Spy makes a wide range of sick counterculture shades that seem like they’re the province of ski bums, but they’re equally liked by roadies and downhill nuts. For my own part I was stoked to get my hands on the Spy Rivet sunglasses – interchangeable lenses, grippy Hytrel rubber, and Spy’s experience in ventilation generated a whole lot of promise. How did the Rivet do on the road or trail? Let’s find out.
Spy Rivet Features:
- Built from high quality Grilamid
- 8-Base ARC lenses
- Ventilated Scoop System
- Comfortable Hytrel temple tips
- 100% UV protection
- MSRP: $94.95 – $134.95
Spy Rivet Sunglasses Review
The Rivets feature Spy’s cool interchangeable lens system and they offer several lens types for different conditions. I tested the Grey Polar lenses, which I really liked; they were solid for a variety of conditions and they didn’t distort colors too much. They’re not my favorite lenses (the Ray Ban G-15 holds that place) but they’re good, especially for the price.
The lenses themselves snap in and out of the surprisingly flexy Grilamid frames. I really liked the flex in the design because that helps the glasses to bend instead of break. The frames are also highly resilient in a variety of temperatures, so they don’t become inflexible on really cold days. I was slightly concerned that the temples would be big enough to block peripheral vision, but my fears were groundless: the Rivets don’t obstruct my vision at any angle.
When I was cycling I found that the Rivets do a great job on airflow – I felt like my eyebrows were getting a nice breeze to prevent them from accumulating sweat, but there wasn’t a ton of extra air to make my eyes water. I did notice a tendency to fog when I came to a stop, but that is more a component of the anti-fog treating on the lens than the Rivet’s ventilation.
Spy uses a compound called Hytrel rubber that is supposed to get stickier when wet. That sounds really good, but the Rivets only have Hytrel on the temple tips; more expensive models like the Screw have it on the nose as well. The Rivets have a tendency to slide a little while riding, but only just slightly out of position. That being said, it’s always frustrating to have to keep pushing your glasses back up.
The Good
- Good ventilation from the Scoop system
- Flexible, robust frame thanks to the Grilamid
- Grey Polar lenses were versatile and had decent clarity
- Reasonably priced
The Bad
- Grey Polar lenses tended to fog when stopped
- No Hytrel rubber on nose pieces
- They tend to slide forward on my face during use
Bottom Line: Spy Rivet Sunglasses
All in all, I really liked the Rivets; they’re a great option at a fair price. Spy is famous for their optics, and I was impressed on all counts of the important features of eyewear: lens clarity, durability, and ventilation were all great. Bottom line, the Rivets look sharp and perform well.
Buy Now: Available at Backcountry.com
