Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing
the Bolle Icarus performance cycling sunglasses.
These days cycling sunglasses needed to have extreme styling or lightweight to stand out in the
crowded marketplace. Bolle has chosen the latter approach with the new Bolle Icarus sunglasses that
we have here today. While the sunglasses may not prevent you from flying too close to the sun like
the over-ambitious Icarus from greek mythology at a claim 24 grams they may give you wings and
will at least give you uv protection from the sun. The packaging is very simple cardboard
box same black and white Bolle branding on here. You can see a little bit information on the side
and then the version we have here which is the matte black frame with the Phantom brown red
photochromic lens. Lets go ahead take out the box and go over the specs. These are available
in a few versions so it's everything from $140 with the standard lens,
170 dollars with the Volt+ lens and then $200 for the photochromic that we have here today.
It is a full frameless design so that's what gives it such a light weight you don't have
a top brow or bottom brow. You have a lightweight TR90 construction for the temples as well as an
S-fit signature temple. So you can see very flexible that can curve around any size face.
You have thermo grip temples and nose pad so that's a nice non-slip rubber material as well
as a snap hinge that makes it easy to store and open up. In terms of what comes with it
pretty much get these sunglasses a fabric carrying case and that's great for cleaning
it too a zippered case so it's a nice case for traveling with so it won't get crushed
and then a little instruction manual for the lens information.
Now let's take a look at the weight of the Icarus sunglasses Bolle claims these to be 24 grams
and on our scale actually comes at 22 it's a little bit lighter than claimed.
In order to achieve such a light weight with the Icarus sunglasses Bolle has gone with a full
frameless design that means there's actually no frame on the top or bottom of the lens.
The lens really is most of the structure you just have the temple arms attached to it and
then a little nose piece that goes onto the bridge. So very simple they're able to maintain the same
aggressive style that Bolle is known for and by that i mean these little sharp edges here.
So POC would be a lot smoother, Oakley would have different look with little corners and bevels with
the Bolle it's quite distinct. You have the little protrusion on the side and they also have these
nice details like the laser etching along the bottom edge and that gives just a little bit
of a visual difference at the edges. You can see this is the black version of the sunglasses they
have quite a few colors and lens combinations so you can find the one that matches your style.
You can't replace the lens once you buy one so pick the one that really works for you
because really when you replace the lens that's 99 of the sunglasses so you might as well just buy
another set. You can see very thin temple arms come out really nice and smooth you have the
thermo grip rubber material on the inside so nice and grippy and won't really get stuck to your hair.
Very flexible so you can see how flexible that is so this should fit a wide variety of faces whether
it's wide or narrow and then really flexible up and down as well you have the same thermo
grip on the nose pad. It's not adjustable it's just a more of a malleable finish so
you kind of push it to where you want it and it should sit nice and flush. No indexed
or ratchet design instead it's just a rubber piece that's malleable.
Otherwise it's very simple so you can see minimal branding on here it's just a couple specs on the
edges. One of the most important aspects of sunglasses are the lenses you want to get
something that has the right filter category and the right base color for your riding environment.
