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Shades that’ll protect your eyes and turn heads
Cool capability returns with the best shades for winter
Wherever you find your bliss this winter, it’ll be all the better with these sunnies
Wherever your cold-weather escape trajectory leads, these best-in-class shades improve the view.
Fear not these fashion-forward frames. The best sporty-shades makers are showing new style.
Is there a more important piece of gear than the one that lets you see the world clearly? Of course not.
See more of what you want, and less of what you don't, with these primo performance shades.
A nervous dad hopes his daughter finds as much confidence in the dance studio as she did on the ropes course.
We find more joy in our kids' pleasures than our own, especially when it’s joy about a surprise present from the big, wild world
Yes, you can tour France with kids without ever setting foot in the museum. And it’s cheaper (and a hell of a lot more fun for everyone) than you’d think.
The family that learns to chillax correctly will be much safer on or near water. Here are some easy tips.
The founder of a SoCal startup is gearing up to give us equipment for car camping that’s right for the job and looks hot. Please, let it be so.
Last week, Mike Steere shared some tips to help parents survive their child's first year at sleepaway camp. This week, he attempts to pacify his own miserable camper, and finds out it isn't as easy as it looks.
Even the most timid kids can get over their separation anxiety and have a great time at summer camp—as long as mom and dad don’t screw it up
Rapture for the watersports set: Goggle-like, smudge-free, water-shedding.
Two truths: First, we need sunglasses for protection against malign solar wavelengths that cause eyestrain, burning, itching, headaches, and much worse. (And the corollary, that inadequate protection from inferior shades is worse than nothing at all.) Second, buy up for downright delicious visuals. But don’t panic too much over price.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Oakley Batwolf sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Kaenon Hard Kore sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Revo Guide sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Bollé Vortex sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Smith Scientist sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Julbo Zulu Sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Rudy Project USA Gozen Sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Optic Nerve Dolby sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Maui Jim Backyards sunglasses.
Outside reviews the best gear in the 2011 Summer Buyers Guide, including the Native Apres sunglasses.
HARDCORE MEETS HIP Loud and proud, this oversize job does surprisingly well on sweaty runs, staying put and providing solid protection. Kaenon’s SR-91 lenses (copper polarized here) provide glass-like optics in a shatter-resistant material and rank up there with the elite when it comes to the prized trifecta of acuity,…
Native’s Hardtop is the sunglass equivalent of the Swiss Army knife—four sets of snap-in poly lenses, plus two sets of temples, one of which has a built-in elastic head strap. The kit borders on overkill, simply because the standard polarized sepia lenses yield such a sharp view. Other lenses…
FAST AND LIGHT This is about as hi-def as polycarbonate gets, man. Visual champagne. The polarized lens—reddish brown but called VR28 Black Iridium—accentuates depth and contrast, makes colors jump out and throb, and provides wonderful acuity. A frameless, featherweight single-blade shield gives big rectangular coverage and protection with attitude. Add…
1. The Mogul’s lightweight glass lenses mean zero eyestrain, a huge but unsung benefit of stellar optics. Plastic/polycarbonate’s undetectable distortion and surface imperfections make your eyes tired and cranky, and the surfaces sooner or later get all fuzzy from microabrasions. But, unless you take a diamond to it, glass…
Aigle Shems – Midweight Jackets: Reviews With a soft fleece interior and warm, durable merino wool/nylon exterior, this jacket combines our favorite fabrics in one versatile top. 1.9 lbs; aigleusa.com Patagonia Pau – Footwear: Reviews (Terry Heffernan) The coolest mocs we’ve ever laid eyes…
SWAP FEAT Beautiful. Smith’s ingenious Interlock system (which thankfully comes in several cool frame options) lets you change out lenses with heretofore unknown ease. Simply rotate the temples laterally to loosen the frames’ grip on the lenses, which easily pop out, then pick your next tint, pop ’em in, and…
Road-trip much? While the rest of me sat seething in gridlock under a sizzling sun, my eyes were relaxing behind these polarized photochromic glass lenses, which mitigated glare off chrome, windshields, and all other things shiny while showing the path ahead in exquisite depth and detail. Which made it…
Zeal Optics’ Maestro nails it with its new ZB-13 sepia polarized polycarbonate lenses. The amber tint amps up depth perception, intensifies contrast, sharpens edges, and performs masterfully in so many light conditions that you’d think they were photochromic (the kind that adjust to brightness). But the lenses don’t change—they’re…
ONE FOR THE ROAD The worst highway glare disappears with these polarized, photochromic lenses. The reddish tint is even called Driver. And comfort is king here. With ultraslim nylon temples and barely-there frames, the Maestrale is so lightweight you forget you’re wearing it. It sorta disappears, too: You don’t notice…
Sportsman These brown-tint polarized lenses had us fooled; so superfine are the optics, we were sure we were looking through glass. Nope, it’s Maui’s proprietary Evolution material. The company won’t say much about the stuff except that it’s some new kind of plastic. Indeed, in a quietly stylish, manly wrap…
Rudy Project hits the sweet spot where sportsworthiness becomes fashion and vice versa. This frameless wonder fends off 70-mile-an-hour winds as effectively as ski goggles, but it’ll also turn heads in Santa Barbara. Add dreamy optics and negligible weight and the result is a Gear of the Year award. 1.
