Have you ever been riding and hit in the face with a rock? Or fishing and hit in the face with a lure? Or work in a trade that requires ANSI certified safety glasses?
I don’t work trades but I’ve certainly been hit by rocks and lures (sometimes my own doing). I’d like to keep my eyeballs intact thanks. Regular sunglasses can take small hits but aren’t impact tested or have any sort of rating on them.
The Logan Sunglasses from Spy change tint with the light of the sun, perfect for going in and out of the trees. They are also ANSI rated for high impact, perfect for going in and out of the workshop.
I wanted to find out if these are the perfect blend of safety glasses and photochromic sports glasses or a poor mix of both.
Let’s find out.
Pros
- ANSI Z87-2+ Certified
- Photochromic Category 0-3
- Happy lenses
Cons
- smaller lenses
Specs on the Spy Logan
The Logan sunglasses from Spy are high impact tested with photochromic, Base 8 polycarbonate lenses that are “Happy”.
- ANSI Z87-2+ certified
- Category 0-3
- 13-85% VLT
- Happy Photochromic lens
- Trident Polarization
- Base 8 ARC polycarbonate lenses
- Small medium fit
- Anti-scratch
- Grilamid frame construction
- 61-14-127 size
- 35 grams
Photochromic
Switching sunglasses or lenses can be a pain. With photochromic lenses you can be working in the shop inside or fishing at sunrise and walk right out into bright sun.
The category 0 to 3 lenses on the Logan’s darken with UV light, blocking just enough light to keep things comfortable. Inside or where there’s low UV light, they lighten to category 0, or almost clear.
At their lightest they have 85% VLT (visible light transmission). The darkest is category 3 or 13% VLT. As a comparison, Category 4, the darkest lenses for glacier travel or open water, start at 8%.
Category 0 to 3 is an extremely useful range and my absolute favourite for all-day, do anything use.
ANSI Z87-2+ Certified
Most sunglasses aren’t certified for impact in any way. If you are working or just want a certified lens to smash around with lures and rocks, you have to swap sunglasses and safety glasses.
The Logan’s are ANSI Z87-2+ certified. This means they are rated for high impact. What do all those letters mean?
The Z87 portion of the rating means they are impact and shatter tested firing a steel ball at them and dropping weight on them.
“-2” means they can hold prescription lenses.
“+” means they have been tested with higher mass and velocity than just the standard Z87 level. To meet the standard they have to survive a quarter-inch steel ball fired at 150 feet per second and 1.1 pound weight dropped from 50 inches.
I don’t use them for work but I can throw high quality sunglasses on when cutting wood or break rock around the house is very useful. The safety glasses I have fog up instantly and seem to scratch any time I put them down.
I have been hit in the face with rocks mountain-biking and dirt-biking, so useful there. And while I haven’t been hit in the face with a large fishing lure, I’ve come close, so helpful there too. Eyeballs are important.
The ANSI rating applies to the lenses as well as the frames. The wider temples on them increase protection.
For even more protection the lenses on the slightly larger Rebar frames are ANSI certified as well.
Happy Lens
SPY adds their Happy tech to most of their lenses, these included.
Happy means the lenses block wavelengths of light that cause eye strain leaving wavelengths that boost mood and make things clearer.
It’s hard to tell the difference it’s making as there’s no color change. That said, I do appreciate that they don’t change the color. Some lenses take that too far and make things look like clown land.
Comfort
The Logon’s are very comfortable to wear. Even with the impact-tested frame and lenses, they’re only 35 grams, right around most other sunglasses.
Measurements:
- 61-14-127
- 61mm lens width
- 14mm bridge width
- 139 total width
- 42mm lens height
- 127mm temple length
SPY says they’re a small-medium fit. I agree. they’re on the small side of a medium. I’ve got a good-sized noggin and they fit slightly on the small side. I can wear them all do no problem. They sit on my head and hats snug.
One thing I ran into with the fit was that the arms aren’t as curved at the back and push on my hat a bit. I prefer sunglass arms that curve down a bit more to avoid this.
Other lenses for the Logan
The Happy Photochromic isn’t the only lens the Logan comes in. There is a standard Happy and Happy Polarized versions as well. Happy Boost has the mood and clarity enhancements with an additional 30% increase in color contrast.
- Happy
- Happy Polarized
- Happy Boost
- Happy Photochromic
- Clear
This review focused on the photochromic version going from category 0 to 3. Keep in mind the lenses aren’t interchangeable. They just come with the ones you buy.
Final Thoughts
The Spy Logan’s are amazing sunglasses. ANSI rated with photochromic Happy lenses is a great combo. The category 0 to 3 lenses are so useful going in and out of the shade, trails or workshop, working inside and outside without changing glasses.
Riding and fishing always carries some risk of projectiles flying at your face. Fishing lures don’t usually carry the same weight as a steel ball at 150 feet per second so I feel pretty good with that ANSI rating on there.
Though I do miss polarization on the water or driving after the rain but at the end of the day, I’d take photochromic over polarization. Having both would be dream glasses but they are extremely rare.
Highly recommended for all-day and work use.
Price: $220 CAD
More Photos from Testing