The filter category ranges from zero all the way to four where zero is a fully transparent lens
and then 4 is very dark. Generally you want to be between 2 to 3 so here in california
I would typically stick with a category 3 with the photochromic lens that we have here this
is the phantom variation. It's a phantom brown red this is actually a category two to three
so it'll adjust to the environment and that means they'll range from 15
visible light transmission all the way to 35 so very flexible. That means you can wear it in full
sun and then even go through darker canyons and have the lens automatically adjust. So something
we highly recommend you essentially get two lenses for the price of one and it's only slightly more
expensive than the standard lens. The base tint is also important so here you can see it's brown
it's hard to show on a camera but it's pretty nice so this really brings out imperfections
the road potholes. You can pick different base tins if you do a lot more mountain biking or if you do
water sports you'd want to pick the right lens for that. Thanks to the reserve styling they can
really pair well with a variety of cycling kits and they're not so tall that they'd interfere
with helmets instead you have that nice frameless design with that aggressive design language with
those sharp edges especially in the black frame and phantom lens combination they can really pair
well with a lot of cycling kits. As far as the lens clarity we're really impressed with them they're
so lightweight it's easy to forget you're wearing them and with the frameless design there's nothing
blocking your vision so it's very immersive. We also really like the photochromic lens
one of our favorites from Bolle as you can wear them in a variety of environments so especially
here on the coast we have a lot of micro climates so you can be in full sun and these will kind of
darken to help with your vision and then go into the canyons or the forest where it's a little bit
darker and they'll lighten up so you don't have to take off your sunglasses so you really get that
two-on-one feature with these photochromic lens. It's something we'd highly recommend.
Now when it comes to sunglasses there are a lot of styles to choose from in cycling
you have full frame versions like the Smith MAG here so you can see frame goes all the way around
and it's a little bit more rigid and even though the edges are very thin they're still visible at
the corner of your vision. Then you have other ones like the retro inspired Bolle Chronoshield so you
can see this looks like a ski goggle and it's actually inspired by that and it's turned into
a cycling sunglass. So very large frame so this is very oversized so if you put the Icarus next to it
you can see quite a bit smaller in terms of height and same thing in terms of width. So while this one
looks cool you still have the full frame that goes around it's a little bit heavier a little
bit more rigid. The other style you have is what they called semi-frameless so that's where you
cut out the bottom of the frame and you just have that top brow. This is the POC Aim so you can see
open on the bottom and then they still have the top connector. The Aim also has this little bridge
that connects the nose piece with the top frame which is not really visible when you're riding but
kind of visible at the edge of your vision and you can see very nice color. The POC is a lot smoother
versus the Bolle, so the Bolle has these sharp edges and that gives a little bit more athletic or
aggressive appearance. With POC everything's really smooth and minimalist so definitely
a different design language. Speaking of the Bolle sunglasses we also have the Light Shifter
so semi-frameless same lens actually so you can see exact same color in here same style you even
have the laser etching at the corners but with here with the Light Shifter it's a lot larger
they kind of dialed it back with the Icarus but you can see very similar style. They've
kept that design language but they've just simply removed the top which lightens it up
and makes a little bit more flexible. The downside of this full frameless design is that you can't
really swap out a lens because there's nothing to swap essentially the temple arms will come off and
you might as well just buy another pair of sunglasses at that point.
They're also more extreme versions of the semi-frameless or full frameless design like the
Oakley Kato, so you can see it looks more like a bird beak with that full single piece that
wraps around. You still have a nose pad but it's underneath so definitely a more polarizing design
quite expensive and they've actually put a little lip here at the top
to give the frame a little bit more rigidity versus just the flat lens which you can see a
lot more flexible but again very polarizing. The Roka Matador Air that we have here this is the Matador
so you can see semi-frameless again but has the top brow a little bit more of a shield
like design so you can see it's a cylindrical curve to it where the Icarus is a little bit
flatter and a little bit taller as well. If you put them side by side so plenty to choose from
but thicker is a nice combination of frameless design with a little bit more aggressive look.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Bolle Icarus sunglasses. What we like about them is that
they have a frameless design so you have a very unrestricted view there's no frame on
the top or bottom to block your vision. They're also so lightweight that you'll easily forget
you're wearing them we've had a few rides now where we're actually part way through the ride
and have to actually check if we're wearing sunglasses or not. Also they're available in
a variety of lens and color options so you can find the right one that works for you.
One of the only cons with these sunglasses the fact there's no color customization available.
So you can not mix and match the temple and the nose pieces as you can with Oakley or other brands.
Taking everything into account would give the Bolle Icarus a 9.0 out of 10. These are really
lightweight sunglasses with crisp optics. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and
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