The Evil Eye Trailsense 2 Sunglasses

The Evil Eye Trailsense 2 sunglasses are no fuss speed glasses. Easily adjusted, rugged and light, they excel moving fast in variable conditions and have handled multiple ski tours, short distance hikes and a dozen mountain bike rides with ease.

Overview

Lens Tested: LST VARio purple M
Light Transmission: 62-13%
Color Tested: Black Matt
Frame Material: PPX (Polypropylene X)
Lens Material: Polycarbonate
Weight: 31 grams in Sz L
Country of Origin: Austria

Who is Evil Eye?

I love hearing about new and upcoming brands, especially European ones that don’t hit North American shores for quite some time. With a chance meeting at UTMB last year, I got to know the folks at Evil Eye. They’ve been making sports sunglasses and goggles since 2019 in Linz, Austria and were keen to let me try a pair or two of their shades out, and I am glad they did.

Evil Eye is part of the Silhouette group, a third generation owned optics brand formed in 1964. The Silhouette Group is responsible for making Adidas Eyewear from 1993 to 2019, coincidentally, the year Evil Eye was born.

Since 2022, Evil Eye has been carbon neutral and in the 7 years they have been making glasses they have halved their carbon emissions. Good looks, functionality and an emphasis on clean energy. I like where Evil Eye is headed!

Teh LST VARio Purple really pops when front lit

What is the Evil Eye Trailsense II?

The Evil Eye Tralsense II sunglasses are medium sized mono lensed mountain biking glasses. Labelling them bike glasses leaves out a great range where these glasses excel, and that’s with any fast moving sport. I’ve used them for hiking, mountain biking as well as ski touring and found them to be exceptional.

What is an Evil Eye made of?

The Trailsense 2 frame is made of PPX which is Evil Eye’s proprietary polypropylene material. Why polypropylene? It’s durable, flexible, and possibly even more importantly, UV resistant. To the layman, it’s a very good plastic for sunglasses to be made of. It is also very lightweight. The Trailsense 2 comes in at a svelte 31 grams.

Coatings and Polycarbonate

Almost all Evil Eye lenses are made of a polycarbonate that has LST, or light stabilizing technology. This is Evil Eye’s coating that adds contrast or increases brightness. There are seven different versions of LST and the type I tried is combined with VARio.

VARio is Evil Eyes’ version of being photochromic. Head out into the sun and the glasses will automatically darken. At their darkest, the LST VARio lens will block 87% of the ambient light at their darkest. Head into the shade and they will then only block 38% of ambient light. The transition between dark and light is also incredibly fast with a reported 0.6 seconds. I’m not sure how Evil Eye tests that speed but I also do not feel I need to. REcent bike rides that move from glaring sun into dark forest canopy at 20-30kmh tell me the lenses change darkness fast enough,

Like any good sunglass, the Trailsense 2 offers 100% protection against UVA, UVB and UVC (UV 400).

Head on with the Evil Eye Trailsense 2 Sunglasses

Customizing the Fit

Tri.Fit and Traction Grip

The arms of the Trailsense 2 glasses can rotate downward at the temple in effect pushing the brow of the frame farther from the forehead and rotating the lens slightly downward. Evil Eye calls this tri.fit.

By rotating the brow of the glasses away from the wearer and the lanes downward it gives a little more protection from ground glare while at the same time moving the top of the lens from those of us with very bushy eyebrows.

I found this feature by accident when handling the arms too aggressively one day. It’s a feature I didn’t know I wanted, and now wish I had on all my sports glasses due to my bishy eyebrows that tend to leave sweat marks on the top of everything but goggles. Rotating the arms makes a bit of a grinding sound but don’t worry, I’ve arbitrarily moved mine a ton (in the name of testing) and I’ve seen no slop develop.

At the end of the arms are silicon grips called Traction Grip. Combined with a relatively stiff frame the Evil Eye Trailsense 2 glasses stay planted on my face. Mountain Biking, Trail Running or snowboarding have managed to make these glasses slip off my face.

Double snap nose pads

The nose pads on the Trails Sense 2 have two positions. Evil Eye refers to this as Double Snap Nosepads. This will help customize the fit for folks with different sized nose bridges. The settings are noticeable but the nose pads are very stiff. It takes enough force to feel like you are about to break the glasses before the nosepad moves. I recommend removing the nosepad and adjusting them off the glasses.

Quick change lens system

The Trailsense 2 also has swappable lenses. Popping off the lens and removing the nosepad to do so is a cinch. Save yourself the effort though and get a pair with the LST VARio lens. You’ll only ever need to change lenses should you scratch them too much.

My Experience with the Evil Eye Trailsense 2

I met the folks of Evil Eye at a booth at the UTMB. I had never heard of them prior to a fellow guide mentioning them a month earlier so I was keen to learn about a brand I had never heard of. All the staff seemed stoked on the brand and excited that I would want to try them out, and I am glad I did.

They have a surprising number of features that work well, especially the Tri.Fit system. This was something I didn’t know my large bushy eyebrowed self needed until I had it. Now, glasses without Tri.fit seem inferior.

The lens is really the piece de Resistance of the Trail Sense 2. There are myriad lenses available for the Trailsense 2 but I cannot imagine why you would not get the LST VARio. I’ve been able to wear these ski touring on bright and overcast days and not worry whether it was about to change from one to the other. Training hikes that begin in the forest and end in the granite alpine are no challenge either, neither is mountain biking.

On the brightest of days on snow I wish they were a hair darker but I have yet to find a photochromic glass that can go from Category 1 to Category 4.

Who are the Evil Eye Trailsense II for?

Don’t let the Trailsense name pigeon hole your use case of these glasses. They have done a fantastic job on snow this winter and continue to excel as I trade my board for a bike. They will suit anyone looking for some optical protection from the elements in a lightweight do it all sports glass. Head on over to the Evil Eye website and pick up a pair, you won’t regret it.

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Disclaimer

BlackSheep Adventure sports was provided with a free pair of Evil Eye Trailsense II glasses to review. This in no way affected our opinion nor the review.