The KOO Hype is the eyewear brand’s latest range-topping product, which it claims to be its most innovative pair of glasses to date. With many of the best glasses for cycling promising exceptional performance driven by technological advancements, it was interesting to see how these premium-priced shades would compare.
Construction
The Hype glasses use a Grilamid frame for impact protection, with the arms designed to wrap around the head to provide better security; rubber grips are included on the arms to aid this.
A new feature is the Maximum Ventilation System, which is essentially a central frontal port on the glasses and temple vents to improve airflow and reduce fogging, especially when climbing in humid conditions.
To allow for the vent, the lens features a cutaway, making it look like a two-lens design despite it being a single piece. Again, it's a new offering. KOO have long been using the Zeiss lens technology, but the Hype uses the brand's new Toric lens with a double curvature design. Most lenses are cylindrical, and wrap around the horizontal plane, whereas these are spherical, and also wrap around the vertical plane. This is designed to offer better coverage, especially at the top and bottom of the lenses.
The supplied Super Pink Mirror lenses have a light filtration of 13%, making them category 3 lenses. Nine frame colour combinations are available along with nine different lenses; the lens is interchangeable so you can switch based on the weather conditions. An optical clip can also be attached internally for prescription lenses.
The glasses also come with multiple nose pieces to allow for a more tailored fit, as well as a soft case to store them in.
The ride
The spherical nature of the lens is quickly noticeable compared to cylindrical lenses. The main difference is the great coverage towards the base of the glasses and around the periphery. A cylindrical lens tends to leave more space towards the top or the base of the lens as it does not curve down with the shape of the head.
The slight spherical curvature of the Hype lenses means that the top and base have better coverage, which has a twofold effect. Firstly there isn’t a different tone of light visible and the glasses cover the full field of vision far better. Secondly, there is less unwanted airflow that goes through the lenses when your head is in a more dropped position.
It’s often a bit more expensive to make lenses like this, due to how they are cut, and the lower curvature can mean sweat is more likely to drip onto the lens rather than fall behind it. However, it is a lens shape that I think is far better thanks to the greater coverage it provides.
Aside from the spherical element, the lens is the same Zeiss optic as used in previous KOO models. These offer fantastic clarity and a decent level of hydrophobic performance, as discovered during some fairly wet and windy rides.
Early morning starts with low sunlight also showed off how effective the glare protection is. The Super Pink Mirror lenses supplied are for brighter conditions, letting in 13% of transmittable light, but perform well even in murky or cloudy weather thanks to the high clarity.
As mentioned, while they look like a double lens design, they are in fact are a single lens so are a little easier to switch out. KOO also offers an optical clip to be used with any of their lenses, which allows the use of prescription lenses without needing to pay more for multiple prescription lens options if you want darker or lighter lenses.
My only issue at present is that there is no photochromic option available. It's a shame as the KOO Fuchsia Photochromic lenses are quite possibly the best changeable lenses I’ve used. Their inclusion would make these glasses a superb all-year, all-weather option.
The frame of the Hype glasses is another area that has been heavily updated from the Alibi and Demo models. The arms feature more of a wraparound design on the arms for added security. And it works. They stayed securely in place even when worn over head and ear warmers with no skin for traction. This makes them a little tougher to store in some helmet vents, but for the most part it was fairly easy and in some cases more secure.
For added venting, KOO have introduced what they call the Maximum Ventilation System. This includes the centre port between the eyes, and two ports on the arms of the frame. I personally didn’t really notice much airflow around the arm vents, but it's worth stating that I haven't tested them in warmer weather as yet. At the front however, the unobtrusive centre vent worked very well to reduce lens fogging, which I often find happens in winter weather. However it didn't provide enough airflow that my face felt noticeably cooler when working at higher intensities.
Value
At £180 / $215, this is certainly not a cheap pair of glasses. It does however keep it in line with offerings from Scicon, 100%, SunGod, and Oakley which all sit in a similar price range depending on the options and lenses that you go for. Lacking a dedicated hard case, rather than a sturdy cardboard box does detract a little compared to the Oakley Sutros, but they don’t feature a spherical lens shape. There is also no spare clear lens supplied as standard like you get with Scicon glasses.
However, for the level of performance, anti-fogging, and superb lens quality, I think the KOO Hype glasses represent reasonable value when compared to other high-end cycling sunglasses available. If you don’t want to spend that money, there are cheaper alternatives, but you will likely have to settle for lesser lens quality and fewer features.
Conclusion
The KOO Hype glasses are an impressively practical and high-performing pair of cycling sunglasses. The Zeiss Toric lens is fantastic in its clarity, glare protection, hydrophobic properties and coverage. Add to that the updated frame design, which is more secure than previous models while adding effective ventilation and anti-fogging elements, and you have a well-rounded pair of glasses. They are expensive, and a hard case and spare clear lens would be greatly appreciated at this price point. But compared to other high-end offerings they represent decent value.
