Optishokz Revvez Sunglasses Gear Test and Review

When the opportunity to gear test the new Optishokz Revvez presented itself, I initially thought, “well that is dumb. I don’t even run with headphones”. But after a lengthy thought process on this (for me that means about 30 seconds, give or take 30 seconds), I thought I may, in fact, be the perfect person to try out a pair and be able to provide a very unbiased critique. Before I even picked up this new running toy I started to think of all the reasons I DIDN’T run with music. Quickly I was able to weed out reasons that wouldn’t be at all impacted regardless of the absolute perfect device design: my desire to be present in my mind and not distracted by music, the need to carry unnecessary items (for me music isn’t a necessity to run, but for many of my friends it is), and then being able to hear 100% of the noises surrounding me. If those are your reasons for not adding music to your quiver, then you can pretty much stop reading here. But if the door is still left even slightly open, please continue on. I think you will be as surprised as I was by these glasses.

What’s in the box?

Don’t let the size of the box scare you, the sunglasses actually aren’t even close to as bulky as I might envision to accommodate the speakers, controls, battery, and charging port. When you open the box you will find a robust case to protect your glasses during your travels or in your gym bag, a sunglass frame, two lenses (one a dark tint and one amber), a charging cable, soft cloth case, and spare nose piece. I initially played with changing the lenses which was difficult at first, but I soon got the hang of it and realized releasing the outer edges first then the shallow rim around the bridge of the nose seemed to make easy work of switching lenses. I looked at the design of the lens that wasn’t in the frame to see where the catch points were. That made a huge difference.

Pros:

– Eliminates the tunnel sound so you can hear outside noises and voices

The end of the frame arms contains small speakers to transfer the audio wave sound through bone conduction. This was my first experience of this type of device and I REALLY liked it. On one of my test runs, I ran with a buddy that had Bose in-ear earbuds. While I admit that the sound quality was spectacular, the fact I couldn’t hear anything else of my surroundings including bicycle passing bells, voices of other runners, or even my own foot strike made me super happy to trade back my headphones for the Optishokz.

– Tight fit

The frames fit comfortably and didn’t bounce at all while I was running.

– Great for talking on the phone

The sound quality, except for my heavy breathing while running, was actually really clear. I tested the phone call feature around the house as well as out on a couple runs. Easy to connect to the incoming call and no complaints from the caller on the other end for sound quality.

– And working around the house

I actually decided to wear these while using the leaf blower. It worked really well to still have the music sound while protecting my ears with the foam earplugs. I will definitely use this in the future and probably while running my snowblower as well.

– No chord dangling around my neck

Using my buddy’s Bose I remembered how the simple irritation of a chord slapping my neck was one of the annoyances that made me stop listening to music while running. This is a significant advantage to the Optishokz Revvez in my opinion.

Cons:

– Switching lenses for light conditions

I would have liked it better if it had the zebra light lenses like my Julbo’s. But this is mainly because I run in the twilight hours. If you are only a mid-day runner, this won’t matter.

– Sound quality

Sound quality is good, but not quite as crisp as compared to the Bose. But I would take that any day over the tunnel-like sound of an in the ear, earbud. In my mind, this is not an issue to worry about. I’m running, not attending a symphony.

– Lens clarity

Similar to the sound quality, the lens clarity is good, but not quite as crystal clear as my Julbo’s. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a snob in this area and am continually seeking a lens that will feel like I don’t have any glasses on at all.

Recommendation:

All in all, I was actually rather impressed by this device. My initial prediction would be that they would look bulky and funny, the fit would be loose and annoying, and that the lens quality would be distracting and result in me not wanting to wear them. Much to my surprise, I was wrong on all accounts. I quickly forgot they were there and was completely comfortable to have them on my face for up to a two-hour run. The battery life also held for several hours beyond my initial 2 hour test run. The lens clarity was admittedly not as crisp as some of the higher-end optics, but it was not a significant enough difference to cause me to even think about that while running. So I would say if you were looking for a way to listen to tunes on a run without an annoying chord and still want to be safe and be able to hear your surroundings, this is a great option for you. For someone like me that rarely uses music on runs, I might suggest sticking with you Julbo’s and occasionally adding some of the other Aftershokz bone conducting devices.

Shop the Optishokz Revvez in-store at Tahoe Mountain Sports!

Looking for the best running sunglasses without integrated music? Look no further than the Top Three Sunglasses for Speed and Performance. Hint: they’re Steve’s favorites!