Engearment

Paul Gallaher

These Smith Optics sunglasses were a different style for me compared to what I’m usually wearing for outdoor sports. In recent years, I’ve become fond of photochromic lenses, especially for snowsports where I may be in variable lighting conditions depending upon weather or terrain/trees.

Well, recently, I was given a chance to try out the special Smith Optics/The North Face (TNF) co-branded version of these Embark glasses. This limited edition version of the glasses comes with a matte black and white frame and a Chromapop Black Gold polarized lens.

Since I do a lot of Nordic skiing at high altitude in an area that sees 300 sunny days a year, I thought, “Why not give these a try”? Try them I have. I’ll give you the low-down below.

Unboxing:

• These glasses come with more goodies than a “normal” pair of nice sunglasses. They arrived with a normal fabric sunglass bag, a nice padded sunglass bag, an adjustable retention strap that clips onto the end of the temples and removable ventilated side-shields.

Fit:

• These Embarks are  made to fit the “average” size person.

• Several things are adjustable on these glasses. First, the side-shields are easily removed or installed, depending upon the needs of the wearer. Secondly, the temple arms are adjustable to tailor your fit. I wear a medium-size bike and ski helmet and these fit me well. The retention strap is nice if you’re doing activities on the water or in deep snow where the glasses falling off your face could mean loss of the glasses.

Lens:

• This particular version of the Embark glasses come with polycarbonate polarized lenses. They have Smith’s Chromapop lens which is purported to enhance color, clarity and definition. They block 100% of UV rays.

• The lenses are impact resistant, as well as smudge and water resistant. Finally, they have what I’d describe as a gold-colored mirror coating on the lens, which by the way, looks great and has low visible light transmission of 10%.

Frame:

• This frame is made of Smith’s proprietary Evolve material. It is 53% bio-based material into the injected polymer frames.

Performance:

First, these sunglasses fit me very well. I’ve worn them with and without the side-shields and do have comments on the side shields. I’ve discovered that while they do very well at blocking peripheral glare from coming into my eyes, they also are not well-suited to driving. They block your peripheral vision. It’s a quick and easy fix to remove the side-shields though and I’ve found that these are great driving glasses, especially on bright, blue-sky days.

Secondly, I had previously committed to using only photochromic lenses for Nordic skiing, as I’m in and out of the trees often and conditions can vary. Wearing these a few times have convinced me otherwise. My eyes are very light sensitive and these dark lenses work very well for me in most environments except on dark, cloudy days or when there is significant snow falling. On those days, I will continue to wear either clear or photochromic lenses but those days are definitely in the minority where I live and play outside.

These glasses are an excellent choice for Nordic skiing, especially in sunny, high-altitude areas! If you want a different color or type of lens or frame, Smith Optics gives you many choices to fit your preferences. They currently list fifteen different combinations of these on their website. Lens color options include: gold, black, platinum, blue, green, brown, bronze, violet, opal and red!

Paul Gallaher

Paul grew up in Minnesota where he learned to love the outdoors, riding his bike, fishing and canoeing in the summers and skiing in the winters on Minnesota’s 300 foot-tall “mountains”.

After finishing college, he was commissioned as an officer in the USAF eventually becoming a special operations and reconnaissance instructor navigator flying and serving around the world for twenty-two years.

Living and traveling around the world has given Paul opportunities to explore outdoor passions. He is an advanced scuba diver, a pilot, a sailor and has skied in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.