Koo Spectro sunglasses

The Koo Spectro sunglasses are striking to look at, the lenses offer great clarity, and fogging is minimal. They come at a price but are impressive nonetheless.

In my eyes (over my eyes?), the Spectro glasses are very good looking, but glasses are not simply for show – performance should be the key factor. I'm happy to report that these Koo sunnies, with their Zeiss lens, anti-slip elastomer gripper and well-designed vents, offer clarity of vision, sit securely on the head, and either prevent fogging or clear quickly.

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The most important element of any pair of glasses is clarity, and the Zeiss Polycarbonate single lens does a great job here. The bronze lens that the glasses came with, with a VLT (visible light transmission) of 12%, offers excellent clarity of vision, especially for rides with the sun lower in the sky and the light more patchy. I found it simple to pick out wet patches, drain covers and so on, which can often be tricky at this time of year.

The field of vision is very good too, although there is slightly more infringement on your peripheral vision than other large full frame glasses I use, such as Oakley Jawbreakers and Roka CP-1s. That said, I didn't ever find that I was struggling to shoulder check effectively or missing anything beside me, so it's a minor issue.

Thanks to the anti-slip MEGOL elastomer material on the nose grippers and arms, the glasses stay firmly in place without moving.

Ventilation comes from four vents, two at the top of the lens and two at the bottom. These stop fogging effectively, even at slow speeds, and on the odd occasion when they do fog, the venting allows them to clear quickly. The vents are also relatively subtle, so they don't have too much impact on the aesthetics of the glasses.

The glasses hit the road.cc Scales of Truth at 35g, which is about what I would expect for a full-frame set of glasses in this price range. That means they can sit on your ears and nose for a long time without causing irritation.

With an rrp of £169 the Spectros aren't cheap, though they are by no means the most expensive we've seen. For instance, the Rudy Project Defender ImpactX Photochromic 2s that I tested in 2019 are £20 more (and only 1g lighter).

> Buyer’s Guide: 13 of the best cheap cycling sunglasses

The 100% S3 MAAP glasses that Liam tested last summer are just £1 more, and 1g lighter, but are not quite full frame.

> Buyer’s Guide: 31 of the best cycling glasses

I really like the Koo Spectro glasses. They look good, perform well, and are comfortable to wear for several hours. The big, bold design won't be for everybody and they are on the expensive side, but this is more than made up for by their other qualities.

Verdict

These quality glasses offer a bold design and strong performance, though they are expensive