Best Glasses for hiking?

I wear a pair of Zenni Optical rimless, hingeless glasses.  As light and cheap as can be for prescription glasses.  Some people say rimless glasses are not durable, but they seem to last pretty well for me.  After a year so of wearing them daily the joints starts  to get loose.  Not really a problem over the span of a hiking trip.  I have some prescription sunglasses that are similar, but I don’t like them as much.  I prefer more eye coverage for sunglasses.  I recently got a pair of goggles from Zenni.  I haven’t hiked in them, but I referee kids soccer games with them on and haven’t had a problem with them fogging up.

I wouldn’t call Zenni high quality but they work fine.  Similar quality to the sunglasses at a convenience store.  They also come with some very lightweight carrying cases.

When there isn’t snow on the ground, or the snow crossings are minimal, I prefer wayfarers.  While I really like my Ray Ban wayfarers, I’ve found the Knockaround version to be of equal quality at a fraction of the cost.  I don’t find them to be heavy per se but I know there are lighter glasses out there,

I haven’t found a perfect solution for skiing or hiking in snow yet.  Edit to add, I was given some Oakley M frame glasses at work and these are what I’m using now for snow adventures until I find something better. I mitigate the fogging by applying Cat Crap Lens Cleaner and Anti Fog to them but have found that I need to reapply it daily.  It seems that work better than spit and soap.  I hope to buy some Julbo glasses this year but I can’t remark on their performance from personal experience.

“For sunglasses, I’ve struggled to find a pair that is a combo of light weight, well sealed to keep out most of the light, but also good at not fogging up. That seems impossible so far.”

Julbo Explorer. Pricey, so look for them on sale. I picked up a pair at backcountry.com earlier this year for 50% off, which is the only way I would have considered them. A great pair of sunglasses, photochromic and anti fog.

Casco fit over glasses are great. They’re open at the bottom and around the sides so fogging isn’t an issue. these were designed for Nordic skiing, so obviously snowy conditions were taken into account. I wear these while skiing or shoeing in snow. Polarized. Keeps falling snow off my regular glasses. The orange tint brightens things up in shade and gives good definition to the snow surface.

I wear contacts. If I was going to do a 3 month through-hike, I would have to consider either glasses as backup or as replacement. I much prefer contacts, so I might be willing to go with the extra weight.

So, for sunglasses, my favorite far and away are the Smith Optics Frontman. These change my whole experience outdoors. It’s sounds over the top, but it’s not. I often let people check them out and they are blown away by how crisp and clear and warm everything looks. Not to mention how well they let you see into the water.

I swear by their ChromaPop™ polarized lenses, which are also photochromic. They wrap the eye to keep out the glare, and they are fairly lightweight even though they are bulky. They are 31g (1.1 oz).

I always have issues with goggles fogging up on me as well as safety glasses…however, I can’t remember an instance of this with the Smiths.

They aren’t cheap, but my last pair was good for years before I stepped on them on the trail…and I can still use them as long as I don’t spend a lot of time looking out the right side as there is a crack in them. I liked them so much that I bought another pair, and now I use the old ones as my rough duty pair.

Suncloud Excursions are very light frameless glasses, excellent quality, $50.