The endless search for sunglasses continues. Adaptable, durable, cheap, good on glaciers, good for night skiing, transition lenses with good optical clarity, comfortable, and maybe even stylish. Good luck.
I reviewed a pair of Evil Eye’s decidedly Greater-Range-focused Elate Extreme sunglasses this summer and fall. I mostly wanted to review those sunnies and these because of the face guard that Evil Eye makes for some of its sunglasses. A separate review of the face guard is forthcoming. EE also offered the Stormline Pro, a newer model they say is a little more flexible in use.
As I mentioned in the Evil Eye Elate Extreme (EEEE) review, part of my vision quest for the last few years has been to find quality, durable eyewear that will help protect some skin on my face and my eyeballs. I have been mostly disappointed in my efforts thus far. Julbo’s Ultimate Cover (JUC) sunnies are the most mainstream option I’ve used that have side shields and a noseguard. But they were extremely fiddly. And I forgot them on top of my car after an accidentally very long ski day. So they’re gone.
The Evil Eye Stormline PRO (EESP, I’m loving these acronyms) is different conceptually from both the EEEE and the JUC. The EEEE is decidedly designed for mountaineering and alpinism: two small lenses tight in the orbital socket in a nothing frame that takes up very little face real estate, plus some decidedly high-altitude accessories. The JUC sits on the other end of the spectrum: they look like road cycling glasses and are meant to be treated as such. And to a degree, neither worked great in the other’s domain. The EEEE’s fogged with super high output, especially if not on snow. And the JUCs were just too fragile, and the lenses too transparent, for big-mountain endeavors.
As much as I’d like to have a quiver of sunglasses (I wouldn’t), it’s great when your MTB, alpine climbing, resort skinning and glacier basecamp sunnies can be one pair. Weirdly, I find swapping sunglasses between activities a little like swapping boots or skis. Each pair feels different and works differently. I get a little flummoxed when I put on my old cat 4 (very dark) glacier glasses after a winter of cat 2-3 transition sport glasses. Maybe I wear sunglasses a lot. So swapping around a lot? Not so attractive.
But that flexibility involves a lot of compromise. Lenses that are either too light for the glacier or too dark for evening mountain biking. A frame design that vents too much or too little. A noseguard and side shields that are permanently attached? Yikes.
The EESP seems like a great fence-sitter for the motivated recreationalist. It’s compatible with EE’s face guard, has removable side shields and a removable forehead sweat bar, and the temple and nosebridge customization I noted in my review of the EEEE. And it comes in two sizes. I will be reviewing the large on my big egg head. Matte Black frame with a Vario (transition) blue-green lens (cat 1-3).
Initially, I’ll say a few things.
- Durability
The sideshield and forehead sweat-wiper thing initially worried me. My memories of the JUC’s extremely fiddly parts (they were always falling off while I was wearing them) surfaced when I opened the box. But the EESP’s doodads seem super well attached and unlikely to fail before the reasonable life of the frame and lenses. And the face guard (as I will discuss separately) is super well attached
2. Fit
These fit way bigger on my face than the EEEE’s. Those felt like they were suctioned into my eye sockets. The EESP’s are decidedly larger-lensed and sit further out on the face for, I think, a little more venting. Using the sweat bar pushes them out further. I am curious to investigate the sweat bar because it definitely alters how they feel on my face, but perhaps the extra ventilation and the sweat bar will be worth that difference. Compared to most modern monocoque sport glasses, these are still relatively small on the face. But those of us with big chipmunk cheeks, that is a welcome change.
3. Style
My girlfriend thinks they look kinda dumb. I think they look cool, like something Ueli Steck would’ve worn.
4. Lens quality
At first, like the EEEE, they seem amazing. I could see the lenses changing as I took them out of the box. The speed of a transition lens dictates its utility. And the visual clarity is immediately awesome. Many cheaper sunnies have obvious (to me) distortion or patterns on the lenses. These, not so much.
I’m excited to wear these for local skiing in the sunny Sierra this winter, along, hopefully, on a few ski traverses. I’m a little nervous about the latter, since I picked the higher VLT (visible light transmission) lenses, but I found the cat 2-4 lenses on the EEEE’s too dark even for mid-day flat-light skiing. Hopefully the face guard will carry the day.
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