POC Devour Mid Bike Sunglasses + Extra Lens

The POC Devour Mid Bike Sunglasses + Extra Lens is a slightly smaller-fronted version of the divisive POC Devour released a few years ago. The lens quality is fantastic and the adjustable fit is perfect, but the field of view is obscured slightly by the frame, and they didn’t play well with any helmet vents I could test.

These arrive in a hard case with a soft bag included, plus a clear extra lens that can be easily swapped. I tested the ‘Clarity Road/Sunny Silver Cat 3’ tinted lens, while the other lens was clear.

I’ve used the regular Devour for a few seasons, and actually quite like the massive lenses and unique aesthetic. So this shrunken version looked a little funny to me at first, but actually they’re well proportioned. They still dwarf my current Oakley Sutro Lites, mind you, both in height and width.

The frame isn’t visible from the front thanks to the mirrored lens, but from behind you can see it clearly – so much so that it actually encroaches a little bit. I found the white frame creeping into my peripheral vision in basically every direction. I got used to it eventually, but for such a big lens to offer quite a restricted field of vision is quite funny.

The oversized lens does, obviously, offer great coverage, with no light creeping in from any angle.

The adjustable arms are one of the standout features. Each arm has four positions to make them longer or shorter, which is enough to really let you dial them in. The nose piece also adjusts, but it’s fairly basic; two positions, tighter or looser on your nose. Okay, it’s not as good as a mouldable nose piece, but it’s better than some glasses offer.

Six small slits per side allow some ventilation, and they’re effective. I never had any issues with fogging or steaming up, as as the frame obscures them they’re not in your line of sight.

The lens itself is great. A Zeiss model, it’s really clear and crisp in bright conditions. It gives UV400 protection too, which means it blocks harmful UVA and UVB rays entirely.

The clear lens is basic (with no POC or Zeiss watermarks), but it does the job. Personally I think this costing an extra £50 is a bit cheeky – alone the Devour Mids are £200 – but then a clear lens for Koo’s Nebula shades (see the value section below) will cost you £75. So it’s hardly without precedent in the ‘luxury’ end of the market.

One of my pet peeves with these sunglasses is their inability to stow in any helmet vents – even POC’s own. I tested these in a POC Cytal, Kask Protone, Met Trenta, and Scott Cadence Plus, and they’d just rattle loose in all of them. This is particularly surprising on POC’s Cytal, with its rubberised ‘eyewear garage’ in the vents.

Value

At £250 these are firmly into premium territory. They’re up there with Oakley’s Kato at £271 and Rudy Project’s Kelion Mirrored Bahrain Victorious at around £230 with an extra clear lens (€229.90, around £196 at the time of writing, plus €39.90). We reviewed the Rudy Project Kelions when they first appeared, and surprisingly the price has barely changed in three years. Presumably RP is still making a decent margin on it even now…

You can easily find light-reactive lenses at this price, though, and in fact often for less. Koo’s Nebula is £200 with the Photochromic Graphite Mirror we tested. Add a clear lens and you’ll be paying £275, mind you, but the photochromic lens is excellent and you may not actually need anything else.

Overall

I liked wearing the Devour Mids a lot. The lens quality is fantastic and the fit worked really well for me, though you might be lucky to get them to stay put in your helmet vents – I couldn’t, and found that annoying. For me, the Devour Mid – though fundamentally a good pair of shades – doesn’t quite match the regular Devour, and doesn’t quite earn its premium price either.