be there. It could have just been on the frame somewhere.

The other thing I don't like is the price. Starting at $175, these glasses aren't cheap; meanwhile, there are a bunch of models that Gunnar sells for $50. They don't have interchangeable lenses, meaning they'll be Amber (most likely), and the frame will likely be made out of less premium material, but still, the function is the same.

Should you buy Gunnar Optiks Cupertino?

You should buy Gunnar Optiks Cupertino glasses if:

• You get headaches in the afternoon
• You're on a lot of calls and care enough about style to spend a little extra
• You use screens outdoors in sunlight, close to bedtime, or in other scenarios where you could benefit from different lenses

You should NOT buy Gunnar Optiks Cupertino glasses if:

• You don't like the style
• The less expensive options on Gunnar's website seem more practical

After experiencing the difference in my own life from wearing blue light glasses, I do think they'd benefit just about anyone. And from using Gunnar's product for a couple of weeks, I think the firm is a pretty good choice. The Cupertino model allows you to switch between four sets of lenses for different purposes easily, which helps you adjust throughout the day and find the correct lens for you.

Remember, if that sounds like more than you need, you should check out the less expensive stuff on Gunnar's website.