Review: Roundup: Polarized Sunglasses

When you're fishing or biking or driving (really anytime you're outdoors) you'd do well to strap on a set of sunglasses with polarized lenses. These optics are designed to filter glare from notoriously reflective surfaces like water, asphalt and sand. The best ones are capable multitaskers, winnowing harsh photons without distorting colors, all while looking effortlessly cool.

Ray-Ban 8041 Aviator Titanium

There's a reason why pilots, cops and your dad have been wearing aviators for years. They look tough and provide Secret Service-level protection for your eyes. Ray-Ban's model 8041 amps things up by adding polarized lenses and titanium frames to the equation. Bright, overhead retina-searing sunlight? Filtered handily without a hint of color distortion. In our water tests, the lenses drastically cut glare, even when the surface became choppy. And the titanium frames are a revelation for the accident-prone. We repeatedly sat on, dropped and haphazardly tossed the frames without seeing them get bent out of shape. Best of all the specs look good on everyone. An assortment of folks in the Wired office modeled the 8041s; some with enormous heads, others with mighty shocks of hair, and folks with slim, angular faces. Without exception, everyone looked awesome wearing aviators, despite not being jet-jockeys or police. (We did have a few dads.)

Persol PO2979S

For style, you can't beat a pair of tortoise-shell Persols. (Just ask this guy.) The lenses handily eliminate aquatic glare, but they really distinguished themselves behind the wheel: The Persols distilled the reflection from asphalt better than any other model we tested. The lenses are tough, too — a series of drops onto concrete and sand didn't leave a single mark on the optics. The frames however are a bit hefty and often slid off our tester's nose when his proboscis got sweaty. Still, when you look almost as cool as McQueen these are the most minor of quibbles.

Oakley Polarized Frogskins

The Frogskins may look retro but they're the lightest and most comfortable of all the shades we tested. We took them rafting (class 3 rapids, what?!) and they stayed secure despite some nasty drops, hard bumps, and one unplanned trip over the side of the vessel. They're not bad at filtering out glare either with a subtle amber tint and very little color distortion. We really only have two slight gripes: 1) These frames are so lithe we often forgot we were wearing them in the first place. 2) The white Oakley logo that mars the side of each arm is hopelessly garish. Sorry guys, if we wanted to advertise that badly we'd go to work for Wieden+Kennedy.

WIRED Lenses and frames so light (1 ounce!), you swear they're filled with helium. Metal-free joints lend an uncomplicated, casual feel. Quite possibly the best-looking design Oakley carries. Barely a hint of color distortion.

TIRED Enormous Oakley logo is seriously gauche, despite '80s-era typeface. So little mass, some say they feel cheap.

$140, oakley.com

Zeal Optics Zyaa

Does looking like Bono from the Zooropa era sound like a smart look to go for? Then you might want to reach for a pair of the Zyaas. While the large, wrap-arounds actually did a fairly decent job of eliminating water-reflected glare; color filtration is not exactly stellar. Looking at the world through these glasses yielded a brownish-pink hue that is almost gut wrenching after long exposures. While extremely light (1.3 ounces) the Zyaas are also cheap in terms of construction and cost. But if you're looking to get polarized at a low price, there are a lot worse choices than these specs.

WIRED Supremely light and quite comfy. Stays securely fastened to face no matter what crazy-ass (white-water rafting, mountain biking) conditions you put them in. Can you argue with that price? No. No you can't.

TIRED A bit ridiculous looking on most people. Huge "Z" adorning each arm screams gelled hair and tribal tats. Color filtration is more warped than Lindsay Lohan's legal defense.

$100, zealoptics.com