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Lazer Walter glasses review

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Liam Mercer's picture

Liam Mercer

Since beginning his mountain biking career while working as a resort photographer in Greece in 2014, Liam became a freelance contributor at off.road.cc in 2019. From there, he’s climbed the journalism job ladder from staff writer to deputy technical editor, now finding his place as technical editor.

Partial to the odd enduro race, heart rate-raising efforts on slim-tyred cross-country bikes, hell-for-leather e-MTB blasts or even casual gravel jaunts, there’s not a corner of off-road cycling where Liam fears to tread. With more than 40 bike reviews under his belt and hundreds more on MTB, e-MTB and gravel parts and accessories, Liam’s expertise continues to be cemented and respected by the industry.

Product reviews

The Walter glasses by Lazer are a lightweight and comfortable set of specs that offer decent coverage. However, changing lenses is tricky, and those lenses cling onto grime more readily than other glasses.

The Walters feature a full-frame shield lens with a water repellent coating. The nosepiece is adjustable and coated in rubber for grip, as are the arms, and the lens-top vents work really well to stop them fogging. It’s clear they’re very well made. Also in the case are a clear lens for the dark, a yellow one for dull days, and a microfibre bag.

Upon putting on the Walters, the first thing you notice is the colour cast of the lens. It gradates from blue at the edges to a yellow/green in the center. At first, this caught me by surprise; it takes a few rides to settle into the unusual new colour the world becomes. Even now I'm used to them, it takes a bit of time to adjust.

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Faced with reflective objects, the lenses have a tendency to flare in a way that repeats certain parts of, say, the shiny car you're passing. So you end up with blue floaty bits of car in your vision. Kind of weird.

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While the lenses are a little strange, the frames are super comfortable. The adjustable nosepiece uses a bendy metal skeleton coated in that ultra grippy rubber, and it’s really easy to mold to your nose.

2020 lazer walter back.jpg

The coverage is also top notch. If I had any complaints I might want a little more along the bottom of the lens but, once in that saddle, it’s not a problem at all.

What is a problem for the Lazer Walter glasses is a lens swap – they take some serious manhandling to get it done. You need to pull the frames away from the lens and, with enough effort and patience, it pops free. It gets easier with time, but you still need bravery and that microfibre cloth... you're left with a well-smudged lens once it's in.

2020 lazer walter nosee piece.jpg

Actually, these shades are oddly difficult to clean with just the microfibre bag. With most glasses it doesn’t take much effort at all, but for some reason the Walters ask for a good helping of elbow grease to buff any smudges out. Not ideal if a bead of sweat finds its way into the lens, which it often can.

If you can ignore the pitfalls, the Lazer Walter glasses are super comfortable and provide great coverage. They deal with fog really well, look pretty sharp and are easy to adjust – if you ride mainly off-road and away from shiny objects, and rarely swap lenses, they're most definitely worth checking out.

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