100% Aerocraft glasses

The 100% Aerocraft glasses are lightweight futuristic-looking sunnies with a lens designed for bright conditions. The lens clarity and its coverage is great but it doesn't cope well with shaded sections, and its bevelled edges can interfere with your peripheral vision.

> Buy now: 100% Aerocraft glasses for £139.99 from Tweeks Cycles

The 100% Aerocraft glasses come to you in a chunky clamshell case with slots for two spare lenses and a softbag for pocket carriage and cleaning.

Two spare nose pieces are also included, which I thought might be different sizes so you can customise the fit of the glasses, but I could neither see nor feel any discernible difference between them. Maybe it shows the faith 100% has in the longevity of its lenses that it thinks these will wear out first – or perhaps it's just handy if you tend to sweat through these things and they do that unpleasant icky sticky tacky thing.

The 100% Aerocraft comes in four other versions with colour matched lenses and frames. The Gloss Purple Chrome set looks especially Daft Punky and heatwave appropriate, while the Gloss Metallic Black model comes with a photochromic lens, which might be useful if you live in an endlessly changeable climate or ride in a heavily wooded area.

The frame is made from a high-impact-resistant and lightweight polycarbonate with flexible TR90 temple tips. As well as being grippy, aided by the contour patterned inside edge, the whole 75mm of the temple ends are flexible. I found this genuinely useful for getting a not too tight, not too loose fit, especially after experiencing other sunglasses that can create tiny pressure points.

The inside of the brow features a corrugated strip of that same tacky material – though I'm uncertain of its purpose. It feels like it might be a sweat guard but there are vertical channels in it that would allow sweat to dribble through. It does press against your forehead though and could be an aid to hold the Aerocraft glasses to your noggin. How firmly it caresses your skin will depend on your face shape and some people that tried the glasses really didn't like the feel of it against their head.

The lens features 3DPlane Molded Lens technology that has been a signature feature in the 100% range of motocross and snow goggles for a few years, and it's now crossing over into its cycling glasses.

Aerocraft says its Ultra HD lens is made from high-impact-resistant and lightweight polycarbonate, which 100% says offers unmatched optical clarity – of course it would. It's an injection-moulded 2mm impact-rated, shatter-resistant lens and comes sculpted with all sorts of angled facets and an integral nose bridge.

They're also scratch-resistant, provide 100% UV protection and have a hydrophobic and oleophobic lens treatment that repels water, dirt and oil. They're going well when it comes to scratch resistance so far, though the protruding nose is just waiting to scuff. Their hydro- and oleo-phobicness has mainly presented itself in being very easy to clean of water splashes, smudges and fingerprints.

While the lens is replaceable and changeable, and mentioned as being so in the 100% tech blurb, it does require a very committed this-is-going-to-break tug to separate the frame from the lens and an equally awkward and fiddly shove with snapping possibilities to get things back together.

Five different spare lenses are available from 100%, including a photochromic lens for £85. Other lenses cost either £47.35 or £57.01 , the latter including our test model's blue mirror lens.

That Aerocraft lens has a six-base cylindrical shield for increased peripheral view and protection, and promises 360° of visibility for unobstructed views and an optimal field of vision. While they're not the most windscreeny of glasses they do follow the current trend for larger and larger lenses and they do effectively wrap around your face to give great coverage. While there's no frame to the bottom half of the glasses the angled sides of the lens do create a visible edge that hovers annoyingly about in your peripheral vision and is effectively a thin strip of distortion.

I have a thin face and while they have a great wrap they do stick out the sides a lot, which is a common feature with my narrow slab-sided skull and the current crop of iMax glasses. There was also a considerable cheek gap despite the acreage of the lens. I could fit my fingers in the space there, meaning light could intrude around the bottom of the glasses, which wasn't ideal, and it also led to significant peripheral issues around the bottom edge of the lens.

I am alarmingly picky about fit on my glasses though, and I can tell in an instant if a set of sunnies is going to work for me. I've saved myself a fortune this way. This might not be an issue with your facial bone structure but try before you buy if you feel this would bother you.

For all its hype I'm not convinced by this HiPER lens. While it gave excellent coverage and the clarity in bright sunshine was amazing I found the Blue Mirror Lens struggled in shade when pedalling under trees. This was especially true if it was dappled as things just went dark and I couldn't discern any detail or contrast, which was a severe visual impairment that I found dangerous.

After a while I simply took to removing the Aerocrafts every time some tree cover came up, which was an arse. I thought this might be because of my tired old eyes but it's not something I've experienced with other sunglasses and a quick swap with another famous manufacturer's similarly dark glasses immediately showed they had noticeably more contrast to them and increased detailing in the shade.

The 100% HiPER Blue Mirror Lens is a Cat 3 lens with 12% light transmission that is probably the issue here and choosing another model would help if shady rides are more your thing. The Gloss Purple Chrome version has a 29% light transmission lens while the Gloss Metallic Black features a 80%-20% Gold Mirror Photochromic Lens

Value

For a little more you could get a set of road.cc recommended glasses in the (very Euro-styled) shape of the Rudy Project Tralyx. These feature a photochromic lens, though its narrow old-school lens shape might not suit your modern aesthetic.

The Rapha Reiss glasses are similarly priced and again have a more traditional Oakley M-Frame-look to them, though the lens does have a chunky lip around the sides. Easily swappable spare lenses are also available.

If you want the full modern 'Grandma's Conservatory' look with a coloured mirror lens then the similarity priced Ekoi Ottimo Glasses are the ones for you. Ed really liked them, only finding the frame entering his peripheral vision and getting them to fit into his helmet to be issues.

And it would be remiss of me to talk about expensive cycling glasses without mentioning Oakley. Stu reviewed its Sutro Lite Sweep and are in a similar pricing bracket to the 100% sunnies. They were great for fit and optical clarity, with their 20% light transition lenses good for medium cloudy days to bright sunshine.

For a fraction of the price you could have the Magicshine Rouleur Colour photochromic sunglasses, which may not look that cool, but their photochromic lens deals with dull days and shady sections.

For further options check out our best cycling sunglasses buyer's guide that covers eyewear from just £20 to £200.

Conclusion

Ultimately the 100% Aerocraft sunglasses just weren't for me – their fit led to a large gap at the bottom of the lens and peripheral issues to the sides and more crucially I found this particular lens far too dark for the riding around my area which has frequent shadowy wooded areas. Your face and foliage frequency mileage may vary though. For the money they're a disappointment especially when you consider that other brands are offering photochromic lenses at this price and cheaper, while the photochromic version of these comes in at a shade over £200.

> Buy now: 100% Aerocraft glasses for £139.99 from Tweeks Cycles

Verdict

A funky-looking set of glasses with a sculpted angled lens – though the shape and dark tint might not suit all