Koo Orion Sunglasses review
Adjustable shades from Italy
GBP £160.00 RRP | EUR €169.00 Skip to view deals
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Koo is the sister brand to high-end helmet maker Kask and, just as it has introduced innovation in its helmet design, it has also added features to the Orion glasses.
Koo hasn’t adopted a one-size-fits-all approach, with a soft adjustable nose bridge and adjustable arms. The arms slide between three stops offering up to 15mm of length adjustment, which means a great fit.
I even switched between lengths when using a low-profile road helmet and shortened the arms for a mountain-bike helmet with a lower rear section so there was no interference between arm and helmet.
The frame also offers adjustment as regards to venting with two sliding sections on the brow, which can be run closed or open. It’s a nice idea but I didn’t find them to be prone to fogging anyway.
Where the Orion scores highly is in the quality of the lens. Koo has opted for the latest generation of Zeiss lenses. The shape is highly spherical so there’s no distortion even at the edges of the lens.
They also feature twin coatings: an anti-reflective coating on both front and back surfaces so there’s no distracting glare and a second, anti-scratch coating that toughens up the surface.
The lenses can be removed easily because the frame is elastic enough for them to ‘pop’ out.
The open frame design works superbly on the bike with nothing distracting in your eyeline and this also means little in the way of fogging. The Orion’s twin-lens design is compatible with RX system prescription lenses, too.
At 32.2g the Orions aren’t the lightest glasses you’ll find but the highly sprung nature of the frame means that they are superbly secure. I’ve used the Orions both on- and off-road and been impressed with the secure fit.
When combined with the clarity of the lenses and their toughness I’d recommend the Orions alongside any of the premium models from more established brands.
Ideally, I’d have liked a multi-lens version because the smoky Milky Gold lens with its slightly mirror finish is great for brighter days but a little dark for less optimal conditions.
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Product Specifications
Product
| Price | br_price, 5, 3, Price, EUR €169.00GBP £160.00 |
| Weight | br_weight, 5, 6, Weight, 32.2g – as tested, Array, g |
| Brand | br_brand, 5, 10, Brand, Koo |
Features
| Features | br_Features, 11, 0, Features, Colours: Comes in a range of 14 colours Sizes: S, M Interchangeable Lens: Yes Lenses: Anti-Scratch and Anti-ReflectiveZeiss® Arm: Adjustable length |
Authors
Warren Rossiter is BikeRadar and Cycling Plus magazine’s senior technical editor for road and gravel. Having been testing bikes for more than 20 years, Warren has an encyclopedic knowledge of road cycling and has been the mastermind behind our Road Bike of the Year test for more than a decade. He’s also a regular presenter on the BikeRadar Podcast and on BikeRadar’s YouTube channel. In his time as a cycling journalist, Warren has written for Mountain Biking UK, What Mountain Bike, Urban Cyclist, Procycling, Cyclingnews, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike and T3. Over the years, Warren has written about thousands of bikes and tested more than 2,500 – from budget road bikes to five-figure superbikes. He has covered all the major innovations in cycling this century, and reported from launches, trade shows and industry events in Europe, Asia, Australia, North American and Africa. While Warren loves fast road bikes and the latest gravel bikes, he also believes electric bikes are the future of transport. You’ll regularly find him commuting on an ebike and he longs for the day when everyone else follows suit. You will find snaps of Warren’s daily rides on the Instagram account of our sister publication, Cycling Plus (@cyclingplus).
