Gargoyles Eyewear: Trial and Striker

Guitar Ted's Thoughts: I was afforded the opportunity to try the Trial in white with the "Smoke" tinted lens and the Striker with the "Green" lens tint. I received the eyewear with the Striker coming in the by now de riguer cloth sack and the Trial came in a nice clamshell case with a cleaning cloth instead of a bag. Interesting to note: The Trial case was noticeably heavy. I think you could park an elephant on the case and not crush the glasses inside!

Trial: These are the larger of the two glasses and they wrap around the eyes quite well, in typical Gargoyle fashion. The fit was good. The nose piece was comfortable, and the bows were not pinchy, or too long. They also did not interfere with my helmet's retention system, (Bell helmet shown, but also worn with a Specialized helmet). Long rides did not reveal any soreness or wear issues.

The lense color works best in open, bright, sunny conditions. These lenses block a lot of light! I found that in tree cover, they were too dark for safe mountain biking. The coverage afforded great eye protection from flying debris though, and if you don't like a lot of airflow around your eyes, these are the ticket. To my mind though, this was a bit of a negative.

On very hot days, the glasses seemed to increase the level of heat around my eyes and forehead making me want to take the glasses off to cool down. I imagine this may be a personal quibble, but I mention it as it was a bit of a bother to me at times. Also, I found that storing the glasses in the helmet vents, ala roadie rider style, was a no go with the Trial. The bows just didn't play well with either of my two helmets. This was a bit of a bummer while riding when I did want to take off the glasses to cool off. I had to bite down on one of the bows and dangle them from my mouth! Otherwise, I had no issue with the Trial.

Striker: Not a "Lord Of The Rings" character, but a nice set of eyewear none the less, the Striker was a bit more versatile in that it came with the "Green" tint lenses. These didn't cover quite as much of the face, but still protected my eyes quite nicely. The lense tint was much more "woodland" friendly in that I could easily transition from bright sunlight to dappled, "strobe effect" single track riding and feel comfortable at speed.

The Striker also played well with regards to fit. No issues at all wearing these for hours on end. The bows also were helmet retention strap friendly. The bonus here was that these would stow in the vents of my helmet when I needed to stash them aside while riding. A nice thing for cyclists who don't want to stop, or can't, but need to get the sunglasses off for a bit.

These glasses were also better for hot rides, as I didn't feel the same over-heating issues that I did with the Trial. However; as I said above, this may be a personal fit issue. Some other face/head types may not generate the same results as I had in that regard.

Overall: The Gargoyles models I tried both had excellent optical properties, as far as I could tell, and did not change the coloration of my surroundings much, if at all. Green trees remained green, the sky remained blue, just not as glaringly bright as they were without the Gargoyles on. The lenses did not show any signs of scratching for me, even though I subjected them to flying bits of sand, rock, and mud. One thing that I did note was that the lenses will water spot if any mud/water is allowed to dry on the lenses while you are riding. Otherwise I was impressed with the protection and the way the lenses did not artificially color my world!

My favorite was the Striker, (even though my wife preferred the way I looked in the Trial!), due to the green tint lenses and the "cycling friendly" design of the frames. Added to that was my personal preferance for the airflow around my face while wearing the Striker, which for me made it the "go to" model of the two I tried. I imagine the Trial with the green lense would have rated better with me had I tried that option though.

Grannygear's thoughts:

I received a matched pair very similar to Guitar Teds except mine were black frames for both glasses.  The Trial is very similar to the Cardinals that I reviewed here.  It is slightly smaller and trimmer, but I nearly had to set them side by side to see the difference.  However, that slight change makes them less 'Terminator' in looks and that I found appealing.  The eye coverage is excellent although I did not feel them heating up like GT did, perhaps that is more to do with the less humid nature of So Cal.  These were the first dark smoke tinit lenses that I had tried from Gargoyles and I found them to be the lens of choice for a bright, sunny, summer day if I was not ending in twilight.  They are pretty dark though, and not that great for sunlight dappled trails, like when you dive in and out of the oak trees.

They seemed to fit a bit better for me then the Cardinals, perhaps from the slightly smaller build. The adjustable nosepiece is always nice to be able to move around to suit the wearer.  As with the Cardinal, the Trial is a pretty stout feeling pair of eyewear.  They came in the same bomb shelter case as before and the glasses match that feel.  You pay a penalty in weight a bit, so these are not a feather weight feel on the head.

The Striker was my favorite pair so far.  They are better looking for my narrower face and are lighter and sleeker.  The size of the lens is still enough to give me good coverage over the eye and I never felt that I was getting a lot of wind or debris into my eyes.  They are a bit lighter and less nuke-proof feeling then the Trials but for many, that tradeoff will be perfect.  As GT mentioned, they come in a bag not a case with a cleaning cloth (although typically the bag is the cloth, etc).  The Strikers also do not have the adjustable nose piece.

The Strikers had the green lens and I really have become a fan of that tint.  It is very good when riding from sunlight into shadow and back again and I never have to strain to adjust in rapidly changing light conditions.  They are still dark enough for bright sunlight, so they are the lens tint of choice for me. 

I have never been a purchaser of high end eyeglasses.  I tend to buy what is on sale (but still a decent brand...no 7-11 specials) so many of the glasses I have are moderate in quality.  The Gargoyles have impressed me with the clarity throughout the lens, from edge to edge.  This makes for a nice experience when using peripheral vision, something that can be quite different on a cheaper pair of glasses.  I never feel like I am seeing distortions in anyplace I point my eyeballs.  I have come to think that, like cycling shoes and shorts, glasses are an area that a bit more spent up front pays off.  I have seen little evidence of scratching and they seem to clean easily.  I am very careful in how I treat my glasses though.

One thing I miss with the Gargoyles so far is the ability to change lenses over the course of a long day.  If I begin in the dark or expect to ride into the dark, having one frame and two sets of lenses makes more sense than carrying two sets of glasses.

Other than that, I have no complaints. The Trials retail for $110.00 and the Strikers for $75.00.