# AFAR 300 sunglasses **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611 "2018-09-01T16:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/1 "2018-09-01T16:19:56Z")
Hi, I bought a pair of, what I think are, sunglasses. They have AFAR 300 on them, and contain some sort of circuit board with button cells. I have found something like them on the net, but nothing quite like these, and very little information on any. The circuits are badly corroded and the glasses don’t do, whatever they were intend to do when made. The link, below, will take you to a couple of pictures. > **[Free file sharing without registration and size limits](http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=g0b2554bdeecb9bba10001105585510345dfa18c95f)** > > Upload and share easily very large files with your friends. Registration is not required. Upload your files and send the retrieval link to your friends. This sharing service is FREE Does anyone know anything about them? Thanks, … john ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/2 "2018-09-01T16:28:26Z")
No idea what you are talking about. Searching on “AFAR 300” gives no useful info, and I don’t feel like downloading images. So could you find a way to link to the image directly or provide more info? ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/3 "2018-09-01T17:33:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > No idea what you are talking about. Searching on “AFAR 300” gives no useful info, and I don’t feel like downloading images. So could you find a way to link to the image directly or provide more info? Hi TriPolar, I couldn’t see any way of attaching the images to my post. Is there something I’m missing? Thanks, … john ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/4 "2018-09-01T17:44:29Z")
[“What’s your problem?”](https://youtu.be/JI8AMRbqY6w) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/5 "2018-09-01T20:21:50Z")
> [@shinnen](#): > > I couldn’t see any way of attaching the images to my post. Is there something I’m missing? You can’t attach anything in your post, but you can link directly to a displayed image (such as on Imgur, like I did in [this post](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21171904&postcount=1)) instead of a site where we have to download it to our hard drive first to be able to see it. In fact, the site you linked to even says > [@](#): > > You shall never download a file if you do not know who uploaded it. You should not assume its content type based on the last part of the file name (extension). Be careful. So, it’s warning us not to download your files… ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/6 "2018-09-01T20:34:42Z")
Your glasses look like they have a little camera built into them. Obviously not well made if everything is corroded. Did you expect to get anything _more_ than just an ordinary pair of sunglasses? ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/7 "2018-09-02T03:07:36Z")
Ah. OK. Next time I will use a site that doesn’t require downloading. I thought this would be OK. I was really just interested in knowing what they might be. … john ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/8 "2018-09-02T03:57:43Z")
They look like cheap novelty glasses to me. Maybe the LEDs are headlights, or just for decoration. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/9 "2018-09-02T12:10:54Z")
Could the LEDs be infrared, and meant to mask the wearer from facial recognition cameras/software? ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/10 "2018-09-02T12:41:29Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > They look like cheap novelty glasses to me. > Maybe the LEDs are headlights, or just for decoration. Indeed they are. I only paid $0.99. But I’ve never seen anything like them before, and was curious. … john ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/11 "2018-09-02T12:52:17Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > Could the LEDs be infrared, and meant to mask the wearer from facial recognition cameras/software? Yes. I guess that could be. I’m toying with rewiring it, but that would mean bypassing the corroded printed circuits, maybe five of them. However, even the contact points that the button cells touch are pretty much gone, being very thin prints, so I was hoping someone might recognize them, and help me to decide if it’s worth doing. Thanks, … john ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/12 "2018-09-02T12:55:49Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Your glasses look like they have a little camera built into them. Obviously not well made if everything is corroded. > > Did you expect to get anything _more_ than just an ordinary pair of sunglasses? Hi, No, I don’t even want them for that. They’re just a curiosity. I’ve never seen anything like them before. At first I thought they might be from sort of game, but I have no idea. … john ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/13 "2018-09-02T12:59:51Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > [“What’s your problem?”](https://youtu.be/JI8AMRbqY6w) > > Stranger That’s neat! … john ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/14 "2018-09-02T13:44:26Z")
You are all wrong - they are the glasses that used to be advertised on the back page of certain comics: [![](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2pn7cJ7E8Zk/S3qr9Hu9O2I/AAAAAAAAA0s/sQCHzHCGVtA/s400/xray_specs.jpg) ](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2pn7cJ7E8Zk/S3qr9Hu9O2I/AAAAAAAAA0s/sQCHzHCGVtA/s400/xray_specs.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/15 "2018-09-03T00:06:22Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > You are all wrong - they are the glasses that used to be advertised on the back page of certain comics: > > [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/\_2pn7cJ7E8Zk/S3qr9Hu9O2I/AAAAAAAAA0s/sQCHzHCGVtA/s400/xray\_specs.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2pn7cJ7E8Zk/S3qr9Hu9O2I/AAAAAAAAA0s/sQCHzHCGVtA/s400/xray_specs.jpg) So, you think that they’re infra-red sensitive; or just some sort of gimmick that does nothing? … john ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/16 "2018-09-03T00:12:31Z")
I think that the “x-ray specs” sold in the back of comics books were actually diffraction gratings. I’m not sure how they get from “makes everything look rainbowy” to “your hand looks like bones”, but hey, what do you expect for a couple of bucks plus shipping and handling? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/17 "2018-09-03T00:16:12Z")
The X-Ray specs would give you a sort of double image slightly offset, so if you looked at your hand the overlapping area of the images would look like finger bones inside the wider non-overlapping areas. I tried my friends specs once and was seriously less than impressed. ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/18 "2018-09-03T03:03:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I think that the “x-ray specs” sold in the back of comics books were actually diffraction gratings. I’m not sure how they get from “makes everything look rainbowy” to “your hand looks like bones”, but hey, what do you expect for a couple of bucks plus shipping and handling? Yes, for sure. … john ---
**Author:** ![shinnen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@shinnen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinnen)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/afar-300-sunglasses/820611/19 "2018-09-03T03:08:20Z")
Well, I guess we’ve spent a lot more time on this than it warrants. I don’t think I’m going to try rewiring them. From what I’m hearing here they’re some sort of gimmick. I’ll likely dismantle them and see what turns up. If I find anything interesting I’ll report back. Thank you all for your help. I appreciate it. … john