Product review: Sunglasses

I'm not in the business of reviewing products, but I would like to offer an unsolicited review of my biking sunglasses. I do this because I don't like spending huge amounts of money for trendy things (with some exceptions) and I do like finding cheap solutions from unexpected sources.

For summer daytime riding, I have had great success wearing AO Safety Landscaper Safety Glasses, ten dollars at Home Depot. Before I got these it was not clear to me what made suitable sunglasses for biking, but after some false starts, and finally settling on these, I now know.

These glasses have two features that me them good for biking.

The first feature is the fact that the lens is one piece, as opposed to a frame with two lenses. This is significant because the two halves of the glasses are connected by the piece of the lens that passes over the nose. Since this lens is one piece, the part that passes over the nose is about an inch wide. That means that the distance from the spot on the glasses that rests on the nose, to the top of the center of the glasses, is about an inch. That means that when one is in a bent-over riding position, there is enough of the glasses above eye level that you don't see light coming in over the top. This is not the case with regular glasses, where you can see light over the tops of the lenses if you are bent over and sweating, and the glasses start to slip down the nose.

The second feature is that the lenses are the wrap-around style and that the frame is attached to the top of the lens but does not wrap around the outside edges of the lens. That means that if you turn your head and eyes to the left to look behind at traffic, your eyes are not caught by frame material at the edge of the lens; nothing blocks the view to the rear.

These two features add up to good visibility and the feeling that you are behind a nice tinted shield. It's a pleasant experience. They also look good, in my opinion. Style and safety on a budget.