Tifosi Altar sunglasses

Tifosi optics, an American company, prides itself in making top quality eyewear at a non-brand-name price. The Altar is another addition to their wide range, coming with 3 lenses, a hard and soft case for just £49.99.

The first thing you'll notice about the Altars is their chunky design. The frames are made out of strong Grilamid TR90, which is a highly flexible, yet tough plastic. The arms of the Altars can be adjusted, or bent, to any shape allowing the wearer to get the perfect fit for whatever activity they are going to be used for. The Altars also feature a half rim design; this means that the frames are open at the bottom increasing your field of view.

One key to any pair of riding glasses, other than the aesthetics of course, is the lens clarity. The Altars do not disappoint. The three tinted polycarbonate lenses that come with the Altar give you clear and undistorted vision. Coming with a smoke lens for sunny days, clear for low light and all-conditions red for everything in between, the Altar has all bases covered.

Riding, you soon forget that you are wearing them. Only weighing 34 grams and fitting my larger head well I was pleased with how these value-for-money glasses performed. Even when riding hard the hydrophilic nose and ear pieces stopped the glasses from shifting as I sweated. The lenses are ventilated to decrease the chance of them steaming up, but I did find that when riding hard on a chilly morning I did occasionally get some fogging of the lenses. Maybe an additional vent hole closer to the middle of the lenses would increase the airflow enough to reduce this.

Another feature I liked was the dipped ear pieces. This reduced the chances of them snagging on my rear helmet strap.

Changing the lenses on the Altars is a very simple affair. The flexibility of the frame and lens gives you the confidence that they are snapped into place, and are not going to snap as you try to remove or fit them. I'll be interested to see long term how the lenses hold up to many changes because their tangs do look rather small.

Overall the Altars are a pair of glasses that offer a lot for your money. Three lenses, a sturdy design to fit all head shapes, and you'll soon forget you are wearing.

The design is not super aggressive so they can be worn off the bike without the risk of you looking like a sports freak. Just a shame on the misting up.

Verdict

Great optics for a good price.