Scicon Aerotech sunglasses

Scicon, best known for its cycling bags, has entered the eyewear market with two pairs of glasses, the Aerotech and Aerocomfort. There's plenty to like about the Aerotech, incuding quality lenses and a frame that offers a secure fit to your face, which, let's be honest, there needs to be for the price.

• Pros: Excellent lens clarity; arms hold secure without applying pressure to your head
• Cons: 'Fenders' restrict visibility; expensive

Similar to the Rudy Project Fotonyk glasses I tested a couple of years back (and still available), the Scicons use silicone 'fenders' at the bottom of the lenses, the argument being that should you crash they will stop the lenses from cutting into your face.

On the Aerotechs they do make it feel like there is a lot of frame going on. It doesn't so much affect vision to the front, but the way they kick up at the edge of the lens does restrict vision out of the side when glancing behind you to check on traffic.

You don't have to ride with them attached, though, and removing them makes a big difference: as half-frame glasses they feel a lot less 'claustrophobic'.

It's good to make the most of the vision offered by the lenses, too, as the clarity is very good, giving a crystal-clear view of what's happening in front of you.

The lens is removable, not that you really need to change it as this option is photochromic – changing from clear to dark quickly without you even noticing. Entering shaded areas after riding in the full sun didn't find them struggling to adapt to the change of light.

As you'd expect, they meet the industry standard UV380 protection rating.

The nose clip is adjustable and replaceable (you get spares in the box) and the arms can also be fettled to add or reduce flexibility for fit on the side of your head, swapping to different 'Switch Clips'.

The frame itself is made from Grilamid TR90, a polyamide that is used pretty universally for sports glasses. It's a great material, being light and robust, so they should stand up to a bit of abuse.

You'd hope they would, too, because at £224 the Aerotechs are quite highly priced against most of the competition.

Those Rudy Project glasses I mentioned earlier were £109.99 when I tested them, and aren't much different in price now. It's quite difficult to see what else the Aerotechs are bringing to the table. Even the expensive Rudy Project Defender Impactx 2, which are also photochromic, are cheaper at £191.99.

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Scicon does like to chuck in a few extras to soften the blow, mind. First up is a carbon fibre wrapped case which looks pretty bling, plus you get a neat little keyring screwdriver for tightening the screws in the arms should they come loose. There was also an 8GB memory stick in the case shaped like a Scicon bike box, neat.

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Overall, I love the fit of the Scicon Aerotech glasses and the clarity of the lenses, but for the money they don't offer that massive an advantage over others on the market for less.

Verdict

A great secure fit from the frame and brilliant clarity, but costly for what they are