and can be problematic with everything metallic on the road, manhole cover for example.
1 Like
True. You need separate glasses/lenses for different conditions. I use the Prizm Road for sunny, bright rides, the Prizm Trail for mtb/gravel and on the road during cloudy days and the Prizm Low Light for winter rides and for riding in the dark.
1 Like
How so?
When light gets reflected from certain materials, the reflected light is polarized. The most famous example is water where you can use a polarizer to either strongly reduce or strongly emphasize the reflected light. (This helps to e. g. “see through” the water body’s surface you are taking a photo of.) Metal is another example.
LCD screens use polarizers to regulate the amount of light to let through, and the light is inherently polarized as well.
I would not recommend polarized lenses for cycling.
1 Like
But why? I always wear polarised sunglasses for cycling and driving, I find they reduce glare from wet/shiny roads and manhole covers somuch better than a plain tint
1 Like
My Ekoi have no noticeable delay at all, so I assume there are differences in the quality of the photochromic lenses.
I think the idea for cycling is that the wet/shiny stuff can be a hazard.
2 Likes
What a bizarre idea, I find it perfectly simple to see and identify wet roads and ironworks through my polarised lenses.
1 Like
Yeah, I’m 100% on ‘Team Polarized’. I hate the glare…
[… and it is actually bad for your eyes…if you get a strong flash, and you see spots when you blink…you have killed those few retinal cells…always the case w ‘sun spots’, bright lights, etc…]
…you can still totally see that it is a wet spot, puddle, slippery manhole cover vs. rusted and ‘grippy’, etc. You still clearly see textures, water, etc. Just no bright glare.
With good quality lenses, you can actually see textures, small stones, cracks, etc, much much clearer, because not only do they remove the super bright “flashes” type glare off car windows, water, etc, they remove the “haze glare” of the scattered light. You get a much, much clearer view, especially of small details.
I’d highly recommend glancing through a friend’s pair, or just testing them on in a store, see if you dig 'em! 
But, hey. To each their own!
2 Likes
I remember hearing about not using polarized lenses as a pilot, LONG before I had a hint of an interest in flying, due to reducing the possibility of seeing other planes in the air. I stuck with me. Years later I have found that polarized lenses give me a headache anyway, so no loss.
I prefer transition lenses for everything but strictly night use, or the hottest bright days. If I’m riding in pure darkness, then I will likely put on clear glasses. And on hot bright days (90° on my commute today) I will wear sunglasses. Everything else and I use transition lenses.
For forest riding, transition lenses.
1 Like
I’m midwest (Ohio) and have a pretty big sunglass collection. I ride a mix of trail, road and gravel.
Assuming your single track is similar to what we have here, there is a lot of tree cover and it can get fairly dark in certain areas, especially when riding later in the day. Because of this, I’ve found Prizm Trail sometimes a bit too dark. They are my top choice out West when riding in the open, but locally I only tend to use them when I’m riding on really bright days and not late in the day.
Prizm Low Light is very good as long as you don’t have sections of trail that are exposed in really bright sunlight. These seem to be a top pick for main of the Oakley UCI XCO sponsored riders.
Photochromic lenses can work really well too but there are some pretty big differences between brands. The Oakley EVZero’s with the gray lens is great. It goes almost clear and never seems to get too dark. Oakley EVZero Blades Sunglasses [OO9454-2138]
The Julbo Density with Reactive 0-3 High Contrast lens is very good for XC riding and also a great lens for gravel. Julbo has a number of different photochromic lenses and some of them I find too dark, but the 0-3 is ideal. Here is the model I use:
1 Like
I have two polarized glasses. Garrett Leight for leisure and a polarized lens for my Oakley Jawbreakers. I can 100% say that these two lenses don’t behave the same way out on the road. I have found that with the polarized Oakley lenses I don’t have a correct depth perception on the road due to shiny textures appearing further away than they are (hard to explain). It just plays my brain somehow. Maybe the polarization is set up the wrong way, I don’t know but I quit wearing them for riding - for me it’s just too dangerous.
2 Likes
Ditto on the longing for the old Oakley Persimmon lenses. I had those in the early 90’s and they were the most well rounded shades that I could use in nearly light every condition. I loved the on the bike and in the car.
Lacking those, I have grown to like the Oakley Prizm Trail as others above. Just a great option that works well in low light but offers decent shade in bright as well. If I had to pick one lens for my go to, this would be it.
3 Likes