Photochromics

Well for the last 2 weeks I have been rocking a pair of Rudy Project Rydons with racing red photochromic lens, so I thought I would write up a bit of brief review of how they have been performing.
Previous to getting the new lens I had been using standard racing red lens which are similar in gradient to Oakleys VR28's. Now this shade is great for changing light conditions ie mtbing in and out of trees. But in full sunlight you end up squinting because they are too light. The was a number of time when riding I would come blasting into a clearing in the trees and cope a face full of direct sunlight and not be able to see the trail ahead. So I had been contemplating trying a set of photochromics out to see whether these would be a good solution to the problem.
When I got them initially I tried playing with them to see if I could get them to change colour, holding them up to the ceiling light, shining a torch at them, but I couldn't detect anything. So with a shrug of the shoulders I kept them in reserve till trying them on the two sticks ride a couple of weeks ago.
Riding out to meet Jase, I had them on and couldn't detect anything. By this stage I'm starting to think that they were faulty....It wasn't till I stopped and took them off to clean the sweat, snot, spit off them I noticed that the lens were now about 8 shades darker. The had gone from a bright orange to a dark blueish hue.
So the first lesson is they do change but it is imperceptible to the eye while wearing them. During the ride I found that I wasn't squinting at any point despite getting blasted in the face by the sun a couple of times.
The first ride through very variable conditions was Sunday's XC race at Sparrow. The light conditions for the day weren't super bright, but the difference between being in the trees and in the open was enough. Again no squinting!

In summary these do their job really well and subtle enough that the user cannot notice them working. So I'm going to give them the two thumbs up.