Our resident cycling expert Matt Ray says if you’re riding out under blue skies and a scorching sun, you might want to pop on a pair of Panda Fixed Sport glasses.
Although the UK’s not best known for its blue skies and scorching sunshine, the Panda Fixed Sport glasses perform well enough in a variety of conditions to make it into our best cycling glasses roundup. Matt tested them over a range of rides in bright, shady and dappled light; on road, trail and gravel; and come rain or shine – and they shone in his final verdict.
Panda Fixed Sport (w/ Hot Ice Lens)
$111.96 / £89, pandaoptics.co.uk
Pros:
- Huge field of view
- Performance lens
- Excellent value
Cons:
- Heavy 13.5% tint
- Limited colour options
Clarity: 4/5
Cycling Design: 4/5
Comfort: 5/5
OVERALL: 4.5/5
Experiencing the Panda Fixed Sport’s ski goggle-level coverage on a sun-drenched road ride redefined my expectations of what cycling sunnies could achieve – and my sweaty head dug the ventilated arms.
Panda Fixed Sport features
Panda also makes fantastic ski goggles for the likes of Chemi Alcott, and that performance heritage shines through in its great value cycling-specific shades. Unlike the other inexpensive offering in this test, the Panda Fixed Sport fixes its sights on the sunniest days with a visible light transmission (VLT) score of 13.5%, the smallest number reviewed.
This means I wouldn’t recommend these glasses for those mixed days of sunshine and cloud. On the other hand, you could probably ride through a solar flare in these! Even after a long day staring at a sun-blasted white chalk trail, I had zero eye fatigue, which definitely wouldn’t have been the case wearing most other shades. The impact-resistant, mirrored lens may be specialised, but its quality shines through.
The Category 3 UV400 lens is housed in a robust, frosted gradient frame that looks far more expensive than it is. In this case, you are definitely saving money by buying British. The frame is also more flexible than most, so I didn’t think twice about popping it into a microfibre sack and chucking it into my bag.
Performance
The next time a summer heatwave hits I’ll be going full solar and wearing the Panda Fixed Sport to eliminate eye-burn and maximise those infinite blue skies. And other sunglasses manufacturers please note: ventilated arms beat sweaty temples.
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