How this site stays honest

Independence

Shade & Signal is published by Iron Mako Media and written by Mike M. No brand on this site — Meta, EssilorLuxottica, Ray-Ban, Oakley, Amazon, Even Realities or anyone else — has paid for placement, supplied a product, reviewed a draft or been offered the chance to. Picks are chosen before any affiliate link is built. Where the retailer that pays us is not the best place to buy (a model not on Amazon, for instance), the page links to the maker's store as a plain link and says we earn nothing there.

The no-fabrication rule

• No invented specs. Every resolution, battery figure, weight, dimension and prescription range is cited to a manufacturer page or a named review.
• No invented prices. Buttons open the live retailer price; launch prices are dated context only.
• No invented ratings, review counts or “bestseller” claims.
• No testing claims. We do not own or test these products and never say we do — see how we score.
• No invented testimonials. There are no reader reviews on this site; if that changes they will be real, attributed and dated.
• Where a fact cannot be verified, the page says “not published” or “sources disagree” — never a guess.

How we handle the camera and privacy

Camera glasses record other people, and this site takes that seriously from both sides. We explain how the capture LED works and what happens if it is covered, using Meta's own FAQ as the source. We cover the March 2026 class action, venue bans and the consent-law framework with primary sources. We never recommend, link to, or name products designed to hide or defeat the recording light, and we never explain how to. Legality pages describe the general framework and tell you to check your state and venue; they are not legal advice.

Sourcing standards

1. Specs come from the manufacturer's product or newsroom page, or from a reputable spec table that reproduces it when the store page cannot be read.
2. Measured numbers (battery under load, weight on a scale, frame width with calipers) are attributed to the named review that measured them, with the conditions.
3. Quotes are verbatim and attributed. We do not paraphrase a review and present it as a quote.
4. Every guide ends with a Sources list; roundups and comparisons cite inline and under each product card.

Updates and refresh cadence

Every page carries a published date and an updated date. The lineup on every roundup and comparison is re-checked immediately after any Meta or EssilorLuxottica launch event and at least quarterly otherwise; the date of the last check is shown on the page. Privacy and legal pages are reviewed quarterly and whenever the lawsuit, a ban or Meta's policy changes. The updated date is bumped only for substantive edits — never by a deploy.

Corrections

Send corrections to mike@blackironathletics.com or the contact form. A verified correction is fixed within seven days and the page notes what changed and when. If we got a product fundamentally wrong, the page says so rather than quietly rewriting it.

Use of AI tools

Drafting and editing tools, including AI assistants, may be used in producing this site. Every spec, number and source is checked against the cited page before publication, and the responsibility for what is published is Iron Mako Media's.