Posts Tagged Serengeti
Sleek Bolle Crown Sunglasses
Bollé is more familiar to many people for their ski goggles than their sunglasses, but they’ve got a great line to choose from in the latter, including some quality sunglasses for kids. I’ve been spending lots of time with these very cool Crown ones.
For the past year I’ve been living in a spot in central Mexico where, apart from a rainy season that lasts about a month, it’s blue skies and sun every day. So I can’t leave the house without a pair of sunglasses and this Crown model from Bolle has been a good all-around pair to reach for and travel with on trips.
There’s nothing here meant to blow you away in terms of design: they don’t stand out or have a huge designer logo on the side. They’re just comfortable, stylish, and very effective in bright sunlight. In terms of behind-the-scenes technology though, they’ve got polycarbonate lenses that are 20 times more impact-resistant than glass and three times lighter. They’ve got a coating called “Carbo Glass” that keeps them from getting scratched and so far I don’t have a single one—after seven months of weekly use and putting them in and out of various pockets.
On the design side, Bollé’s Thermogrip pads keep these glasses in place well and the pinless hinges should keep these from falling apart in the future.
The Bolle Crown sunglasses come in five different models, with varying frame and lens colors. They’re meant to fit small to medium faces though, so pick something else if you’ve got a big head (literally, not figuratively). A nice hard carrying case is part of the package.
You can pick these up at lots of national retail stores, or check this dealer locator for a store in your area. These list for a reasonable C-note, but you can get them for about 40% less at Amazon. You can get this model or browse a great selection of Bollé styles (and sale items) at Campmor.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear on June 22nd, 2011
Win a Trip for Two Around the World – and Gear!
GET AIRLINE TICKETS, TRAVEL GEAR, CASH, TOURS, CAR RENTAL, EURAIL PASSES, & MORE!
[Update - Sorry kids, this shebang is all finished. But you can still check out this round-the-world guide to plan your big trip.]
Along with nine other top independent travel sites, Perceptive Travel is giving away the ultimate traveler’s treat – an around the world trip with a plane full of prizes!
We’re giving our readers the chance to take off, big time, by putting their travel knowledge to the test and inviting them to enter our contest. The challenge? Guess the route of where the Round the World journey will take them.
The Grand Prize winner will receive the following:
* Round-the-world airfare for two from the BootsnAll Travel Network
* A Southeast Asia tour for two from All Points East
* One year of travel insurance from World Nomads
* One-week First Class Eurail passes
* Four hotel nights from Anantara
* Two BRX luggage sets from Briggs & Riley
* Head-to-toe travel clothing from ExOfficio
* One-week rental car in Europe from Auto Europe
* Shoes from Lowa Boots
* $500 in spending money from Transitions Abroad
* Two pairs of Serengeti Eyewear sunglasses with Polar PHD lenses
* A grab bag of useful apps and guidebooks
First Prizes
- $2000 in airfare to go anywhere in the world from 1800FlyEurope.
Two round trip tickets anywhere on the route map of Southwest Airlines.
With prizes this big, we do need some time to find the perfect travelers to win our prizes so participants have 8 weeks to enter. Here’s how it works.
Each week, participants guess the destination from the provided clues and enter online. One random winner will be chosen from the correct answers each week and awarded a weekly prize. After eight weeks—with eight chances to win—everyone will know the route and there will be eight finalists. One of those eight finalists will win the Grand Prize package for two while two more winners will receive the First and Second Prize awards!
Enter Now!
Besides Practical Travel Gear, Here are Your Hosts:
BootsnAll Travel Network is the traveler’s one-stop indie travel guide, which began publishing travel on the web in 1998.
ConsumerTraveler.com is the web home of the Consumer Travel Alliance, which fights in Washington for reform of air travel, rollback of fees and for airline passenger’s rights.
GoNOMAD.com provides travelers with inspiration and links to plan their trips.
JohnnyJet.com is the home of intrepid traveler John DiScala, who flies more than 150,000 miles a year and provides comprehensive articles about everywhere he goes.
Perceptive Travel webzine publishes the best travel stories from book authors on the move, as well as an award-winning offbeat blog.
TransitionsAbroad.com (founded in 1977 as the print magazine) provides articles, resources, and program listings for long-term travelers seeking to work, live, volunteer, or study abroad.
Travelfish.org is the go-to guide for Southeast Asia, with daily articles and iPhone apps you can download to give you details about any country in their region.
Wanderlust and Lipstick is THE destination for women’s travel including tours, guidebooks and practical information.
Posted by Tim L. in Adventure Gear, General Gear, Travel Light on April 18th, 2011
Serengeti Velocity Sunglasses for Your Glove Compartment
If you visit the websites of companies making sunglasses it can get a little overwhelming. There are sunglasses for fishing, for golf, for snow, for cycling, and on and on. This Velocity model from Serengeti Eyewear though is for when most commuters use their shades the most: while driving.
These are the kind of compact sunglasses everyone used to keep in their glove compartment before giant bug-eye shades that cover half the face became all the rage with fashionable women—and a few too many men. These have a titanium metal frame and the model I’ve been testing has gradient glass lenses. They’re a little darker at the top than they are at the bottom—kind of like a car windshield. So you have dark glass in front of you when your eyes are on the road, but you can see to wipe the coffee you spilled off your pants when you look down. Or if you’re a pilot, you can see all your instruments.
These feel like sunglasses a real adult would wear, someone who is driving a nicer car than I’m usually buzzing around in, actually. I always worry that I’m going to trash sunglasses with elegant metal frames in two weeks flat, but these are far stronger than most and the flexible joints have some give to them. It doesn’t hurt either that these come with a nice hard case. So they won’t get smashed when someone shoves something into the glove compartment on top of them.
