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review

Uvex Crow Pro glasses

8
£79.99

VERDICT:

8
10
Stylish, well built, and functional eyewear
Weight: 
29g
Contact: 
www.raleigh.co.uk

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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When reviewing a piece of equipment it is relatively easy to be objective about its design, quality of manufacture and performance; glasses add another perspective, that being style. The Uvex Cro Pro are a traditional wrap around design with one piece lens clipped into the frame and with a removable nose piece switched between the three lens options. Lenses are made from a material called Makrolon, no doubt the materials scientists among you or the Google-ologists will confirm that this is an excellent grade of optically transparent plastic, treated to give 100% UV protection. Clear, yellow and mirror finish dark lenses are supplied all of which are perforated along the upper edge to permit better air flow in an attempt to defeat misting, the manufacturers call this the Climazone airflow system.

Construction is every bit as good as I might expect from a top end German manufacturer with a speciality in supplying quality eye wear for a number of different sports. The frames are strong and the hinges positive and chunky, the arms also have a solid feel quite unlike some of the cheap ones that I have tried which on hot days become a bit like cooked spaghetti. The soft rubber ear pads are extremely comfortable and without any need for adjustment I wouldn’t even have noticed that they were there. The lenses fit into a slot or track in the frame and are secured by shaped notches which correspond with the cut outs within the frame track.

The first job for me was to remove the silver full sun lens and insert the clear one. I’m not an instructions kind of person, it’s a man thing! So armed with my logic I gave a bit of a wiggle and a pull, albeit quite a significant pull and “click” out came the one piece lens. Next job to try and do the same in reverse, some flexing of both frame and lens is required, and there you have it, job done, except for the nose piece, which pulls off and easily clips back on. At this point I looked at the instructions which confirmed that I had done exactly what was required, quite frankly you couldn’t go far wrong.

07:30 a very damp but not rainy morning, the temperature around 10 degrees I started the 16 mile journey to work with the stiff one in five hill just outside, a good test to see if the air flow can match my levels of heat and perspiration. To put this in perspective I normally wear a similar pair of specs that I acquired from a chain of German supermarkets and at this point on my journey I do not normally get any fogging. The Crow Pros did just start to fog along the top, this could be down to my speed of travel creating inadequate air flow, the fit which might be tighter to my brow than my usual ones or the temperature, humidity etc etc. Lets carry on, another two and half miles uphill at 11 mph to complete the 500 foot climb and at this point there was fogging and some condensation forming, but no more than usual. So how quickly would this clear? Up goes the speed and the ventilation does a fantastic job, the fogging cleared in seconds and the condensation disappeared in a few minutes and prevented that annoying running streak of sweat that you sometimes get down the inside of the lens right in your main line of sight. The rest of the journey was at some pace and consequently no fogging.

I meet the traffic on the outskirts of Bristol and need to be aware of what’s going on all around me, the normal trouble with some alternative products is that you look behind you and part of your field of vision is blocked by the arm of the specs; not so in this case. A very important consideration for those of you riding in environments where lane changes are required, I felt very confident that I could see everything.

The Uvex Crow Pros are available in a range of colours are supplied with a semi-hard shell zip up pouch, cloth pull string bag and 3 lens options and they weigh only 26 grams, altogether in my view very stylish and exactly what you will find in the peloton and not without good reason.

Verdict

Stylish, well built and functional.

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Uvex Crow glasses

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

A top end pair of specs for the serious cyclist. Uvex make claims about these resisting fogging up, well they do atleast clear quicker than most.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Air flows through the top edge of the lenses and through galeries in the frames. Interchangeable lenses supplied.

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10

Bit of confidence and a knack required to change the lenses.

Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10

Still fogged up.

Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
10/10

I've not yet found these specs too heavy. At 29g I can't complain.

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
8/10

I'd need to wear them for hours on end to comment further.

Rate the product for value:
 
7/10

You can buy alternatives for a lot less, but do they look this good?

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

Fairly good

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Style. Fog cleared remarkably quickly once the pace goes up.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Getting the lenses out feels a bit risky, bit of a crack and a bang rather than a smoothe release.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? No, Yes you can call me tight.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

They certainly look the part.

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 46  Height: 6' 2"  Weight: 80 kg

I usually ride: Cinelli Super Corsa Ultegra  My best bike is: Pinarello Paris Dura Ace

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, time trialling, commuting, Tandem

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