I was recently given the honor and opportunity to test and review the brand-new retimer 3 light therapy glasses.

As usual, we’ve tested these with lab-grade equipment; and I’ve used them myself, so you’ll have everything you need to make an informed purchase.

What Are Light Therapy Glasses?

If you’re wondering, light therapy glasses are essentially mobile SAD lamps. They help to align your circadian rhythm in the morning for better sleep, curing insomnia and jetlag, and improving mood.

Kickstarter Launch

The retimer 3 Kickstarter launches on August 21st and I’ve been told the prices are as follows:

NamePledge Price (USD)
Super Early Bird Pricing | Kickstarter Special$109
Early Bird | Kickstarter Special$129
Launch Special$149
2 x retimer 3 for $240$240
retimer 3 jet lag collection* (neck pillow + eye mask)$199
20x retimer 3 Sleep Doctor Special$2384

The retimer 3 Light Therapy Glasses

This is the 3rd version of retimer and it’s a big improvement!

photo of me wearing re-timer glasses
Old version.
IMG 4103
New version!

Compared to the previous model, they’re half the weight, more comfortable, charge faster, and have more battery life. What more can you ask for?

What’s Included?

The retimer 3 comes with:

  • retimer 3 glasses
  • Velvet-lined hard carry case
  • Soft carry pouch
  • 3 nose pads
  • USB-C cable
  • Manual
IMG 4135

Using the retimer 3

Using the retimer is about as easy as it gets, with just one power button and one setting. You place them on and press the side button!

They rest on your nose like so:

IMG 4095

To “adjust the brightness” you can simply slide them down further on your nose:

IMG 4094

Weighing in at 38g these are about as light as the AYOs so I found them to be quite comfortable and didn’t have any issues with pain around the ears.

The light from below does take some getting used to and it can get in the way sometimes.

I found myself having to either look above or below the light portion depending on what I was doing. At first it’s a bit of a pain, but you get used to it.

Battery Life and Charging

During my testing, I found that a full charge takes around 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete and gives you an ample 7 hours of runtime!

Charging is done via USB-C. Thank God.

Does it Work With Glasses?

These do work with glasses! You simply put them on after your glasses like so:

IMG 4099

Now I did run into an issue with a smaller framed pair I own where the black rim blocked the green light causing a shadow over my pupil:

IMG 4101
You can see the effect this has on pupil dilation in my video review.

This significantly reduced the light hitting my retina, so the AYOs may be the better option if you have smaller lensed glasses, like the black ones above, that you rely on in the morning.

An advantage that the retimer 3 has is if your lenses have any kind of blue-blocking film or tint, the greener light wont be blocked as much.

Testing the retimer 3

I busted out Henry our spectrometer-equipped foam mannequin head to test these:

IMG 4079
Henry says hello 👋

With Henry, we can test roughly how much light gets to the eye with the retimer 3’s in various positions and compare them to other light therapy glasses on the market.

Spectral Qualities

The retimer 3 uses four 500nm blue-turquoise LEDs just like its predecessor. However, these are a bit more diffused, which I greatly appreciate, as the last model was a bit too bright for my taste.

IMG 4063

This spectrum is more of a blue-green color as you can see in the SPD below:

Spectral Power Distribution Graph retimer 3

According to conventional wisdom and tools like the CS calculator, this peaks just to the side of the melanopic curve peak:

retimer 3 SPD comapred to melanopic curve

Retimer claims an output of 506 lux, while we measured about 380 lux hitting Henry’s eye. This just means we are likely a bit further away than they were during measurement.

With light measurements this close to the source, even fractions of an inch can result in large jumps in total measured light. Your unique facial geometry will mean you’ll get more or less light than the next person.

Circadian Light Output

Circadian light is a popular metric used to determine a light source’s ability to trigger the circadian system, at least on paper.

Looking at the retimer 3, we see it puts out about half the CLA as AYO does on high for example, but this isn’t the full picture…

Flicker Waveform Graph 100 Percent Brightness

Why Blue-Green Light?

A study from the inventors of retimer involved 15 participants and exposed them to various wavelengths:

  • Blue or 470nm (i.e. AYO)
  • Blue-Green or 497nm (i.e. retimer)
  • Green or 525nm
  • Amber or 595nm
  • Red or 660nm

In this study, 497 performed the best, causing a larger phase delay than either than 470 or 525.

mean phase delay graph for wavelgnth study

However in a later study by the same authors, 470 seems to take the edge over 497…

mean phase advance graph for wavelength study

It could be that turquoise is better for phase delaying (evening use) and blue is better for phase advancing or morning use, due to sensitivities in the eye changing over the day.

In any case, they are both quite effective! And the retimer wavelength of around 500nm has been used successfully in many studies so we know it works.

Flicker

For those of you wondering or concerned about flicker, I’m happy to report that the retimer 3 glasses have none whatsoever.

retimer 3 flicker waveform graph
Just a flat bar, we love to see it!

EMF

These are Bluetooth enabled, but for those of you concerned with EMF I was not able to detect any meaningful radiation coming off of these with either my Trifield TF2 or GQ EMF-390:

IMG 4061
I’m quite pleased with the low EMF.

So it looks like they’ve done a very nice job of limiting unnecessary EMF emissions here!

The retimer App

retimer did a pretty good job with their app! What makes it so good is the access you have to various circadian “calculators” and you can even use them without the glasses!

On the home screen, you can check your device settings, connect Apple Health to import sleep data, and use those calculators…

retimer app home screen
Home screen
retimer app device screen
Device screen

Phase Advancing

If you’d like to be able to fall asleep earlier in the evening and wake up earlier in the morning, you need to advance your circadian rhythm.

You can use the calculator below to accomplish this!

retimer app phase advance option
retimer app phase advance option details

Phase Delaying

If on the other hand, you fall asleep too early and would like to wake up later in the morning, you need to phase delay instead.

retimer app phase delay option
retimer app phase delay option details

Jet Lag

The app also has an option for creating a plan to transition to a new time zone so you can prepare ahead of time!

retimer app jet lag option
retimer app jet lag details

Shift Work

The last useful one is the shift work scheduler. This helps you make timing decisions around shift work, which can be confusing without stuff like this to help.

retimer app shift work option
retimer app shift work details

The retimer Studies

As we touched on in our article for version 2, retimer sets itself apart from the other brands by focusing heavily on studying their devices.

On their website, you can find eight different independent studies in which their glasses have been used.

These studies range from treating PTSD depression symptoms to enhancing sports performance, cancer-related sleep disturbance, postpartum depression, decreasing jetlag, and more!

If you’re looking for the most clinically proven light therapy glasses, retimer is the best bet.

Conclusion

The retimer green-turquoise spectrum has the most data backing it up despite other options being better on paper.

I’ve found myself liking the green light spectrum, something about it feels more energizing than the blue from my AYO glasses. However, there are downsides, such as obstructed vision at times and the fact that they are quite bright compared to AYO.

If you like the idea of the benefits of green light therapy coupled with an effective light therapy device, consider the retimer 3!

retimer 3 Light Therapy Glasses

retimer 3 product image

Pros

  • The only well-studied light therapy glasses
  • Completely flicker free
  • 500nm wavelength doubles as green light therapy

Cons

  • Potentially blocked by certain glasses frames
  • May be too bright for some users

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