Review: Julbo Fury Glasses
I think it was the Wu-Tang Clan who said, “protect your eyes.” I may have that wrong but Julbo has sunglasses right. The new Julbo Fury sunglasses, designed for mountain biking, proved to be great on any trail with their aggressive styling and well-ventilated photochromic lens.
Overview
- Lens: Photochromic
- Lens Material: Trivex
- Protection: 100% UVA and UVB
- Weight: 25 grams
- Sun Protection: Category 0 – 3 (VLT of 87 to 12%)
- Frame Dimensions:
- Lens size: 131mm
- Base : 5
- Lens depth: 53 mm
- Color Tested: Black – Fluoro Orange
- Case: Soft case and Zippered hard case
Who is Julbo?
Jules Baud founded what would become Julbo in 1888. Jules designed his first glasses to protect the eyes of crystal hunters in the Chamonix valley. In 1950 Julbo introduced their first mountaineering sunglasses, the Vermont, and began their legacy in the sports glasses world. Since 2000 they’ve developed more sunglass models for use all over the mountain, not just on the glaciers, and thus we have the Fury.
The name Julbo is a portmanteau of Jules Baud’s name. Ju for well, Ju and Bo is how you pronounce the Bau of Baud.
What are the Julbo Fury for?
The Fury are intended to help you wrangle the world’s greatest superheroes and help them defeat the intergalactic threats to humanity. Wait, that’s Nick Fury. My bad. I’m sure he’d wear these sunglasses if he and Iron Man were to go Mountain Biking together as that’s what they are designed for (biking, not necessarily with Iron Man). That said, I wore them Biking, Hiking, Trail Running, and will wear them ski touring. They are a great all-around mountain sunglass that will cover most use cases.
Looking through ‘em
The Fury are big sunglasses, but not comically so. Peripheral and vision is great thanks to the 131mm width lens. Some cycling glasses are designed to have extra lens above the brow while cycling with a leaned forward cycling position in mind. This can sacrifice lens at the bottom. This was not the case with the Julbo Fury as they sit with what adequate cover above the brow and ample below the eyes to block glare off the ground and not allow light to leak in below the lens. The lens has a depth of 53mm
How do the Julbo Fury Fit?
The Julbo Fury are very comfortable to wear. This is owing to both their lightweight and great features.
The Julbo Fury features the Air Link Temple System. This is the two part elastomer shock absorber at the end of the arms on the glasses. The elastomer is also made of Grip Tech, Julbo’s exclusive material that grips well but does not pull on hair. This helps alleviate pressure and does a great job. This is important for a pseudo-hippy like myself. I did not find the temples gripped onto my hair at all, something that is not true of all sunglasses. Unfortunately, this has peeled a minor amount in the months I have used them.
The Julbo Fury hold well with only minor slippage when getting sweaty. On hot days where I was moving quickly the glasses would slide, but just barely. I never worried they were going to fall off, both while mountain biking and while hiking. Be careful when pushing the Julbo Fury back up though, it’s all lens out front and you could scratch them.
There is absolutely no pressure on the bridge of my nose. The flexible shock-absorbing grip on the nose pad are comfortable. I suspect this is the same elastomer as the temples.
What are Reactiv Photochromic Lenses?
I regularly wore these glasses from sunrise to beyond sunset not realizing I still had them on. That’s thanks to the Reactiv Photochromic lens, the piece de resistance of the Julbo Fury.
Photochromic lenses change VLT (visible light transmission, or how much light the lens allows through) based on ambient light. Take them out on a sunny day and the lens quickly and automatically darkens to match the lighting. In the case of Reactiv Photochromic lenses, they darken, allowing only 12% of light through them. The lenses are really dark at this point, so dark that it is not possible for others to see your eyes.
As the sun dips or you head into a dark forest the lens lightens to allow 87% of the VLT through. They are nearly clear at this point showing barely any tint.
The Photochromic is not temperature sensitive which means it darkens or lightens at the same rate no matter the outside temperature. This means they should work just as well in the summer mountain biking as they will in the winter skiing. We’ll be putting this to the test now the snow has begun to fall.
I occasionally notice a slight imperfection in the Photochromic change. When the sun strikes the lens at a hard angle, from the side this creates a hard line of different darkness in the middle of the lens. This minor annoyance could be corrected by looking more in the direction at the bright source giving the lens a few seconds to adjust and become uniformly dark.
What is the Lens Made of?
Most sunglasses on the market are made of Polycarbonate, a plastic designed in the 1970s for Aeronautical use. The Julbo Fury lens is made of Trivex. This is a much more recently developed material, 2001 to be exact. It is roughly 10% heavier than polycarbonate (In the case of the Julbo Fury that amounts to 2.5 grams or about the weight of a penny). Trivex’ advantage is that there is less internal stress in the plastic and therefore it is sharper in the middle of the lens. Trivex also has a higher Abbe value and can also be sharper peripherally and have less chromatic aberration. What is Abbe Value? What is Trivex?
Are they foggy?
I had to try really hard to fog these lenses. They have an anti-fog coating and on the sides of the lens and along the top edge are giant vents. In fact, the lens is attached at the middle of the brow and along with the nose and that’s it. The lens looks almost like it is floating. With so little lens attached to the frame I would have expected there to be movement, but there isn’t. The lens stays firmly in place. I look forward to seeing how they do this winter ski touring.
Frame Material
The frame of the Julbo Fury is slightly stiff. There is very little flex and they have held their shape well over a season of everyday use. Even on cloudy days I wore them as they were so light I didn’t even notice when they were on top of my head. They do not fold up to be the smallest glasses in the world, though they do come with both a pouch and soft case, though I rarely used either. These sunglasses lived on my head.
The pair of Julbo Fury I tested came in the Black – Fluoro Orange colorway. The brow of the frame is a shiny black while the side and lower portion of the rim is fluorescent Orange.
Overview
I really like the Julbo Fury. They’re orange, so you knew I was going to like them. I just didn’t know how much. I like them a lot.
There are not many light conditions where these sunglasses do not excel. Mountain Biking in the Sea to Sky often involves quick transitions from open terrain to dense tree’d areas and the lenses adapted quickly and I never felt the need to remove them. Hiking in the Alps, they were great and stayed on my face from the moment I left the hut to the end of the day, often only removing them when it was time to shower. I did not shower with them, though.
They stay put on all but the hottest days and when they do slip, it’s not far and never off your face. I never felt the need to wear a
I hope Julbo either brings out a level 4 lens for the Fury or brings out a Photochromic and Polarised lens so that I can continue to use the Fury throughout winter and on ski tours on glaciers.
Pros: They Julbo Fury are very lightweight and do a great job protecting your eyes from the sun’s rays thanks to being UVA and UVB proof and great coverage. They go relatively unnoticed on your head. Fluoro Orange is awesome!
Cons: I’d love a polarized lens. Durability is a small issue with some slight peeling on the arms.
If you are interested in checking out the Julbo Fury head on over to Julbo and check them out!
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Black Sheep Adventure sports was provided with a free pair of Julbo Fury sunglasses. This in no way affected our opinion and review of them.
