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.
Note the Hytrel rubber on the temple tips
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
