First Impressions
It’s fall in Northern California. The sun sits lower in the sky, hitting the roads and trails around GearGuide HQ at some pretty oblique angles. Eye protection remains a much needed accessory for running in our area. We went searching for a photochromic pair of sunglasses recently and picked up a product from one of our favorite brands, the Tifosi Vero.
Whatcha mean photochromic? Well, photochromic sunglasses have lenses that darken when exposed to sunlight. Sometimes these products are referred to as “light-adaptive” or “variable tint” products. Whichever term you want to use, we like this approach for mornings that may start out dim and get bright, or evenings where it all happens in reverse..
Features
The Tifosi Veros come in a range of color and lens combinations in addition to the photochromic variety. The company refers to this option — which is available on a range of their other offerings — by the proprietary term Fototec. We chose the carbon fiber version which makes for a winning frame and lens combo.
Tifosi makes the Vero from Grilamid TR-90, a durable plastic-nylon that is both flexible and strong. Sorry guys, no real carbon fiber here. But what did you expect for less than $70. It still look great and we like the addition of the padded parts for over the ears and for the nose piece.
Specs
Weight: 0.875 ounces
Materials: Grilamid TR-90 nylonr
Tifosi also vents the lenses to reduce fogging. That worked relatively well in our tests as long as you kept moving. But once you stop, the lenses do tend to fog as you cool down.
In addition to the sunglasses, Tifosi provides the ubiquitous microfiber pouch and a hard case to protect the Veros when traveling. And as mentioned above, you can replace the photochromic lenses with a 16 other interchangeable options including reds, browns, grays, yellows and more.
Fit
Tifosi designed the Vero for slightly smaller faces. It fit well on our mostly medium sized noggins. The padding for the nose and ears make the product very comfortable to wear. And the overall lightweight of the Tifosi Vero adds to the impressive feel of the product.
Final Verdict
Once again, we’re impressed with the quality of Tifosi optics. The Vero fits great. It works great. And the price is right at under an MSRP of $69.95 for the Fototec version. Find it at Amazon.