You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Is it just me or are they ludicrously expensive? The cheapest is £120 and the Pocs are over £200! I read somewhere that most eyewear is made by one company anyway so is there really any point in paying for the brand?
And has anybody got a recommendation for more sensibly priced bike sunglasses?
And has anybody got a recommendation for more sensibly priced bike sunglasses?
Bolle safety glasses usually <£15 depending on model.
https://www.lomo.co.uk/acatalog/floating-sunglasses.html#SID=31
These are terrific!
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/lomo-cruiser-elite-sunglasses/
Tifosi are excellent value for money.
I wear them for gardening.
I wear Oakley on the bikes. 😎
And now, a song...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QePcj9BplMQ
Decathlon, as always.
Very good, no distortion, well made, cheap.
I do have some Oakleys which are equally excellent. 🙂
If they include a set of £15 safety specs and they come top, the ad revenue will dry up pretty fast.
Says a man who owns 5 set of Oakleys....
Oh come on, no one wants to read about stuff you can actually afford.
They've explained this before......🙂
Apart from me, apparently.
My set of £16 100% glasses turned up today from Wish and look exactly like the real thing, the lens is even just as good clarity as my official Oakleys too
Sungod worth a look. Online direct sales, Uk based company, 4 or 5 different models, pick your choice of lens, plus frame and legs colours. I got a very nice wrap around pair with two sets of lens for <£100 recently. Really pleased with them.
https://www.sungod.co/shop/sunglasses
Also have a pair of the shimano sunnies which are more casual but still fine on the bike for £20 from tredz.
For cloudy days I wear £7 decathalon glasses. I just change them when they get too scratched.
For bright days, I wear Oakley Photo chromatic half jackets - about £120.
So I lie somewhere between the two camps! But if I was a full time bike journo, or someone who rode for money, I think I would consider nicer sunnies as a necessity/tool of the trade/perk of the job.
Sungod +1
Bolle safety specs for me as well. No use if you need prescription lenses but dirt cheap. Only problem I found last week was that Screwfix seem to be out of stock. Guess it's everyone buying up PPE.
Endura mullet photochromic, vented and around £50
For cloudy days I wear £7 decathalon glasses. I just change them when they get too scratched.
For bright days, I wear Oakley Photo chromatic half jackets – about £120.
Not just me then 😎
Essence Outdoors snide versions of Oakley Jawbreakers, cost about £19 quid all in. 5 different lenses and they’ve been spot on.
Buy one get one free code atm somewhere but can’t remember it sorry!
The last pair of glasses I got were some CSP Silium plus from Bolle that cost less than £10. The optical performance is as good as anything else I’ve ever tried and I’ve yet to have them show any sign of fogging up or scratching despite six months of neglect and abuse. Quite a step up from the clear versions of the same glasses that I used to buy.
https://www.bolle-safety.com/reference/silpcsp
Shame you can’t buy them at the minute.
Another vote for Bolle and Decathlon.
I've found that Polaroid do good shades, too. Bought a pair for $20 in Curaçao last year and they were perfect for the mountain biking I did there.
I read somewhere that most eyewear is made by one company anyway so is there really any point in paying for the brand?
That company is Luxottica:
Luxottica Monopoly
Annoyingly American video that explains it quite well
Another vote for Tifosi, i have their Rumor sunglasses. £35 and came with a hard case and three different lenses. I think they used to be the top rated ones in what mountain bike.
Shame you can’t buy them at the minute.
And also that they aren't sunnies.
...And the brands that aren't made by Luxottica are made by Safilo Group.
So any brand you buy at pretty much any price point (bar the rip off Chinese copies) are owned by 2 giant Italian corps.
I'm impressed with my BBB photochromics with a reader portion at the bottom. £40-odd from Merlin at the moment.
I'm afraid I'm in the Bolle camp too, or DeWalt if you need slightly more coverage. They're both clear as I tend not to wear sunnies; they're not much cop in the woods.
The Bolle are scratch and fog resistant and do a reasonable job on both counts, but I have to replace them every year or so when the scratch resistance gives up. I'm not sure this is the best approach as it seems wasteful, so I'm thinking of upping the budget (it would be hard to lower it) and buying some glasses that will last. They will have to be something stocked by my LBS, though; there is no way I'm forking out £100+ on glasses without knowing they'll fit.
Is it just me or are they ludicrously expensive?
I just realised I didn't respond. Yes and no, they're all about the going price for branded sunglasses (POC stuff is always Veblen priced) so in the marketplace of branded sunglasses, no not really , and at the same time; yes, branded sunglasses are relatively expensive things.
But it's the reviewer's dilemma isn't it? Do you really need a review of Amazon/Ebay £10.00 knock offs? Arguably No you don't. They're a punt, if they fit your face and aren't scratched when you get them, then hooray, bonus, if they don't, mleh, it's a punt they can get tossed in the bin when they break. But if you're going to splash out over £100 for them, then you need the sort of info a good reviewer can provide, ie are they worth my money?
At the same time, get criticised for reviewing the sorts of things that actually need a review, and not reviewing cheapo stuff...minefield.
New car, anyone?
My additional , personal , problem is that I have a head the size of an Easter Island statue so most sunglasses look like swimming goggles on me. I do need a nice big lens to cover some of my slab like face, most Bolle style safety glasses have relatively small lenses.
FOG, have a try of some Jublo. they seem to be on the large size. I can recommend the lenses in the Renegades for mountain biking (I think Hanna has reviewed them as well, and liked them) plus they're less than most at about £85.
Velochampion Warp. Circa twenty quid for frame, three lenses and bag to keep them in. If you buy the yellow framed version you get a really nice ‘iridium’ type dark lens, all the other colours get a plain tint, plus clear and yellow lenses. I really like them and have just replaced a damaged pair after 3 years heavy use.
FWIW Julbo is independent. Made in a mix of their French and Romanian factories. The staff in the French office were all very outdoorsy, lots of skiers and mountain climbing people. This press trip terrified this bike journo:
I came from a different visit back more or less intact, having watched my fellow traveller be airlifted off the hillside. Having been doped up with morphine and put back together, he stayed the night at the owner's house. Their glasses aren't cheap, but they're not the most expensive and I wouldn't put them in the faceless conglomerate camp.
https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/behind-the-scenes-with-julbo-eyewear/
Love my Adidas evil eye
The light adapting lens is some voodoo shit !
Wouldn't pay that normally but got them in the tk maxx PSA a few months ago
I was just about to buy the decathlon ones before that, but the Adidas much sturdier
The endura guppy ones I had before were pretty good , I think they do some newer models that look good
I don't understand this 'all made by the same company therefore must all be the same standard/quality/same thing'. That's like saying a Skoda Fabia is the same as an Audi R8, or Alivio is the same as XTR.
Some clear plastic safety glasses will keep mud out of your eyes. Some high-end, reactive lenses will do a bit more but won't be £200 better at keeping mud out of your eyes. Pay what you can afford/ want to pay.
Do you really need a review of Amazon/Ebay £10.00 knock offs?
Maybe. Right now I’d rather use £10 safety specs from a DIY store than chance those Amazon/eBay knock offs because I trust the DIY store specs to have passed some sort of testing but the knock offs I wouldn’t trust not to be a hazard
PX Carnac - £15, seem decent. I prefer clear/yellow unless it's really bright and in open country, it's not much cop going from bright sun into the woods with sunnies on. Yellow lenses are great for definition, even if you do look a slight wally...