These fit into a jacket pocket or shirt pocket easily and they’re very comfortable to wear. I think they look pretty good on me too without dominating my face.
The Velocity gradient driving sunglasses come with espresso or gunmetal color frames. They list for more than $200 but usually retail somewhere in the $115 to $150 range. Get more info at the Serengeti Eyewear site and click the links below to check online prices.
Check Serengeti Velocity prices online
Serengeti Velocity gradient sunglasses at Amazon
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear on December 23rd, 2010
Sporty, Versatile Sunglasses from Serengeti Eyewear
I truly mourned the day I realized my favorite Native sunglasses were simply too scratched to wear. A freebie from my husband’s work colleague, these glasses were my go-to shades for everyday wear, and they took me from carpools to campsites to cruise ships. I dreaded shopping for new quality sunglasses. Thankfully, Sergenti Eyewear swooped in with an offer to review a pair just in the nick of time. These sporty Fasano shadesfrom the Serengeti Sport Collection are my new versatile favorites.
First of all, I love the unexpected red color. In fact, the red is a little more muted in real life — more of a brick red — than it appears in this photo at right, at least on my laptop screen. The hue isn’t bright, and doesn’t shout, “Look at me!” which I like. (Check out this post to see me wearing the glasses while kayaking in Florida.)
The technical features of the glasses deliver a little more than I probably need for the casual sports I engage in, but I sure appreciate all of the protection of my eyeballs. The Polar PhD lenses are shatter resistant and lightweight; made with trademarked NXT lens technology, they are 10 percent lighter than polycarbondate, and four times lighter than glass. The polarized lenses not only block out harmful UV rays, but because the polarized technology is embedded in the lenses, they won’t peel and they’ll deliver crisp, clear images over years of use (that is if you don’t drop your glasses, scratching them like I often do).
Indeed, I’ve worn these glasses on bright sunny days and their function delivered. They don’t fit as snugly on my face as my Native Triumphs did, but they are certainly comfortable and secure (and they stay on top of my head, when I often use these Serengetis as a headband, once I’m in the shade).
The sporty red Fasano sunglasses retail for $159.99 on the Serengeti website.
Serengeti Eyewear makes dozens of styles of sunglasses for all sorts of occasions. Another pair I checked out are the Bianca shades in shiny black. I love the style — part of the Cosmopolitan collection and definitely a look that’s versatile for travel. The pair I have (#7409) are non-polarized “Drivers” lenses, meant to be used behind the wheel of the car in average to strong sunlight. According to Serengeti marketing materials, these brown glass lenses adjust to changing light conditions you experience while driving. All I know is that they are comfortable to wear in the car, and they are sleek and stylish to boot!
I found the cool Bianca glasses on the Serengeti website for $169.99, but also check Amazon.com for discounted pricing.
Posted by Kara in General Gear on October 26th, 2010
Serengeti Sunglasses with Polar PhD Lenses
Serengeti Cetera with polarized PhD lenses
When does one graduate from mall kiosk shades to performance sunglasses? If you’re there yet, check out this new line from Serengeti Eyewear.
When you’re a purist backpacker traveling on a shoestring, scoffing at anything requiring a sizable layout of cash is a necessary survival instinct. You laugh at the rich package tourists who spend more on a week’s hotels than you do for months of nights in guesthouses. You make fun of those “adventure travelers” outfitted in jackets that cost more than your backpack did. And why buy $100+ sunglasses when you can get a pair at the local mercado for three bucks?
When most eventually leave that phase and get a real job, however, the superior attitude fades a bit over time. Staying in a hostel doesn’t have the same appeal when you can easily afford better and you realize people treat you differently when you’re not dressed like a hobo. And wow—things really do look a lot different when you’re wearing good sunglasses!
I’ve been in both camps and still move back and forth between them as a travel writer, but I’ve definitely learned my lesson with the sunglasses as the decades have wore on. I’ve spent the past few weeks wearing one pair only—these Serengeti Cetera ones pictured at the top. Well, except for a few times I did some before and after tests with other shades to compare.
These are, hands down, the most comfortable and lightweight sunglasses I can ever remember wearing, and that’s no fluke. These special polarized PhD lenses “weigh 75% less than glass and 10% less than polycarbonate.” Yet they’re polarized too, so I could see clearly when we got a snow dumping last week and I went sledding and snowman building. I took a walk by a lake and noticed a significant reduction in glare from the water. On top of that they’re photochromic, so they get darker as conditions get brighter. Otherwise, they do what sunglasses should: cut down brightness and glare without changing the colors of what you are seeing. My eyes are protected and comfortable without seeing anything distorted.
Serengeti Maestrale
The tech specs on these lenses fill half a page of copy, but the real differentiators are that the polarizing is built into the back layer of the lenses, not the front, so there’s no risk of degradation from abrasion or other factors. You also get “anti-scratch hard coat, seven layer backside anti-reflective coating, and oleo phobic coating technology for oil and water resistance.” And they’re shatterproof under normal conditions.
All that is well and good, but if you’re going to pay a premium like this (list prices between $150 and $200, but sometimes under $100 at retail), the glasses had better make you look great too. While I’m a big fan of more competitively-priced shades we’ve reviewed here before from the likes of Julbo and Tifosi Optics, these make you think of Milan and Paris, not Boulder and Bariloche. The home page of Serengeti’s website features a winding mountain road on which you should picture yourself in an Italian sportscar, top down, someone beautiful and stylish beside you. We can’t all travel like that, but we can feel like it with their shades on our eyes.
If you want high performance but you want to look fabulous when you make your grand entrance, check out the new Serengeti line with Polar PhD lenses.
Search Serengeti products at SierraTradingPost.com
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Travel Light on February 4th, 2010
