I tend to keep my outdoor runs as simple as possible and that includes my eye wear, or lack of preference thereof.  More often than not, I’m pretty much contented with the photochromic lenses of my eye glasses, until I rediscovered the joy of polarized lenses with the Revo Cusp S.

I normally shy away from sporty eye wear because most of them seem like they weren’t considered for Asian features.  I guess I’m a little intimidated by their bold looks, especially if I’m just running at a leisurely pace on a relatively short run.  But looks aside, these sporty gears were made specifically for sports, so I gave Revo Cusp S a try.

The first few times I tried on the Revo Cusp S is around sundown, when the sun is low enough that no head gear will keep the sun out of your eyes.  My eyeglasses have photochromic lens so they reduce the glare to some extent, but it can only do so much.  When I put on the Revo Cusp S though, it was a totally different ball game.  Not only did it reduce the glare hitting my eyes, it did well enough that the sunlight didn’t bother me at all while I ran.  Of course, despite the protection and being late in the afternoon, I didn’t look into the sun directly.

Running late in the afternoon also presented another challenge: diminishing sunlight.  When we think of wearing “sun glasses,” we often think of bright noon.  When I started running, that was still true but as the sunset neared, sunlight became gradually dimmer.  And to my surprise, my “solar orange” lens didn’t make me “blind” from the reduced light.

The next few times, I wore the Revo Cusp S early in the morning as the sun was rising.  Again, the sun was very low on the horizon that it’s inevitable to avoid sunlight in your eyes when you’re heading east.  Again, the Revo Cusp S filtered the light enough to make running comfortable without needing to squint.

The next challenging scenario that I used the Revo Cusp S is running in bright daylight and then entering a road that goes under a building.  Imagine how fast the light suddenly dropped in this scenario!  As my solar orange lens isn’t really dark, I didn’t suddenly become blind when I entered the much darker area of the road.  In fact, I can still see everything in detail that I need not slow down to adjust my eyesight.

One of the challenges I had when wearing eye wear that practically covers your eyes is that they tend to fog, especially when I start to get hot or sweaty.  The lenses of the Revo Cusp S practically rest on the skin of my cheeks so there’s hardly any ventilation and this normally leads to fogging, in my experience.  But with all the kilometers I already logged with the Revo Cusp S, it never did get foggy, even if the bottom of the lenses were already lined up with sweat.  I’m not sure if the holes near the edges of the lenses have something to do about it, but nonetheless it’s doing excellent when it comes to staying clear.

As I constantly wear eye glasses most of the day, every day, one of my biggest complaint about running with eye glasses is that the frame tends to block my peripheral view.  This is a bit of a concern if you run on open roads and have to cross intersections as merely looking on the sides may not always work to see if there are vehicles that may pass on your side.  With the Revo Cusp S, the frame is at my eye brow level so I don’t see it on my periphery, and the lenses extend far to the side that I am still covered even if I looked on the side.

My last concern, which is probably the first reason why anyone would pick a particular eye wear, would be the aesthetics.  Most sports-oriented eyewear tend to look a bit silly and sometimes they can be very unforgiving to Asian facial features.  The first time I tried on the Revo Cusp S, I did have that reservation and I thought that it would not look good on me.  But as I wore it, with how it made my outdoor runs under the sun much more comfortable, I think it had grown on me and I think that I also got comfortable with how I look with it.  I guess I just wasn’t used to seeing myself in such a sporty eye wear!

To sum it up, here are my thoughts on the Revo Cusp S with Solar Orange lenses:

• Frame is very light and does not slip.
• Lens is wide so you have coverage on your periphery.
• Frame sits high so it does not obstruct your side view.
• Lens is not too dark that visibility remains good even in low light.
• Lens do not fog even when you sweat.

On the other hand, here are some things that I think are a matter of personal preferences:

• Although the frame fits well on my face, I feel like it still has room for improvement for Asian facial features.
• The lenses sit on my cheeks (which could be because of the above) so even if it didn’t really feel hot, I would like some gap for my skin to breathe.

In the end, the Revo Cusp S made a “believer” out of me that even if I need my prescription eye glasses, I don’t hesitate to switch to it when the sunlight is a bit much for comfort.

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Revo Cusp S has an SRP of ₱8,990 and is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Vision Express, with branches at

• UP Town Center
• Alabang Town Center*
• Ayala Center Cebu
• Ayala the 30th
• BGC
• Eastwood
• Festival Supermall
• Gatewall Mall
• Glorietta 3*
• Greenbelt 3
• MarQuee Mall
• Robinsons Place Manila
• SM CDO
• SM City Bacolod
• SM City BF
• SM City Cabanatuan
• SM City Cebu
• SM City Davao
• SM City Fairview
• SM City Pampanga
• SM City Sta. Rosa
• SM City Iloilo
• SM Clark
• SM East Ortigas
• SM Megamall*
• SM North Edsa
• SM Southmall
• Solenad Nuvali
• Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall
• Trinoma

* Branches that carry the Revo brand.

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