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review

Giro Havik glasses

8
£119.99

VERDICT:

8
10
Exellent (if pricey) cycling glasses... as long as they fit you properly
Weight: 
27g
Contact: 
www.madison.co.uk

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Very good specs, these. The Haviks offer great eye coverage to keep out insects, pinging bits of gravel, UVA, UVB, UVC… Plus the CIA and KGB, probably. And there’s decent ventilation behind the lenses to stop them fogging up easily when you have to wait at a junction.

The high-quality lenses are from Zeiss and distortion is minimal so you always get accurate vision of the road ahead, and there’s no lower frame to interrupt the view – we like! You get a choice of two tints – grey and bronze – to suit the light conditions, and swapping between them is straightforward once you get the knack – it takes seconds.

Fit will depend on the individual because there’s no adjustability – but this is our review so we’ll tell you that they fitted us perfectly, thanks very much. If you’ve got a particularly wide head, they might be a tad tight – for this kind of money, you’d be sensible to try before you buy anyway.

The rubber nosepiece is soft and comfortable and more rubber sections at the ends of the arms stop the glasses slipping when you’re leaning forward on the drops. Those arms aren’t too long either, meaning that, unlike some, they won’t snag on your helmet’s straps or the adjustable retention device around the back. With injection-moulded Rilsan polyamide frames, they weigh in at 27g making them pretty lightweight too. Like most glasses, you hardly know they're there.

Our one criticism is that, sitting close to the brow, they catch sweat quite easily which then streams down inside the lens… or, at least, they did with a couple of people we got to try them. Check for that when you try them on. Oh, and in case you didn’t notice, they’re pricey too.

Available in a range of frame colours and lens tints and also in a compact version.

Verdict

High-quality bike-specific glasses that perform excellently... as long as they fit you properly

If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website

road.cc test report

Make and model: Giro Havik glasses

Size tested: n/a

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
9/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes; great quality

Would you consider buying the product? If they were cheaper, definitely. At this price, possibly

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Overall rating: 8/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 184cm  Weight: 74kg

I usually ride:   My best bike is:

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: time trialling, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, mtb,

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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1 comments

Avatar
Jon Burrage | 14 years ago
0 likes

Have road.cc tested any oakleys? I would imagine that based on price the radars would be a direct competitor.

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