Blinded by the many, many options out there? Here’s our complete guide to sport sunglasses...
THE IMPORTANCE OF FIT
The fit of your sunglasses is key. While cycling on the roads, sunglasses are unlikely to contend with much movement, unless of course you hit a rogue pothole or climb a steep hill rather vigorously. Throw running into the mix, however, and they’re faced with a lot more bouncing. As such, your sunglasses need to fit perfectly.
Oakley refers to this as the ‘three-point fit’. Tamara Weinstein, Global Product Marketing Manager at Oakley explains more: “This means that the glasses fit on the nose and above the ears. They shouldn’t be resting on your cheeks. We want to make sure that the products are comfy, that you can wear them for a long time, that they’re not going to slip and that if something comes flying at you the glasses are going to protect you.”
Essentially, you want to make sure that the sunglasses feel secure on your head without creating unwanted pressure points. This is best achieved when a brand supplies multiple nose pieces with its sunglasses or when they have an adjustable nose piece. That’s then boosted by arms that have rubberised tips, which gently grip the head to hold them in place. We’d also recommend trying before you buy, and make sure you try them with your helmet to check the arms or height of the lens work with it.
A WORD ON LENSES
“The baseline is UV protection,” says Alison Jones, Global Director of Product Marketing at Oakley. “You want to protect your eyes the same way you do your skin, and really protect them from UV that can cause long-term damage.” Look for glasses that offer UV400 protection to be sure your eyes are protected. Also, glasses should have a CE mark on them to show they conform with the EU’s health, safety and environmental requirements.
Like some of the glasses here, many brands will supply interchangeable lenses, so you can adapt the choices depending on variable lighting conditions. This versatility is useful when cloudy days call for a lighter lens or if a sun-drenched course requires a darker pair to provide adequate clarity. Over the years photochromatic lens have also emerged, which become darker when exposed to high UV rays.
Clarity is a key aspect when looking at lens performance, as Jones explains: “It all fundamentally starts from the selection of the material. If you start with a bad base with a material that has particles in it, you’re going to end up with light refraction and light bouncing around and creating disto
