SubscribeI always wear sunglasses when I’m training, racing or just generally doing “stuff” outside, so when Running and Cycling Enterprises offered me the chance to try out and review a set of Runnng and Cycling Enterprises’ new, affordable, in-house XX2i line of shades, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity.
Affordable is an appropriate adjective for these shades: discount, entry-level, etc. all imply a poor quality product and these sunglasses are definitely not inferior quality or limited in terms of buyer options. Besides a large variety of frame styles and colours, you can get lenses that are polarized and/or have reading diopters built in and of course different lens colours and coatings. I haven’t done the math, but I expect that with all the permutations there are hundreds or maybe even thousands of sunglass combinations that could be built.
So let’s unpack them and checkout the kit.
The 1st thing I noticed was the exterior packaging: a zippered hardcase with LIFETIME GUARANTEE emblazoned in the forefront. This gives a hint at what’s within: you can’t offer a lifetime guarantee on something that’s going to fall apart if you look at it wrong.
Opening the case, I was shocked at how PACKED the case is. All the components are packed in dense foam to stop things from bouncing around.
In the case we find:
- the sunglasses
- 2 sets of extra lenses
- extra arms and nose pieces and a screwdriver to aide with the part swap
- cloth cases for the lenses and for the sunglasses
- a safety strap/neck strap
- some XX2I decals
Wow!
These sunglasses fit my face very well right out of the case, and even if they didn’t they are pretty adjustable and have the (very important) adjustable nose so that you can have them sit well when you’re down on the aerobars.
One problem I’ve had with (other) sunglasses that have exchangeable lenses is that the retention system is flimsy and the lenses aren’t held in place well. I can’t say I have a huge amount of experience with these, but in my limited experience this doesn’t appear that it will be an issue here. The lenses are held very snugly into the frame and take a fair bit of strength to swap out.
Finally a word about the optics, the true indicator of value of a sunglass: “el cheapo” sunglasses have poor lens quality that distort and in the worst cases cause headaches. Not so here, these optics are pretty incredible: no headaches, no distortion, no fogging. Further, I’m pretty hard on sunglasses and frequently end up with scratches on the lenses pretty quickly: these lenses seem pretty “Rick Proof” at least so far and, of course, if you did manage to scratch them, you could just replace the lens and not the whole set of sunglasses.
The XX2I offerings have been winning awards all over the place like Gear Institute’s “Best Value” award and Outside Magazine’s “Killer Value Award” and it’s not surprise to me. These sunglasses are pretty amazing! If you have a late season race, maybe you’re getting to Kona, and you want to treat yourself to some nice optics without breaking the bank, definitely try out the XX2I Optics. You won’t be disappointed!
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