Gloryfy doesn’t hold back with their claims, openly stating they are the absolute best available in terms of construction quality and optical clarity. Both their frame material and lens material are patented and said to be virtually unbreakable. The lenses are supposed to be much clearer than the polycarbonate ones used by most brands (they are certified to the highest optical clarity possible).
There’s a broad range of frame styles and lens tints available, and all manufacturing including prescription lenses, takes place in-house in Austria. They also offer prescription lenses in the majority of their range, and as anyone who wears specs can tell you, finding a good pair of cycling glasses that can take your script is like finding a chicken with lips.
The issue with mixing optical prescriptions and sports glasses is generally the curvature. Once you start to radically curve the frame it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid optical distortion while making the prescription lenses fit the frame. Despite having an extremely high base curve of nine (most sports glasses are base seven or eight), Gloryfy offers prescription options throughout their range—it’s available on all bar the rimless styles in fact. They’re not restricted to modest prescriptions either; scripts up to +/- 6.5 can be fitted into their frames, which means all but the legally blind should be sorted.
A set of non-prescription Gloryfys will set you back about $239, and if you need prescription lenses you can add from $500 (single vision) to $620 (multifocals) to the base price. While it’s not exactly cheap, there are plenty of high-quality sunglasses retailing around that price, and a high-curve polycarbonate prescription lens in will be similarly priced from most brands—if you can get one to fit that is. Turnaround time is only about two to three weeks, which is pretty impressive given the shipping times from Europe; I’ve waited longer for glasses to come from Sydney.
For my review set, I chose the G4 model; a classic half-rim style with a grey photochromic ‘Transformer’ lens. Depending on the ambient UV light, it can change tint from 12% to 45% light transmission; enough variation to pretty much cover dawn to dusk. You can, of course, get fixed tint lenses as well if you prefer.
I’d normally choose a high-contrast tint like orange or yellow, however Gloryfy claim that their unique tinting process allows all lens colours to enhance contrast. I certainly found this to be the case. Instead of just making everything darker, I could definitely see outlines and changes to the trail surface much more clearly than with other prescription lenses I’ve used. This reduction in overall light with an increase in contrast definitely makes things easier and more ‘relaxing’ on your eyes.
Believably Bulletproof
As for the claims of being unbreakable, the frames themselves can be twisted and bent in pretty crazy ways, and then they simply spring back to their original shape. According to the importer, they’ve only had to replace one frame; the owner was so impressed with how tough his glasses were that he repeatedly drove his car over them to impress his friends, and eventually they gave in. Suffice to say that in normal use it seems unlikely frames could be damaged.
The lenses themselves are also tested to withstand small calibre bullets, so not only will you be safe from rogue snipers on the trail, but stones and sticks aren’t going to be a problem. In the interests of real-world testing I’ve wiped mud off them with my jersey on numerous occasions, and to date they’ve held up extremely well with no visible scratches. I’m sure if you dragged the lenses over a sharp rock you’d mark them, but I’d say toughness is certainly at the very upper end of the spectrum.
That brings us to the issue of fit and it’s a tricky one as everyone’s face is different. I have a high and broad nose bridge which pushes the glasses up a little from their normal position.
That’s not an issue with a cross-country lid but the additional coverage of a modern trail helmet saw the glasses and helmet vying for the same real estate. This resulted in the glasses being pushed down my nose a little and needing to be pushed back up every few minutes—pretty annoying. The G4 model comes with removable, grippy rubber nose pads which might have helped on someone else, however with my particular face shape they would have only pushed the glasses further up and exacerbated the problem. As with anything that goes on your body, the mantra here is try before you buy.
Fit issues notwithstanding, I can safely say that I’ve been well impressed by the Gloryfy glasses. The construction and optical quality of the Gloryfy product is as good as anything I’ve seen and better than most, and I’ve spent several years as a sales rep dealing specifically with sports sunglasses. Whether you need a prescription or not, they are definitely worth considering for your next cycling glasses.
Eskimo Distribution
www.gloryfysunglasses.com.au
