Killer Fatigue-Reducing Shades
Written: Mar 20 '08 (Updated Mar 21 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great useful features, terrific lens tint that works, lightweight for a shade this size
Cons: No extra lenses included
The Bottom Line: A great pair of shades that a runner or cyclist will love
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| nikefreak's Full Review: Nike Siege.E Sunglasses, Ev0256 004 Frame/ Speed L... |
Nike has pumped out some pretty darn good shades in the sporting world. Only recently has the Nike Vision program been highly touted and worn more by athletes. Oakley still has a stranglehold on this and I figure they will continue to down the road, but Nike has done a good job itself of establishing itself in the industry. Of course, if anyone is familiar with me, I do love Oakley to death, but being a Nike fan (haha, that is saying it VERY mildly), I had to get some pairs. This is just one of the 18 pairs of Nike shades I own (Oakley count: only four, they are drastically more expensive) and this pair is one of my favorites.
The Siege.E has many great features on it that helps an athlete in many aspects. This particular lens color is important, but a bit more on that later. The construction of the frame is that it utilizes Nike's secure wrap temples that grip the back of the head for superior fit and improved stability. These temples bow in and down slightly to fit the natural curvatures of a person's head, without painful pinching. The great part of these particular shades is that the arms are adjustable, so you can bend them to your own head size. This was definitely helpful with me because if the arms weren't able to do this, they would have made a pretty ungainly sight on my head, with the arms sticking way out the back of my head! This customizable feature also makes its way to the ventilated nose bridge, another Nike feature.
This allows air to circulate around the nose to prevent lens fogging, decrease slippage from sweat, and improve comfort. It's a rubbery material with eight notches cut into it; it definitely holds your frame in place without slipping, even when I was dripping sweat from a hard run. Of course, the nice part is being able to adjust it to your nose with the customizable option, something that is pretty rare on shades nowadays. To go hand-in-hand with the ventilated nose bride, the shades utilize Nike's Flying Lens technology which attaches the lens only to the nosebridge/frame which dramatically increases air flow, which decreases that annoying fogging you get on non-ventilated lenses. It also stabilizes the optics because it does not flex with the temples when they bend. You may look at this design as the lens is too unsturdy but it's firmly attached to the frame and I have never experienced it falling out. The frame itself is very lightweight and doesn't weight me down in any way.
The lens also utilize Nike's Max Optics concept, in which this patented design gives you precise vision straight ahead, in your peripherals, and over your shoulder. It gives an extended line-of-sight and a 51% larger sweet spot than other competitors. It for sure has a great line-of-sight as I tested the limits of the optics and the coverage was for sure great. An independent study showed that the Nike Max Optics were some of the most distortion-free shades out of the ones tested.
Now on to the most important part of the sunglasses, the lens. They are part of the Interchange System, which allows you to switch out the lens depending on the conditions you are in. It's a very easy switch; just grab the frame at the bridge with one hand and pull the lens out with your other hand. It does take some practice before you are completely smooth with it, but that doesn't take long. The lens stay locked in place perfectly as I have never had any problems with them falling out. You can buy alternate lenses to match weather conditions, such as grey, clear, yellow, orange, etc.
This particular lens is one of Nike's Engineered tints which they make for particular sports. This one is called Speed Tint. The science behind it is that the color red has a warming quality to it that calms your eyes; thus, Nike filtered out the colors that add glare and increased the transmission of red, having a VLT (Visual Light Transmission) of 26%, meaning how much light is let into your eyes. This tint is designed for endurance and reduces the glare that reflects off of asphalt. Everyone has their experience with the hot sun burning off the road and you're squinting to try and see. I for sure have had that in the past and this tint makes my eyes feel so much better and relaxes them and enhances my visual clarity of the road. During a long run, that is extremely helpful and definitely urges me to continue on when it's hot, instead of ducking for cover. The red, warming quality to the lens really is relaxing, but at the same time, is not distracting. It's a very light red, not a stoplight-type red. It almost has a pinkish tint to it, but don't worry, it's not that visible because the lens has a very mirror-like quality to it as well. Speed Tint is designed for runners and cyclists. It is also pretty good for driving in your car as well, but a darker lens I recommend for extremely sunny days, since the VLT is moderate.
The lens is made of polycarbonate and is impact and scratch-resistant. It for sure takes some hard abuse and I have only experienced minor scratches on the lenses and that is after having them for a good time. Of course, these shades block 100% of the harmful UVA and UVB rays, something that just can't be taken for granted these days because a lot of the cheap sunglasses don't have this protection.
An added bonus of buying a pair of Sieges is that you get a very nice zip case with foam inserts that the lenses rest up against, which also has a cleaning cloth inside. I enjoy this a lot because a lot of shades don't come with hard cases, just a flimsy carrying cloth. (Uh, um, Oakley!!!) So, this pair of shades is just one in my collection but for sure, they are one of the top pairs I always grab to go on a run. With killer features and an Engineered tint that has some serious science behind it, you can't go wrong with them.
Recommended:
Yes
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