Good quality glasses
 

Looking for the following features

Uv400
Scratch resistant
Water repelling
Anti glare would be nice for night but not necessary
Good value eg. under $50 and not something that takes $10 to manufacture and retails for $200

I value eye protection and having clear vision, especially at night and especially in the rain. So far I've found nothing that fits the bill. They always get cloudy over time, or scratches or the water repelling property fades away.

Well, it doesn't check your fifth box (i.e. they cost ~$200) but I have found the Oakley Prizm Road lenses are superb for cycling. I don't know what UV400 is, but in my experience they do not scratch easily, repel water and virtually eliminate glare. Value is in the eye of the beholder (no pun intended) because I'd argue that my Jawbreakers (with Prizm Road lenses) are an incredibly good value even at $200, in that they do everything I need them to do. Like you, I value eye protection and clear vision above all else. My Oakleys recently stopped some road debris kicked up by a car that would have gone right into my eye. I can't say for sure what the debris was, only that it was hard and moving very fast. The impact knocked the glasses off my face, did not scratch after hitting the ground and only had a small dimple at the impact spot. I'm convinced these things saved my eye from serious damage. They still work great too - you don't even see the dimple when you put them on.

FWIW, I've also had good luck with POC lenses (scratch, water, etc) although they allow a bit more glare than the Oakley Prizms. They also fail to check your fifth box as they are also in the $200 range, plus POC glasses are a bit of an acquired taste in terms of styling.

BTW, if you do manage to find some that check all your boxes please let us know because I'll immediately run out and buy them.

Gotta love someone recommending Oakley glasses to someone on a budget. You can't even buy a genuine Oakley replacement lens in OP's budget. Which was the primary reason why I ditched my Oakleys. Oh, and hopefully you stock up on those replacement lenses early, because they stop making lenses once your frame of choice is 3 years old.

I would recommend some of Performance's house brand. They have several multi-lens systems available in your budget, and if you're looking for good rain performance, apply Rain-X as needed.

Check out the "Scattante Team Multi-Lens Eyewear" on Performance's website. They're on sale for $20. Buy 2 of them and you'll have plenty of spare lenses. I'd link here, but for some reason every time I link to an external website my comment gets stuck waiting for moderator approval.

Lots of options, and I've had good luck with Smith. At the moment, a number of their cycling-specific sunglasses are marked well down on Steep and Cheap (~$65); those come with three sets of lenses. One I like:

Smith Pivlock Arena Max Sunglasses - Up to 70% Off | Steep and Cheap

Search for Smith Pivlock to find others.

That's a great deal for Pivlocks and I would recommend these as well. I bought mine (V2 Max) for a lot more, though mine came with the photochromic lenses which even by themselves are expensive. I've had mine for about a year so far and I love them!

thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into them

I see those smith lenses have hydrophobic coatings on them. what about the anti scratch characteristic on those lenses? i saw some of the used listings, and they claim to have some small scratches after a couple of months of use.

any feedback on the tifosi podium or vogel? they are advertised to have anti scratch coatings, also have pc lenses, and look very similar to the smith glasses.

Scratches are installed by the user. I'm mildly careful with lenses in general, which means I first huff on the lens, then wipe with a clean cloth. I keep a cloth near my cycling crap to make that convenient, though if I am out and about, I use whatever is handy and seem reasonable. After a couple a years, I've manged to keep these looking good, but if you grind in some grit, they all will scratch.

If they're ever ruined, you can buy a new lens from Smith for $20-$40, depending on the flavor.

Someone on this forum once recommended Peppers Sunglasses and as I was in need of a new pair and not wanting to spend the premium on Oakley I have done in the past, I gave them a try and I have to say I am very satisfied with them. Very good glasses at a very reasonable price. As I recall they are in your price range.

I've had great luck with Smith Optics glasses.

Thank you for saying this. It blows my mind every time I see someone griping about expensive lenses getting scratched too quickly as if they thought the price indicated you were buying diamond lenses or something. If you are going to invest in nice glasses (from about 50 bucks on up) use the included cloth bag, don't drop them, don't throw them in a jacket pocket with keys, don't "clean" them with your salty, dirty jersey mid ride, etc.

I have had 4 pairs of Oakleys seeing regular use and so far I've only scratched one lens. On the flip side, my wife stole an older pair of Oakleys I had and she basically destroyed those lenses in a matter of weeks. Scratches galore.

On the budget side, I would agree Smith glasses would be a good choice, especially on sale. I think Serfas also has a selection of glasses with multiple lenses. You should be able to find a local shop that stocks them.

+1. I used to be careless with my glasses. Now, since I got a relatively cheap pair of Rx glasses, I carry the cloth bag on every ride and put them in the bag whenever I take them off for more than a very short period.

I've had three different versions of Tifosi glasses . . . because all three have broken on me. And I'm by no means hard on glasses -- I don't even try to fit them into helmet vents. I can't find any place that offers free shipping on replacement lenses, so it ends up being nearly the same cost to just buy a replacement set of glasses vs. replacement lenses. I do not recommend Tifosi.

I've begun using eyewear retainers - Chums, Croakies, etc. - partly for this reason.

Once on the glasses are rarely taken off but can hang by the string should I happen to remove them briefly for any reason. No need to carry them in my helmet or shove them in a pocket.

They obviously also prevent slipping during rides.


-Tim-

thanks for the peppers suggestion.

I should point out that I'm not fixated on frameless glasses. I think the frame is an important structural component, and I've read about lenses that break at the bridge. frames don't block my vision at all. i just want lenses that are uv proof, water repelling, anti-scratch, and easily replaceable.

you guys bring up good point that scratches are caused by user error. However, I argue that they have different levels of scratch resistance, big time. I try to take very good care of my lenses, not even using any wipes when possible. this is why hydrophobic coating is nice: you can wash it with your fingers and soap, and rinse it off with a very fine stream, to get all the water droplets off; no wiping needed. but even that hasn't kept my cheap plastic lenses from getting small scratches.

If you want scratch-proof lenses, glass lenses are your best choice. I wouldn't recommend them for cycling, but they resist scratches far better than any polycarbonate lens.

my eye glasses are polycarbonate, and they have much better scratch resistance than anything else i've had

Polycarbonate lenses, more scratch resistant than glass? Nope.

I found an old pair of nemesis safety glasses from my old job. poly carbonate, scratch resistant, 99% uv proof, and from the looks of it, pretty water repellent, like my eye glasses. the only complaint is that there's glare at night from the headlights, which I guess can be addressed by polarized lenses. not a huge deal for day time.

I tried out a pair of smith optics at the local shop. they didn't have the pivlocks, just the parallel, which fits much differently. But the $140 parallel wasn't nearly as comfortable as my $6 nemesis safety glasses.

hopefully m 2cents helps someone else get the best value they can and protect their eyes too.

Awesomely nonsensical. Keep up the good work.

what would you like me to explain so that it does make sense to you? I'm patient