light sensitive sunglasses
 

Can anyone recommend light sensitive sunglasses (photochromatic etc) that don' t require me to sell my first born.

if anyone can also illuminate us on a photochromatic prescription lens (no insert) that has excellent clearance at top for riding in the drops i'd be much obliged. as far as i can tell such an item does not exist...

I too have wanted a pair of these and did a quick Google search : https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&...w=1347&bih=625

The ones that caught my eye are these: http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...63&cagpspn=pla

I've had pretty good luck with Nashbar stuff and at $40 I may give them a try, I've got a fat head though and often narrower glasses don't fit well so I'm still not sure.

I have Tifosi Podiums. I love them.

http://www.jensonusa.com/Tifosi-Podi...Fototec-Lenses

http://l4.zassets.com/images/z/2/1/2...-MULTIVIEW.jpg

I have a pair of Tifosi Tyrants with the red phototec lenses. I find that the top of the frame doesn't hinder my forward vision when I'm in the drops.

$80.

I also have Tifosi Tyrant fototec eye wear. Seems to work OK.

Tifosi Slip fototec in brown (forgot the fancy name for it), 70 bux, tax included. Some Tifosi Tyrant lenses come in photochromic AND polarized, all under 90 bux, including tax.
Tyrants are slightly narrower than Slips, for me they were pinching over the ears. Darn, I could really use polarized......

Got my brand new Rudy Project off of ebay for around $100. They're awesome.

So these act like "transition" lenses?

Transition Lenses
 

The line of transition lenses from Tifosi Optics is called FOTOTEC. I have pair of Tyrant and like them very much. Over year on this set of lenses and they're in still very good shape.

http://www.tifosioptics.com/products...stype=fototec/

fasthair

If you wear contacts, you could switch those out for glasses with "transition" lenses.

Thanks, I've been looking for non-prescription "transition " sunglasses! !!

For you guys that have them, I almost bought a pair of radar locks with the transition lenses but the sales guy talked me out of them saying that they wont darken up when you are in the car, and wont darken up as much as normal glasses outside?

I have a pair of Oakley Split Jackets with the transition lens. I couldn't pass up the deal as they were 50% of at Colorado Cyclist a few months ago.

The lens do not darken in the car but they have been great on the bike -- day or night.

At 50% off, I recommend them, but I couldn't see paying full price.

Windshields block UV which is why they don't work in the car. I have jawbones with transitions and love them. My wife has tifosis and she likes hers. The Oakleys darken up plenty outside, but on really bright days I switch out to the red lenses.

The Tifosi "Light Night" photochromic lenses are my favorite: 25% to 75% range.
I can put them on as I start out on a late afternoon ride facing into the sun, and leave them on for the duration of the ride, even though the last half occurs after dark, running lights.

http://www.tifosioptics.com/products...Light%20Night/

How quickly do they lighten up? My main concern is summer time riding where I can move between areas of bright sunshine to heavily wooded / heavily shaded areas within a second or two. I typically don't ride with dark lense colors for this reason but have never tried photochromatic lenses.

They don't work for these conditions. Transition time is too slow. They're basically light day/cloudy day, and not for moving in and out of shadows. If you really have problems with woodland shadows, get flip up lenses.

While not photo-chromatic, another option in the search for the perfect sunglass setup may be the new Dux Helm helmets (www.duxhelm.com), which have a retractable and easily exchangeable lens.

It doesn't solve the problem of instant reaction to changing light conditions, but it does provide perfect continuity of vision through the lens when your head is down in the drops, and I suppose it would be easy enough to throw a spare lens in your jersey pocket if you wanted to have a different color at some point in the ride.

I wanted to try one as a potential solution to the problem of prescription shades (which are too pricey for me, given my propensity to lose them!), and just wear regular eyeglasses underneath. It works great, with some limitations on eyeglass frame shape. Obviously wrap style frames work best.

Anyway, may be worth considering for some; I love it, though I've only had it for a few weeks now. I'm still checking it out, but am getting enough wears in now that I should be able to post a proper evaluation in a couple of weeks. I won't have had a chance to ride it in the heat yet, though, being that it's winter in Michigan and I'm too poor to travel! :rolleyes:

Here's a pic of the helmet, and a quick video I made of the lens change process. For some reason, the sound got out of sync with the video, which is a little annoying, but it works anyway.

http://p6.hostingprod.com/@chaadthom...e_extended.jpg

These are what I use but they have changed them slightly since I bought my pair a year or so ago:

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes...400025__400025

Great for changing light conditions and cheap. However, I'd go with a full dark sunglass for a bright full sun day, not photochromatic.

Most (not all, but most) photochromatic lenses that are actually worth using for their changing ability aren't the greatest in peak summer sun. In those conditions, a dark fixed lens is the best since they'll get much darker.

However, for the rest of the year (75+% of it for me), the red fototec Tifosi lens is great, as well as during early morning summer rides where it's still fairly dark in the canyons. The red Fototec is my go-to lens. It's not perfect, but it's the most versatile of my lenses, getting use in pretty much all conditions short of high noon summer sun.

I use Tifosi Pave
http://www.tifosioptics.com/products...t=Cycling|Run/

+1 for the Tifosi

That's why I went with a contrast lens like the red. Not a perfect solution, but better than a neutral lens at picking out road problems.

i picked up a set of Bolle Draft Shiny Black Photo specs in December. I'm more worried about starting a ride in total darkness and ending up in reasonably bright sunlight, so the 25%-75% solution didn't work for me (well, it might).

These start out totally clear and get darker as the day lightens up. I haven't had any issues with transition time but I'm not riding from bright to dark and back again either.