Follow-up Thoughts on SteelSeries’ DESMO Gamer Eyewear

At the start of the year, I reviewed one of the more interesting products to come out of SteelSeries; DESMO eyewear. Though I initially believed that the product couldn’t possibly live up to its promises, I was forced to eat my words, and eventually wound up at the conclusion that the glasses deserved our Editor’s Choice award. Since that review, I’ve been wearing the DESMO eyewear on a daily basis; with so much experience clocked in, I thought I’d follow-up with some other thoughts.

As you can probably guess, based on the fact that I wear this eyewear daily, I’d still recommend them. I still find they release pressure on my eyes and help reduce headaches. Depending on your lighting situation, monitor and other factors, you might not find as great a difference as I do, but if you do suffer from regular headaches (like I did) or eyeaches, DESMO should definitely be considered.

There are two niggles that I discovered after longer use, however. Both are minor, but I wanted to mention them to “warn” future owners about what to look for. First, the screws holding everything together will loosen over time, and eventually fall out if not attended to. I found this out the hard way. I lost one of the four screws, and couldn’t find it (it is small, after all). So, I’d recommend tightening the screws once a month to keep things in check. You’ll need a screwdriver suitable for screws of this size, which usually come in kits (and can likely be purchased for extremely cheap at a dollar store or Walmart).

The other problem I’ve run into is that the lenses themselves are difficult to keep smudge-free. Up until this past weekend, I cleaned the eyewear on a regular basis with water, and often I’d have to do it more than once per day because I’d accidentally hit a lens with my finger and smudge it up. This past weekend, someone asked me why I don’t just use glass cleaner, and then the little light bulb in my head went off. Sure enough, glass cleaner (or glasses cleaner if you have it, though both are pretty-much the same thing) cleaned the eyewear a lot better than water. There’s just no comparison. With water, it was impossible to find a perfect cloth to use, while with glass cleaner, I can use anything that’s kicking around, including paper towel (I don’t recommend that unless it’s really soft).

Overall, I am still loving the DESMO, and continue to find that they help reduce headaches and eyeaches when using the PC. As a side note, I also have a pair of SCOPE eyewear, also from SteelSeries, which aesthetically look 10x better. However, possibly due to the shape of my head, they simply don’t agree with me. Its arms dig into my ears after a couple of hours, making using them a non-option. The DESMO eyewear is comfortable to wear 24/7, by contrast.