Poc Do Half Blade sunglasses

Poc's Do Half Blade Clarity glasses provide good coverage, a secure fit and clear vision in a variety of light conditions, although there's no getting around the fact that there are cheaper alternatives out there.

• Pros: Secure fit, clear and uninterrupted vision
• Cons: Just one lens, expensive

Whereas Poc's Do Blade glasses feature a frame that surrounds the one-piece lens, the Do Half Blades – and you could be ahead of me here – have no lower section to their frame so there's nothing to interrupt your vision. As well as allowing you to see the road ahead clearly, I find this particularly helpful when doing that quick glance back over the shoulder to check for traffic before turning right.

The frame that does exist sits quite high on your brow so you can't see it even when you're looking forward with your head down over the bars. I did wonder whether this would cause interference with certain helmets so I tried the Do Half Blades with as many different models as I could and didn't find an issue with any of them.

Poc says these glasses are designed to integrate seamlessly with its own Octal helmet. When we reviewed that helmet we did note that its shape isn't compatible with some types of glasses, such as Oakley RadarLocks. As promised, the Do Half Blades and the Octal helmet work together just fine.

The Clarity lens, which comes from Carl Zeiss Vision, is large – although not as large as something like the 100% Speedtrap that we reviewed last year – and wraps around at the side of your face to fit closely. It provides plenty of protection from wind, rain and foreign objects that ping up from the road.

The tint on this particular model (others are available) is designed specifically for road use.

"Transmission peaks in the red and blue part of the spectrum increase the contrast in a greyish environment, enabling the user to distinguish different surface characteristics, gravel, humidity or holes," says Poc.

By 'humidity' it presumably means wet bits of the surface. It has 32% visible light transmission (which just refers to the amount of light it lets through) and no distortion.

The lens really does help with clarity in most sunny conditions but it's not designed for duller days and certainly not for night-time use. Poc does offer Do Half Blades with an extra lens for £210, although neither of these is a Clarity lens. If you want to get a spare clear lens for these, that'll set you back another 60 quid (£80 for a Clarity lens).

If you do go down this route, swapping lenses is fairly straightforward, although the first time does involve the usual terrifying leap of faith where you put your trust in the instructions and hope nothing cracks. Stay strong, it works fine.

The lens has a hydrophobic and oleophobic Ripel treatment that's designed to help keep it free of water and dirt. This works to some extent, most water beading up and rolling off but, of course, you still get fingerprint smudges if you touch the lens, and dripping sweat often leaves a streak behind it.

The Do Half Blades have an anti-fog treatment too, although things will certainly get cloudy in certain circumstances. Yesterday, for example, I headed out in the drizzle and by the top of one five-minute climb I couldn't see a whole lot through them. This happens with all glasses I've ever used. They cleared quickly enough on the descent.

The nosepiece is adjustable – you can bend it to suit the shape of the bridge of your nose – and it's made from hydrophilic rubber that doesn't slip even when wet. The same goes for inserts on the inside of the arms.

I've found the small amount of flex in the Do Half Blades to give them a really secure fit in all circumstances, and other members of the team who've tried them have said the same thing. Unless you have a really slim face, you'll push the arms outwards very slightly to put them on and the resulting tension will hold them in place. These aren't the sort of glasses that you'll find yourself constantly pushing back up your nose on sweaty climbs.

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Starting at £195 for some options, these are among the more expensive single lens cycling glasses that we've reviewed on road.cc lately. When you spend this kind of money you'll usually get a second lens suited to different light conditions as part of the package. The Smith Attack sunglasses that we reviewed were £195 and you got two lenses there, for example, while the Koo Open Cube sunglasses were £174.99 and they have a second lens too.

A Carl Zeiss lens like the one you get from Poc generally adds to the price, although the £85 Ekoi Perso Evo 9 glasses that we reviewed also have a Zeiss lens.

Overall, the Do Half Blades offer a secure fit with great vision and protection for your eyes. The only real issue is a price that's higher than that of many other glasses of comparable quality.

Verdict

Very good vision and eye coverage, and a secure fit, but the price is high for glasses with just one lens