Costa del Mar Islamorada Sunglasses
April 19, 2012
These sunglasses came to me with the most perfect timing. I underwent PRK (eye surgery similar to LASIK) a few weeks ago and in the process of recovery my eyes have been really sensitive to light. It’s also spring in Alaska, which means a million hours of sunlight every day (yeah, a million, how crazy is that?). Therefore, I’ve been wearing sunglasses religiously, which is a perfect opportunity to try out a new pair of shades. To get such a cute and functional pair was an added bonus.
When I first saw these sunglasses I was a little hesitant. I have a smaller face, so finding a pair of sunglasses that doesn’t swallow my face is difficult. Seeing the larger lenses worried me a bit but my fears were unfounded. They fit my face perfectly and gave me a really great amount of coverage without giving me the bug-eye look that so many of the bulkier glasses do. My sunglass collection consists solely of men’s sports-style frames so it was a wonderful change to have a stylish and functional pair of women’s glasses at my disposal.
The thing that struck me most when I first put these sunglasses on was how clear the lenses are. I mean, really clear. And because of how wide the frame around the lenses is, there was very little obstruction of my peripheral vision. I did wish for a little more protection on the sides of my face where the arms of the glasses are, but that could just be me talking from the “just had my corneas burned away by a laser” perspective. I also thought that darker lenses would have been nice, but again, lasered corneas, so if you don’t have sensitive eyes, neither of those things should be an issue.
I’ve worn the Islamorada on a few runs and I’ve been happy with how they performed. The nose pads are on the narrower side, which makes the glasses sit a little further from my face than I’m used to. However, this actually had the benefit of allowing more air flow between the lenses and my face so the fogging was minimal. They really only fogged when I stopped moving and there was no air flow. If I wore them over my hat or headband they slipped down my nose a little once I got sweaty, but if I tucked the arms underneath I had no issues with slippage.
Overall, I was very pleased with the fit, look, and performance of the Islamorada. I can’t say enough how adorable I think these glasses are, especially the black frame with a hint of pink (which I love!). They may not be dark enough for snow/glacier travel but they’re an excellent choice for day-to-day wear and moderate activity level sports.
Julbo Trail Sunglasses
June 19, 2008
I thought it reasonable to follow a mountain bike review with a mountain biking accessory review. Technically the Trail sunglasses are an accessory, but they’ve become one of my favorite things about biking this season. Truly a breakthough in sunglass technology (like I’m a world class evaluator of sunglass technology, I’m so sure), these frames are light and they STAY PUT. This might have something to do with the complicated arrangement of bandannas, ponytails, helmet straps, and sunglass positioning that I have down to a science, but even when I wear the Trails for other pursuits such as running, they grip like geckos and don’t slide, shift, or create pressure points. I used geckos for that simile because geckos are light and small, but also a little edgy (because, after all, they are reptiles), just like the Trail sunglasses. The Trails don’t leave the dreaded nose marks that other types of frames leave. I’ve gotten sweat burns -lovely, eh? – from other sunglasses because of the way they dig into the bridge of my nose, but the Trails have yet to mar my countenance with such unsightly marks.
So the frames themselves are great because of comfort and fit, but the extra genius of the Trails is their photochromatic lenses that darken and lighten according to the type of light you’re in. Remember that kid in your sixth grade glass who had photochromatic lenses that were sunglasses while he was outside but supposed to be regular glasses inside, but they never quite got all the way clear in the classroom so he always looked like he wore slightly tinted sunglasses? Well, photochromatic technology has come a long way these days (again, me = expert). The Trails start with kind of a yellow tint, but darken to amber in the direct sunlight. The lenses adjust so well that I never notice the change – all I notice is that there is no glare and that I feel like I’m not even wearing sunglasses. And that’s no exaggeration – the first few times I wore the Trails, I forgot I had them on and tried to take my helmet off at the end of the ride, only to get it hopelessly tangled in the aforementioned complicated bandanna-sunglass-helmet strap arrangement. Nothing looks cooler than struggling to get your helmet off because your sunglasses are holding it in place, let me tell you.
What’s even better is that at their darkest, the Trails still allow the wearer to see true colors. Everything looks normal, just with zero glare. I have the most sensitive eyes in the world (the WORLD!), complete with swelling and burning if I get too much sun, and so far the Trails have never let me down.
One caveat – these are not exactly high fashion frames for anything but biking. They are designed to fit when one is wearing a helmet, so they don’t look exactly right if you don’t have a helmet on. I wear them for hiking and running, too, but wearing them with a baseball cap seems a little off, because they push the baseball cap up too high on my forehead. Baseball caps come down lower on the forehead than helmets, so it makes sense, but it’s sad because I’d love to have these lenses in frames that fit with my favorite baseball cap as well as they fit with my helmet.
The lenses are also “soft” and flexible – just how flexible, I’m not sure, because it felt so unnatural to bend my sunglass lenses that I stopped messing with them in case they might break. I’m pretty sure they can still break, but they seem pretty tough. I think the flexibility of the lenses is also to reduce the carnage in a crash, however I think that firm plastic can still cut you pretty effectively in a high-velocity impact, so don’t expect the Trails to perform miracles on that count. Pretty much everything else about them is a miracle, so if you’re a biker and you don’t have these, what are you waiting for?
$134.90 at backcountry.com! Click here!
