Review: Native Eyewear – La Reina
Originally posted on June 19, 2019 at 8:42 amWe only have about 6 days of sun per year here in Pittsburgh, so when it does come out our pupils don’t really know what’s happening. Even without the sun, lots of crap flies up off the trails. Having a good pair of “sunnies” really makes a difference, whether it’s always bright out of the sun is as fleeting as summer itself. These “La Reina” Native Eyewear sunglasses are comfortable and stay on the face with no problem, even when riding bumpy, rocky trails — even when riding bumpy, rocky trails in swampy humidity that makes lesser sunglasses slide off my face.
Similarly, these are very comfortable to wear. On my prescription glasses, I wear little tabs on the back to keep them from falling off my ears without wearing them too tight, because otherwise I tend to get aches behind my precious baby ears. These ones I didn’t even really notice them, whether running with my dog or riding, riding my local trails or hanging on for dear life in Buena Vista, Colorado. I’m used to having padding on the nose bridge of sunglasses, but the Cushinol padding on the bridge and on the ears added another level of comfort I really appreciated.
They are lightweight, and have silver N3 polarized lenses, which are apparently better than regular ole polarized lenses. I can tell you that they work and I was out in the bright sun all day for many days on end in New Mexico and Colorado (and, yes, even here in Pittsburgh it did get sunny
for a while) and my eyes did not tire. But here’s what their site has to say about why my eyes didn’t burn and everything looked as good as I did: “N3™ lenses block up to 4X more infrared light than regular polarized lenses, pass Z87.1 testing, provide UV protection up to 400nm, and by significantly reducing blue light and selectively filtering UV, they deliver high contrast, crisp definition, and peak visual acuity.” So there’s a lot of stuff in there I don’t understand and don’t care to, but I am happy that my pupils are intact.
Finally, I am really impressed with how these look for being so sporty. The La Reina glasses, tested in “rose,” are feminine without being gaudy or cat-eyed, and I felt fine wearing them right from the trail and into the pub courtyard where the sun still flickers in through the trees in the evening light.