Tifosi Rx Sunglasses Review
There are two aspects of sunglasses that are conversation stoppers for me.
The first is the ridiculous size of many cycling sunglasses. Trends come and go, and I guess I checked the goggle-sized sunglasses off the list in the 80s and don’t see the need to return to those days. They are a lot to manage on your face and in your bag in their huge case. I’ve witnessed oversized sunglasses flying off the face of cyclists who looked back, as the wind caught all that surface area and sent them airborne. Some of them are just silly big, and it won’t be long before we’ll look back on this time and wonder why sunglasses got so huge.
The second is the ridiculous cost of most cycling sunglasses. They are such a fragile piece of equipment on which to spend several hundreds of dollars. I do understand that price doesn’t only cover the plastic but all the marketing and R&D that went into making them trendy in the first place. If you add a prescription to these already overpriced sunglasses, you are paying a small fortune for the flimsiest piece of your kit. Around 10 years ago in Atlanta, the young roadies were wearing grocery store fluro wayfarers in hipster protest of stupidly expensive eyewear—one of the few times I appreciated their irony.
Tifosi
Tifosi Optics is a sunglass company I’ve known about for a long time, coincidently located outside of Atlanta in Watkinsville. Not too long after the company was founded in 2003, I received a pair from a cyclocross team I was racing for at the time. I couldn’t wear them because of my prescription, but we still have them around the house to this day, most often worn by my wife, Erin.
I remembered Tifosi being high quality and offered at affordable price points. What I didn’t know is that Tifosi was offering prescription options, including progressive lenses. The opportunity to review a couple pairs and experience the Rx ordering process came at the right time, as I was receiving my first pair of progressive eyeglasses at the age of 49.
Looking over the prescription options, I decided on the Swick and the Vero. Below, I walk you through my decision-making process for each pair.
Swick Progressive Rx
For a casual pair of sunglasses, I decided on matching my new progressive prescription of the glasses I wear every day. And, I decided to try and match my frame too. I also decided to go with standard lenses instead of polarized or light adjusting. But, I did get fancy with the tint and coatings (mirror and anti-reflective).
I ordered the sunglasses on May 4th and was surprised to receive them so quickly on May 18th. I was also impressed by the progressive prescription matching. I’ve experienced the learning curve with progressive lenses with my regular glasses. This pair of Swicks is spot on in terms of the prescription; however, the size of the lenses compared to my regular glasses puts the bottom reader prescription in a slightly different spot. So, this just meant that I had to adapt to the difference between the two when reading.
The combination of the brown tint and the gold mirror makes them pretty dark. They are awesome on those really glaring sunny days we occasionally get in Western New York, but they are a bit too dark for going in and out of shade. I’m not a hang out at the beach kind of guy, but for the days I’m forced to (I mean, pleasantly agree to) these are the sunglasses I want to cut out the glare of the sun and read a book at the same time. I also like the boxy case that is nice for chucking them or my regular glasses in when driving and not worrying if they are going to get smooshed.
Model: Swick
Frame: Onyx Fade
Rx: Progressive
Lens Type: Standard
Lens Tint: Brown (+$20.00)
Lens Mirror: Gold (+$80.00)
Lens Coating: Anti-Reflective (+$50.00)
Base Rx Price: $149.95
Vero Standard Rx
For a pair of racing sunglasses, I jumped at the chance to replicate a pair of Rudy Project sunglasses I had in the early 00s. Back then, the only way to get a prescription in the frames was annoying clip-in lenses that were way too close to your eyes. They were white and had smoke gradient lenses that were perfect for overcast days, which we have many around the Great Lakes.
The white Veros come with pink highlights that you can’t really see when wearing them. Typically pink wouldn’t be a top choice for me, but in this case it was hidden enough to meet the goal of matching my old white pair. I decided against progressive lenses in these because I don’t really need them. I can see my bike computer just fine with a standard prescription. And, no mirror coating because I wanted to replicate that smoke gradient look that Quick Step made so iconic at the spring classics 20 years ago. I added the anti-fog coating out of curiosity, which ended up being a good decision for the rainy days.
The Veros took a bit longer to arrive. Same order date on May 4th, and they showed up on May 31st. In the world of customizable prescription eyewear, I’d say that’s still very fast. The zippered case that comes with the Veros has slots for other lenses, as it’s easy to change them out in these frames. I am going to order a set of clear lenses for twilight criteriums. That’s a nice option to add additional lenses to the frames after you try out the prescription.
Model: Vero
Frame: Race Pink
Rx: Standard
Lens Type: Standard
Lens Tint: Smoke Gradient (+$30.00)
Lens Mirror: None
Lens Coating: Anti-Fog ($50.00)
Base Rx Price: $144.90
Verdict
I argue you can’t beat this quality for these price points on prescription sunglasses. I haven’t fact checked this, but Tifosi may be one of the few (if not the only) companies offering progressive prescriptions for the same cost as standard prescriptions. The base prices are cheaper than what you would expect of sunglasses with no prescription. The lens tinting, mirroring, and coating is on par with the most expensive brands.
Most importantly, they dialed in my prescription to match my regular progressive glasses. I can swap among them with no issues, other than adjusting my view slightly due to the different placement of the reader prescription in the Swicks compared to my glasses. The ordering process couldn’t be any easier. All you have to do is take a picture of your prescription from your optometrist and upload it with the order. I find sometimes it takes some persuasion to get your optician to measure your pupil distance without buying a pair of sunglasses from them. But with some persistence and promise of future business, you should have no problem.
Some may mark the absence of the big face windshields in their prescription offerings. First, it’s really difficult, expensive, and sometimes impossible to embed prescriptions in those large mono lenses. Second, if you think Tifosi’s prescription frames are kind of retro, you actually may be ahead of the curve. The era of the ridiculously large sunglasses will end, and we’ll come back around to sunglasses that only cover your eyes instead of half your face. You can join me in ushering in a return to a more reasonable time of sports sunglasses.
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