MR. VERSATILE “Robin, my Batglasses!” Yes, this specimen’s secret multisport identities evoke camp and gadgetry. How? Snap-in foam gaskets and a headband (which replaces the detachable temples) turn these shades into decent ski goggles, and if you’re running or cycling, a snap-in foam brow piece nicely doubles as a sweat…
VERSATILE, AFFORDABLE Lose your glasses every other month? Don’t be embarrassed. Just buy these bargain shades and stop losing your money too. You get pink/red photochromic lenses that are good to go all day, and detailing like an adjustable metal nosepiece, sticky rubber where you need it, and antifog vents…
MEAN AND LEANA smidge less of anything and the ultra-minimalist Kicker would be missing something important. But it’s all there: optics, protection, and security. Since the gray polarized poly lenses present a slightly flattened view, the Kicker is best suited to sailing, say, or riding your cruiser bike—activities that don’t…
Temples that snug perfectly under a helmet + wide-wrap polycarbonate lenses that fend off wind + airflow between lens and cheekbone to fight fogging + no-fuss lens interchangeability for all-conditions riding = great cycling shades. With a twist of the inconspicuous cams at the frames’ upper outer corners,…
SOPHISTICATED STYLE Don’t let supreme aptness for driving and upmarket fashion blind you to the fact that these are also terrific sports shades. The Celcio’s polarized photochromic lenses are so spectacularly good it’s hard to believe they’re polycarbonate, not glass. Self-adjusting light transmission accommodates all the day’s bright hours, and…
GANGSTA WRAPThe O-folk make a flashy and vaguely criminal statement with these gold-mirrored frameless numbers. But the Dartboard happens to be a solid multisport performer. Give this one props for security, protection, and outstanding optics. The warm-brown tint dials up detail and depth, and a polarized poly lens kills glare…
Wasn’t Doc wearing these at the end of Back to the Future? But seriously, testers raved about Rudy’s photochromic red tint, which pumps up contrast and depth and self-adjusts in sunlight and shadow. We also loved the way the snug, featherweight polymer shield just disappears—no edges or obstructions in…
Angle away with these optical wonders. Though they’re great for wearing out and about, the Baysides sport glass lenses in a greenish tint that’s perfect for fishing streams and saltwater flats in low light, yet the polarization knocks out surface glare to reveal the water’s wily inhabitants in any…
ROSE-COLOREDThe Rhino’s copper-tint, polarized lenses tune out optical noise to reveal a richer reality. From a hilltop in Calabasas, California, distant homes looked like close-up toys. The wondrous convergence of extreme clarity and dense, reddish tinting picks up detail in the worst glare-hells, even the sun-on-snow variety. Wear these plastic…
Good God, these things are plaid! Hell, yeah, they are, and that’s not even the most awesome thing about them. Dark-gray polarized lenses kill glare while showing scalpel-sharp detail plus surprising depth and contrast for gray tinting—a testament to Oakley’s superior plastic. Throw in the adventurous but classic looks,…
Even if you don’t know your starboard from your jib, it’s nice to have shades that are up to making the run to Tahiti. Though designed to dominate the fishing, sailing, and watersports categories, Costa’s superfine 580 glass is a thrill to wear anywhere. Silver mirroring ups the cool…
1. The fashion statement says, more or less, “Prepare to lose, girlie man!” But over-the-top style is not new to Oakley. The main reason the Radar crushes the competition is its truly remarkable lenses, with their anti-everything-that-screws-up-the-view surface treatment (see #2). 2. Mash your thumb against the lens. No,…
Stylish Jock Split the difference between performance eye gear and streetwear—and between too cheap and too pricey. There’s lots to like here for less than $100. Brown-tint poly lenses, by optics meister Zeiss, revealed detail and depth and were exactly as big and wrapped-back as they needed to be for…
You could plan a vacation around the Passage: hours on sundecks, strolls in bucolic settings, long drives with the top down. Just mind the drool when you first gaze through these state-of-the-art photochromic polarized ground-glass lenses. The classic look (not stodgy!) is sexed up with metallic mirroring, and the…
Extreme Protection French specialist de l’alpinisme Julbo gives side-blinkered glacier glasses a sexy, multisport makeover. Photochromic lenses in brownish tint go from dark to really dark, ideally suited to ultrabright no-shade zones such as high alpine and deep desert. Since they’re polarized, they’re also water-worthy and a perfect match for…
