Adidas, Apparel, Eyewear, Zonyk Pro - June 13, 2017

Adidas Zonyk Pro eyewear review

Zonyk Pro stayed in place during drops.

Long Term Update: June 12, 2017

We’ve used these glasses in many of our road trip and our review remains very positive. They are functional a attractive as they’ve held up to a wide range of conditions. From very bright sun to dark singletrack trails, these glasses don’t call attention to themselves as they just stay put and adjust to the changing light conditions.

We also love the wide lens as they provide good protection and coverage without the inconvenience of goggles.

Zonyk allowed good vision under the trees.

What is it?

The Zonyk and Zonyk Pro lines of glasses are Adidas’ new all-out assault into the high-end active eyewear market. They are a full-frame, wide lens option that offers great peripheral and center vision. The technology claims and color options are dizzying, so we tried out a couple of models for the last two months.

We are big fans of glasses with big lenses. They just seem to work well for mountain biking. We’ve gone the goggle route many times but they are just too cumbersome for climbing and all-around riding. There’s a new crop of ‘goggle shades’ and they work marginally well but often look ridiculous. These Adidas glasses strike a good balance between performance and looks.

The size small glasses are shown here above the large sized option. Having two frame sizes ensures proper fit for narrow and wide faces.

Pros

Packed with adjustability
Lens is loaded with technology
Looks good on and off the bike
Center and peripheral vision is excellent
Two sizes and enough adjustments to fit most faces
So many color options

Cons

Premium price
Nose bridge is not the most comfortable
The arms occasionally snap off during rough handling

Glasses are shown here in low light conditions with the foam sweat guard installed.

Fit

The most impressive aspect of the Zonyk is the amount of fit options available. First, the glasses are available in two sizes, small and large to accommodate narrow/small and wide faces. We found this handy since no amount adjustability will fix a fit that is too narrow or wide for your face. Other manufacturers will often direct you to another model.

Zonyk on climb in the rain in Verbier

Second, two nose bridges are available, a short and a tall one that can be snapped in easily. Each nose bridge has two positions once in place, a narrow and wide to allow the nose to support the glasses properly.

Two sizes of nose bridges are shipped with the glasses.

Another cool feature is the arms have three positions, low, medium and high. These adjust the angle that the glasses rest on one’s face. But an added benefit is folks with uneven ear heights can use this feature to level out the glasses.

Finally, there is foam bar that catches sweat from the forehead. And since these affect fit of the glasses, they are removable, too.

The left arm is the high position while the right is in the low. This can compensate for uneven ear height and level out the glasses.

Technology

These glasses are loaded with lens jargon common with expensive glasses. There’s more acronyms that we had to learn about but they’re key technologies are polarized, mirror, LST and VARiO, which is a technology that allows the lenses to automatically change from light to dark tint within seconds. Light Stabilizing Technology intensifies contrasts and harmonizes light fluctuations, leading to reduced eye fatigue and improved concentration. Polarized lenses cut out moisture glare and may not be ideal for asphalt riding. But for mountain biking, they usually work well.

Zonyk Pro worked well in the bright sun of Moab.

Mountain biking is a demanding sport when it comes to eyewear since lighting conditions change constantly when you’re riding in and out of trees. The Zonyk Pros performed very well enhancing contrast and visibility in all conditions. We were particularly impressed how they seemed to normalize low light and very bright conditions.

Off the bike, the Zonyk Pros don't look out of place at all.

Off the bike the Zonyk Pros don’t look too out of place.

Mtbr’s Take

After the initial sticker shock, these glasses did not call attention to themselves and that is a very high compliment. You want this quality in all mountain bike apparel and components but it is very hard to achieve with eyewear.

Once we made all the adjustments, these glasses performed sell in dark singletrack and very bright landscapes. And we felt okay wearing them on the drive to the trailhead, and for sipping post-ride refreshments.

Zonyk Pro did not call attention to itself.

The nose bridge is not the most comfortable, since they are rubber bands that don’t follow the contour of the nose. But other than that, these glasses performed extremely well. We’ll see how the foam sweat band works out as warmer weather arrives.