Before reading this article, please check out the link above for our new Discussion Board / Forum. All readers are invited to join and participate in the discussions held. Read on…

For any number of recreational activities, protective eyewear is a necessity. From simple outdoor activities that require sunglasses to prevent discomfort due to bright sunlight and UV rays, to boating, biking, skiing, or recreational shooting, various risks are presented to your vision and necessary protection is required. Wiley-X makes a full line of protective eyewear to mitigate most (if not all) of these threats / risks. Several weeks ago I received a representative selection of Wiley-X’s protective eyewear and I’ve tested them in various environments and during various activities. This week we’re going to take a look at a couple different models of the Wiley-X Eyewear and how well they servied during testing.

First let’s start out with two sets of goggles:

First is the Wiley-X Nerve Goggles. From the Specifications Sheet (available online) we find out that these goggles have the following characteristics:
- NVG (Night Vision Goggle) Compatible with ventilation system to prevent fogging
- Lenses wrap all the way around the sides of your eyes preventing that peripheral awareness of a different view
- Heat resistant material
- Adjustable strap
- Swivel hinges allow for wearing with or without a helmet (they mean kevlar, but this applies to skydiving, motorcycle, skateboarding and climbing helmets as well)
- polycarbonate lenses
- Lens coatings to prevent scracthing and fogging
- 100% UVA & UVB protection
- each set comes with two different color of lenses: smoke and clear. (smoke shown above right)
- Prescription inserts available to fit range of +11/-11 (that even suits me and I’m near blind)

Now all that information is nice, but what’s it mean? Let’s put this in more substantive terms: These goggles are comfortable, ventilated, and fit comfortably with various types of headgear you might wear while enjoying your outdoor activities. I wouldn’t recommend them for water sports. Although they’ll keep the spray out of your eyes, the ventilation means that they’ll fill with water if you fall in. I found these goggles comfortable and easy to fit (strap adjustments, etc) and even though I did some serious sweating during recent hikes in the heat wave we enjoyed they didn’t fog. I didn’t get a chance to ride a motorcyle with them, but I did do some biking and found that they functioned fine up to my best speeds of about 40mph (down hill).

Next on our list is the Wiley-X SG-1 Goggle. Once again we get the following raw data from the Specifications Sheet online:
- NVG compatible
- padded seal between goggle and face protects from wind, sun, glare and fragmentation (think about road hazards that get kicked up by cars or other riders)
- Frame wraps around side of face to protect corners of eyes as well and prevent that peripheral issue mentioned above
- Adjustable strap
- Strap can be replaced with snap-on temple arms
- Lens “cylinders” (the lens frame inside the goggle frame) will take prescription lenses
- foam padding around eye frame can be removed in segments if more ventilation is required
- polycarbonate lenses
- anti-scratch and anti-fog treatments
- 100% UVA & UVB protection
- INCLUDES Smoke and clear lenses (smoke shown above right)
- Light rust (color), light adjusting and polarized lens colors available

Translation: Providing a lower profile than the Wiley-X Nerve Goggles, the SG-1 are comfortable and provide a close-fit protection to your eyes. I don’t personally care for the snug feeling of the foam padding around my eye socket, but that’s a personal preference. Others I know do like that and don’t experience any discomfort as a result. For the average motorcycle rider or snow-skier I think these are probably more suited and comfortable than the Nerve Goggles.

Let’s move on to two pair of sunglasses…

The Wiley-X PT-3interchangeable lens Sunglasses. It’s probably wrong of me to refer to this set of protective eyewear as “sunglasses” but I didn’t have a more convenient term. From the Spec Sheet:
- NVG Compatible (again)
- 90 degree wrap to fully protect your eyes
- adjustable nose piece (because not all noses are shaped the same)
- anti-scratch and anti-fog lens coating
- 100% UVA & UVB protection (noticing a theme yet?)
- interchangeable lenses in smoke, clear and light rust (smoke shown above right)
- prescription inserts available

What can be said? Are all sunglasses created equal? Obviously not. Much of the good, bad or ugly about protective eyewear is personal preference. Some people just don’t care for protective eyewear that uses a single lens design. I happen to like them but have no issues with separate lens designs either. These proved comfortable and provided a good field of view. They are pretty snug (at least on my head) and didn’t come off even though I didn’t use a safety strap around the back. On my bike I turned my head to look back several times and at speeds of 25-30 mph they stayed on.

The last set of protective eyewear from Wiley-X that we’ll look at today is the Wiley-X B2. I’m not going to go through the Spec Sheet… because there isn’t one available. I’ve had my B2s for going on four years now. I’ve replaced the lenses once and had to replace the rubber tips on the temple arms once. The lenses are separate and interchangeable. Changing them is easy and takes about thirty seconds. Available colors include bronze brown (shown), light rust and clear. Polarized colors are also available. For years the B2s were my exclusive protective eyewear at the range and on my boat. They were my preferred sunglasses. Lately I haven’t worn them much, but they’re still sitting in my gear closet in their case with the various colored lenses and a cleaning cloth. Wiley-X included a set of B2s with polarized lenses for testing and I have to say this: If you’re not used to polarized lenses, pay attention. Things LOOK different through polarized lenses and it may catch you by surprise.

All in all, good protective eyewear options from Wiley-X. Check them out online at http://www.wileyx.com.

BE SAFE!

Did you find this information helpful? If you did, consider donating.