The answer is yes. Ombraz sunglasses are so good.
I’m loving them so far.
I’m severely nearsighted, so I generally avoid big glasses.
The reason is simple: they get tiring to wear. The areas where the glasses touch my face start to hurt.
That’s why I tend to choose glasses with slim, lightweight frames and smaller lenses.
The stronger the prescription, the thicker and heavier the lenses become. With a smaller lens shape, more of the thick outer edges can be cut away, leaving mainly the thinner central area. That helps reduce some of those drawbacks.
These are what I normally wear.
The top pair is the lightweight and comfortable enough to keep on all day.
The pair on the bottom is what I wear while riding, fitted with photochromic lenses.
I chose that second pair without considering any of the points I mentioned at the beginning. They’re heavy, and if I wear them all day, the bridge of my nose starts to hurt.
Once I start sweating during a ride, they also become slippery. If I look down, they’ll often slide right off.
It’s incredibly frustrating. Anyone who wears glasses will know exactly what I mean.
I experienced none of that stress with Ombraz products. That’s really at the heart of what I mean when I say they just work.
They never slip or shift out of place, and they don’t cause pain anywhere.
If any of this sounds familiar, keep reading please lol.
I’m not a fan of contact lenses, so I always put prescription lenses to every pair of sunglasses I own.
This time, I had prescription photochromic lenses fitted to my Ombraz, so I thought I’d document the process.
Many of you probably already know this, but photochromic lenses react to UV light. They darken outdoors in the sun and turn clear again indoors.
They’re essential for all-day rides, or when a forest road suddenly takes you from bright sunlight into deep shade.
When your lenses are prescription, you can’t simply take your sunglasses off when it gets dark because then you can’t see 😅
And carrying a second pair of regular glasses just for those situations is a hassle.
Anyway, here’s the main point.
Sports sunglasses often have a deeply curved, wraparound shape that follows the contours of your face. This can limit the types of lenses that can be fitted, and perhaps because the work is technically difficult, not every optical shop will agree to replace them.
It’s also quite common for shops to refuse frames brought in from elsewhere.
However, the optical shop I’m about to introduce has accepted just about every pair I’ve taken them. That’s only based on my own experience, of course, so I’m sure there are some frames they simply can’t work with.
The shop is called 「れんず屋さん」 in Jimbocho—literally, “The Lens Shop.” The name couldn’t be more straightforward.
Look how cool this spot looks. Not only the store front looks cool, the workers there are also really cool and super skillful.
This time, they asked me the following:
“The strap protrudes slightly into the inside of the frame, so a thicker lens may interfere with it. If that happens, would you be okay with us grinding down the lens?”
My reaction was more like, “Wait, you can even do that?”
So I told them, “If you can make it work, I’ll leave it in your hands. Please go ahead.”
A few weeks later…
It worked!
However, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the lens is sticking out from the frame, since the lens is too thick.
I’m really happy for their work though.
And here they are, the finished photochromic lenses.
SO GOOD!
