Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the Smith Bobcat sunglasses.
The new Smith Bobcat sunglasses retain the same full coverage and bold styling of the popular
Smith Wildcat sunglasses but offer them with a small to medium fit. As the name implies the Bobcat
is a lighter version of the Wildcat and has the same attractive full-frame design and crisp optics.
Packaging is very simple, you have cardboard box Smith printed directly on there and then the basic
specs printed on the side. We'll go over the specs as we take it out of the box. Retail price on this
is either $209 for standard lenses or $229 for the photochromic which is pretty impressive as it's not
that much more expensive. These have ChromaPop lens options which is Smith's proprietary lens
technology and you can see it has a five base lens curvature and that means it's fairly flat with a
slight wrap around design. It has their Evolved Bio based frame it uses 53% bio based material
into the polymer of the frame. You have the Mengol temples and nosepad which is
their rubber material so non-slip but still has a nice grip to it and won't get stuck in your hair.
You have auto lock hinges so when you get it close they'll just kind of lock into place so
it makes it easy to put on with one hand and you get a two position nose pad so you can see these
have a little ratchet device so you can put them out or move them inward with a little pressure and
very flexible overall design with the full frame and no nose bridge. In terms of what comes with it
you get quite a few things obviously you get the sunglasses themselves a replacement clear lens.
Other replacement lenses are about eighty dollars but it's nice to get the clear one right
in the box. You get a large zippered case which stores the spare lens directly
inside you get the fabric carrying case if you want something a little smaller to carry around
and protect it with a Smith sticker a little glass info pamphlet and this nice little card
that shows you how to replace the lens. Unlike the Smith Mag you do have to get your hands on there
we'll have a separate video on that as well. Now let's take a look at the weight of the Bobcats
so on the scale comes in at about 24 grams so very light considering how big the lens is.
Visually the Bobcat sunglasses retain a lot of the same elements as the Wildcat.
You get the large oversized one-piece lens and a minimalist covered up frame what's really
nice about this with the mirrored lens you can't actually see the frame that wraps around on the
corner so it's a sleek design that really hides it and almost makes it look like a frameless design.
From the back side you can see there is a frame there but it's quite thin so it's not really in
your face and you don't have a nose bridge so it's just a wrap around design. It's available
in quite a few color and lens options we have the matte merlot here which looks really cool
but they also have it in brighter colors like the black marble which is retro
and different mirrored options. Smith always has great options so you can go really loud or subtle
depending on what you prefer again it has that smoothed out look that really reminds me of POC
so nice minimalist design doesn't look too in your face even though it is a very tall oversized lens.
You can see it's very flexible as well you have that polymer frame which although it does feel
a little bit cheap compared to metal or the carbon fiber ones it's very durable and something you can
drop and not worry about. The temple arms are also super flexible so standard temples go off the side
and it's almost like a little piece of rubber so no real structure they just move around and they
can really wrap around your head and face so i can easily wear this even though i typically wear
standard medium to large. You can still wear the smaller frame as it's so flexible and you can see
the temples will actually swing out a little bit thanks to the frame you have that rubber
material here that provides nice non-grip non-slip surface and then you have the two position
nose pad so you can adjust it in and out and on top of that this is super flexible too so
the actual rubber piece will move around. It is an interchangeable lens design
so there's no way to do it without getting fingerprints on it but you simply pull up
pull out and you can see the little tabs that hold it in place we take the lens out. You can
see very flexible there's not much here but a very durable polymer lens frame design they're
available in quite a few ChromaPop option.sWwe have the mirrored version the photochromic is also a
really cool option if you want to have something that'll adapt to the environment. You just
want to make sure the one you get the one that matches your filter category for your environment
so you want something that provides enough protection but doesn't leave you unable to
see so if you're in low visibility conditions. You can easily swap out to the clear lens or you could
go photochromic which almost gives you two in one for not much more price. To put the lens back in
a little bit harder you have to kind of flex it in there in the corners once you get the corners
you can hear it go back into place. You have to line it up and then
you can see it pops in of course you get all the fingerprints on there which you want to clean off.
Now let's take a look at the sunglasses on the road you can see the Merlot color really matches
the Isadore jersey very well so it's a nice mellow color that should match a variety of kits. It's
also a very attractive pair of sunglasses they're oversized but have those concealed corners and
nice smooth edges on there they remind me a lot of POC. It is a nice minimal styling even though these
are designed for a smaller fit you don't have to be worried about that if you have a regular face
like us we normally wear regular to large fit and these fit just as well
just a little bit closer to the face and the wide flexible temple arms really stretch
out so you don't have any pressure points. You also get that nice wide field of view
with the oversized lens which is really great for cycling as it's very immersive.
As you can see here we have quite a variation from the frameless, semi-frameless to standard
full frame options. Here we have the Boomtown another Smith model and you can see very similar.
They have a lot of the same lens options and frame coloring you can see the Bobcat
is taller so better suited for say cycling or performance and with the concealed frame.
It gives it a almost semi-frameless look while the boomtown has a full frame all the way around
you can also see the really cool black marble finish and that gives it almost a retro look
and on the inside you can see different Chromopop lenses but you do have a nose bridge on the
Boomtown while the Bobcat does not have that so you definitely just want to pick the one that fits
your style. You can also get other full frame lenses you can see we have the Bolle
Chronoshield. It is inspired by goggles that's why it looks like goggles and you can see pretty massive
so taller wider and more of a wrap around curvature too so really more like a shield like
so this one's definitely more in your face. It is something that looks a little awkward off the bike
but has a little bit of venting and this top brow so unique option but again a little more extreme.
There's also semi-frameless designs like the Roka Matador Air, you
can see no frame on the bottom much more of a wraparound design so that's where the
base curvature comes in this is closer to flat while this really wraps.
You don't have the frame on the bottom so a little bit more immersive
but you can see from the outside they look very similar because of that concealed frame and with
eroka you get a little more extreme styling with this curvature and the temple arms that come
down. There's also options like the frameless options like the Bolle Icarus here.
So you can see a little more subtle design and it has no frame on top bottom. It is a little bit shorter in
terms of height but similar curvature was slightly more curved. The nice thing about a full frame length
design is that you can actually see all the way around with no frame while something like the
Bobcat does have a frame at the corner of your vision the downside of a full frameless option is
that you can't really change a lens because the lens is pretty much of the whole thing. There's
also more polarizing designs like the Oakley Kato here which had almost bird beak style that wraps
around the nose pad and you can see again the lens itself is the full structure so definitely
more extreme looking while the Bobcat kind of combines the more subtle oversized lens design.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Bobcat sunglasses. What I like about them is that they
include the clear lens right in the box so if you ride in low light conditions or nighttime
riding you can all swap them in. They also have sleek styling with those concealed frame corners
that make the sunglasses look more like a semi-frameless instead of a full-frame design. They
also have the sleek smooth corners that remind me a lot of POC and have the minimalist look to them
and with the oversized lens you retain that wide field of view but can accommodate smaller faces.
One of the cons for the sunglasses the fact that lens removal does require a fair amount of force
would love to see the magnetic design that Smith used in some of their other models. Taking
everything into account would give the Bobcat an 8.9 out of 10. These are big oversized sunglasses
that can accommodate smaller fits. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and
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