So I bought 2 sets because it looked like one set was briefly lost in the mail and this past week I got an email from Amazon that said one set I bought were “fakes.”
- Both sets have printing that matches legitimate manufactures.
- The “legitimate” set have all black filters (not the metalized filters I am used to like Thousand Oaks Optical) the “fakes” have the metalized filters.
- Both sets of glasses have the same transmittance as the Thousand Oaks filter material I use on my telescope and cameras.
- The build quality of the “legitimate” glasses is quite a bit worse than the “fakes” with the two layers of paper being misaligned
So, what I suspect is that I actually received a crappy set of “real” glasses and a well made set of counterfeits, this seems in line with the press release made by the American Astronomical Scociety.^[0]^
Some of these newly identified counterfeits are indistinguishable from genuine Qiwei products and appear to be safe. Others look like Qiwei’s eclipse glasses, but when you put them on, you realize they are no darker than ordinary sunglasses. So, these products are not just counterfeit, but also fake –– they’re sold as eclipse glasses, but they are not safe for solar viewing.
So, did anyone get unlucky enough to get some ‘real-fake’ glasses? An did anyone get a set of legitimate glasses with the non-metalized filter?
^[0]^ https://aas.org/press/american-astronomical-society-warns-counterfeit-fake-eclipse-glasses
If you can get to an area where it will be in totality, you can see it without eye protection during that brief 2-3 minute window. The danger to your eyes is when it's at anything less than full total eclipse.
Workaround: You can see the eclipse with a low tech solution of a pinhole camera. Google it for a better explanation, but
-poke a pin through a sheet of paper. -during the eclipse, just hold it over something like another sheet of paper and you can see an accurate projection of the sun as the eclipse progresses
It's actually pretty neat.
But if your weather is good, consider going to a place where the eclipse will be total. I'm in the path, but I'm seriously considering driving several hours to a place with a better weather forecast. I've seen good quality photo and video of total eclipses since I was a child. And the people who showed it to me (astronomy nerds from a club) told me "it's not the same."
Thank you, yes...I'll probably do the pinhole camera I suppose. I won't be quite in totality, so definitely don't want to risk it without protection. But I might try Lowes, from BeardedBlaze's recommendation, since I assume there's accountability in their distribution chain.
I have a set of these: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/celestron-eclipssmart-3-piece-solar-eclipse-observing-and-imaging-kit-blue-black/5869208.p?skuId=5869208
I think they are pretty legit? They come with like, a whole kit and stuff...
Celestron is a name I know and would trust. My dad had one of their telescopes and it was pretty nice. That was in the '80s though.
I'm driving about 15 hours (over 2 days, not all at once, lol) from Virginia to the totality path with a "just ok" forecast. I made a similar trip in 2017. It is definitely not the same as looking at a picture. It's the changes in atmosphere, the insects' behavior, the light quality all around you that make a totality viewing special. If you can make it somewhere with decent enough skies, you will be glad you did.