Native Eyewear recently provided us with their Crestone sunglasses for review, and we ended up suitably impressed with them. While fashion does play a huge role in the eyewear industry, performance and protection should not be overlooked. Anyone that spends time outdoors needs to protect their eyes from the sun, wind, cold, and airborne debris.
One of their many options, the Crestone is a stylish wraparound, with thick temples that offer good coverage without looking too chunky. These very light glasses are available in Desert Tort with brown lenses, Asphalt with silver reflex lenses, and Obsidian with gray lenses (our test pair). Inside the case is an extra set of lenses, but there are also some features that make them a standout in a crowded industry.
N3™Polarized Lens Technology: Protects your eyes by blocking up to 4x more infrared light than other polarized lenses, provides UV protection up to 400nm, and meets ANSI Z87.1 spec for impact resistance. Improves visual acuity by reducing blue light, and filtering certain UV, for better contrast and definition. Rather than just let less light through, they make everything look sharper.
Mastoid Temple Grip™and Cushinol™pads: Provide comfort and grip at the contact points where the glasses touch your face. It’s like a custom fit, but without having to adjust anything.
Co-Injected Rhyno-Tuff® Air Frames: Strong, light, and durable.
In addition to the standard gray lenses, a bluish mirrored set of lenses are also included, and their amber tint cut through the glare and improved vision during the winter, when there was more blue light reflecting off snow, and less overall sunlight. They actually saw the most use during this review, but as the sun shows up a bit more often, the gray will get switched back in. Swapping lenses is a pretty easy task too.
The first thing every single person shopping for sunglasses considers is the styling. Even if they met every other requirement for safety and protection, an ugly pair of glasses just won’t sell, as no one would want to wear them. Native Eyewear has you covered there, and the Crestone is a fine example. While the Desert Tort is bold, and the Asphalt a bit more understated, the Obsidian falls somewhere in the middle. Mrs. Outsider was drawn to the style and color of them, and when they arrived, she was immediately pleased with the comfort, which is one of the other major concerns for eyewear. If they are not comfortable, you won’t want to wear them for hours at a time. Which brings us to protection. After 30 or so eye surgeries and procedures, I can assure you that my wife knows a thing or two about protecting her eyes. The lenses in the Crestone absorb 100% of UV light, and offer a level of impact protection she’s unlikely to ever need (part of Z87.1 testing involves a 1/4″ steel ball traveling 102 MPH), and the frames block stray light coming in from the sides, while being light enough to wear all day. In other words, they are everything she could ask for in a pair of sunglasses. NativeEyewear.com
– Brian (with assistance from Mrs. Outsider)