CROSSOVER ARTIST Don’t mistake these shades for snooky streetwear; the sports bona fides are all here in this elegant blend of style and performance tech. Cleverly concealed sticky pads at the nose and ears, combined with springy nylon frames and temples, kept the Serpent from migrating on sweaty faces. The…
Driver/Hiker Hit the highway, then hit the trail. Serengeti brings its signature superfine optics for driving into the realm of outdoor exertion with these sporty poly Polar PhD lenses in a wide wrap design that looks upmarket and uptown. Gray-tint polarized lenses showed the world sharp and bright. A big…
Disproving conventional wisdom that gray lenses make for a flat, blah view, Maui Jim’s high-tech PolarizedPlus2 lenses add contrast and depth to reveal colors in all their throbbing glory. The optically ground glass yields superb clarity and detail, with a dark tint for searing brightness. And the oversize frames provide…
This svelte wonder is eminently forgettable—high praise for sports shades, which should be neither seen nor felt. Light weight is only part of the disappearing act. The rimless design means there’s no frame to impede your view. The wrap lens shape covers eyes so well, you barely notice the…
GOT BLING? Smith pimps up the sports wrap with a big-frame, big-lens magumba that slips in just enough of the necessities—coverage, security, shatter-resistant poly lenses, depth-enhancing optics—to qualify as legit. OK, semi-legit: bocce, yes; mountain biking, no. Fashionably thick temples aid with peripheral protection, while copper polarized lenses dial up…
Mad Multisporter The Jawbone is available in multiple lens options that include vented, polarized, and photochromic. We loved the polarized persimmon seen here, but our favorite was the vented copper-mirrored Fire Iridium, which offered crisp, hi-res views and made this big wrap look like it might bite, with its toothy…
GLASS MASTERY Like the Costa del Mars, these polarized, oleophobic shades prove that optically ground glass is still tops. And with the signature blue-flash mirroring of Revo’s premium J6 lenses, the cognoscenti will know what you’re wearing a block away. This unit’s stylishly wide temples actually provide nice side protection…
Combat-ready shades? Who knew? Rudy borrows military technology from Apache attack-helicopter windshields to fashion eyewear for troops, and puts the same supersubstance, ImpactX, into the Kalyos. The polarized photochromic lenses, in color-neutral gray, have optics as braggable as their toughness, taking you from medium-bright conditions to full-on sizzling sun,…
FLYWEIGHT Even in the hand, the Syluro appears to be screaming-fast, with not a milligram of unnecessary baggage. At just over an ounce, this svelte number weighs half as much as some shades here. And it still has beefed-up metal hinge pieces and super-strong ImpactX lenses (with material originally developed…
Ironman in Training With this three-lens set, racing-bred Rudy takes the high ground—high performance, high quality, and, yes, high-end pricing that’s still sensible after you figure what three ultra-premium sport shields would run. Two of the three snap-in, single-piece lenses are photochromic: Clear took us from no light to pretty…
ULTIMATE ANGLERS Talk about fly. Optically ground glass, like Costa’s premium 580 line, is the connoisseur’s choice for acuity. (Just note these are shatter-resistant, not -proof.) The polarized copper tint nixes surface glare, so fish in the shallows pop out, while way-cool green mirroring provides that air of mystery. An…
Women don’t need to settle for the Terminator look just to get performance shades. In this totally feminine number, you can break hearts, then whup some ass on the beach volleyball court. The Envy is a powerful sun buster with polarized poly lenses in a gray tint deep enough for…
With a tiny Bluetooth-enabled cell-phone headset built into the thick temples, the Confidant is simultaneously cool and practical. Even better, the earbud is removable—and, if you break it, replaceable—and Zeal didn’t shortchange the photochromic lenses. The impressive tint-density range (23 percent to 87 percent light transmission) can handle everything…
All-Day Cyclist Makes sense that a sunglasses maison in Pacific coast Canada, where sunlight gets fuzzed up with airborne moisture, would get the tint right. Orange photochromic poly lenses destroyed mist and punched up depth in low to medium light. We prefered this slender wrap on a road bike: The…
Before you start looking, know exactly what you’ll use your shades for: Generalist sporty street designs get you around town and through low-impact pursuits; bigger challenges call for sports-specific numbers. When it comes to superfine optics, glass is unparalleled, but chances are you’ll want lighter polycarbonate (plastic) lenses if…