Last year at Silverman, I found myself running in the dark trying to manage my sunglasses on top of my head.  I know it seems silly but the idea of losing them was stressing me out a little.  I thought a better way to go this year would be to buy photochromic lenses which essentially adjust the tinting based on the amount of UV they detect.

This is a no-brainer for me so I talked to my good friends and Rudy Project and they sent me the Rydon Crystal With Impactx Photochromic Clear Lens.  That's a long name for a really cool pair of shades.  These bad boys showed up in my mailbox yesterday in the late afternoon and by the time I got them out of the box, I really couldn't get them to do much because the sun had already begun to set.

When I got up this morning, I had it in my mind I was going to take these with me on the commute to see how well they worked and to become accustomed to wearing them.  Once out on the highway, I switched glasses and stared into the sun.  Ouch!  Clear lenses do not provide any protection from bright light!  After a few minutes when the lenses remained clear, I swapped back thinking that perhaps the sun wasn't direct enough for them.  I put them on the dashboard while I drove and kept a close eye on them but I never noticed them turning dark.

After driving for about an hour, the glasses were still as clear as when I pulled them from the box.  I then thought perhaps the tint was mild and I became nervous about racing in them.  There are times when you're riding straight into the sun and in those conditions, these glasses weren't going to cut it.  I started rationalizing the situation by telling myself that I could use them on overcast days when tinting isn't necessary and sometimes even dangerous.  But in the back of my mind I was starting to get disappointed.

When I pulled the car into the parking lot at work this morning, I decided to leave them on the dashboard thinking there might be some sort of initial break in period.  When I returned to the car after a few hours of sitting in the sun, they were still clear.

As I started to drive away, I had a thought...  these glasses are not sensing light, they are sensing UV.  Car windows block UV!  I opened the sunroof of the car and lifted the glasses outside to let the sun shine on them and within seconds they turned dark!  Woohoo!  I'm an idiot but these glasses rock!!

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