Revision sent a pair of these my way out of the blue to give a try so I've been giving them a beating for about 3 weeks. At first I was pretty meh about them looking at the box thinking the concept is supposed to be a stlyish design. When I ponder fashion / style based I think of designs like Oakley Romeo and Juliet series were they really push the shapes. Thus offhand the Vipertail didn't look much different than the old school Tom Cruise "Risky Business" glasses. Anyway, after actually giving them a try and seeing no one was giving much notice along with worn photo review, they really started to grow on me. Rather than flashy fashion, I think they work great for something more covert and low key. They don't scream tactical and they don't scream metro douchebag either.
Overall the frame is simple and boxy with subtle angles to add a dash of aggressiveness to the look. The lenses offer solid visibility, not as much peripheral as say the Sawfly glasses, however I've never felt vision hindered while wearing the Vipertail. One of the big pluses of course is the ballistic protection the Vipertail offer; exceeding ANSI Z87.1-2010 and U.S. military standard MIL-PRF-31013. Thus they offer more than enough protection for usage while handling firearms and other tactical applications. The arms are simplistic with no size adjustment. As you might think since they look like daggers, the arms slide in quite easy while wearing a hat or hearing protection. Since the arms don't end in a curve or have a sport strap connection point, the Vipertails are more prone to sliding down one's face during heavy movement. I am also on the smaller end of human sizes so this issue will likely be less for normal and large sized folks. Some interesting knubs are on the nose pad area, they actually end up more comfortable than it looks. It seems to find a good balance of grip and comfort even while all sweaty.
Durability wise the Vipertail glasses offer what you would expect from Revision. The core frame material finds a nice middle ground of rigid vs flexibility to offer protection yet still able to be squashed and not break. The arms use a slightly more rubbery material to provide more long term wear comfort and grip. You can't take sandpaper to it or anything magical, but the lens coat is solid and noticeably scratch resistant. As an end result you can accidentally step on and generally treat the Vipertail like a bastard and they will still hold up. The kit package is simple consisting of the glasses, a zippered protective case, microfiber cleaning cloth, and instructions; all you really need for storage and maintenance. A feature perhaps taken for granted in sunglasses these days, the lenses offer 100% UV protection as expected. In the end I think Revision did achieve the design goal of "off-duty appearance with on-duty performance". As much as I like the performance of the Sawfly glasses, I do know civi wise they look pretty dorky and not in a cool hipster kinda way. In result I've started to use the Vipertail glasses more for daily wear and think it is great I can still take them to the range. I certainly recommend the Vipertails to those on the lookout for glasses fitting the Gray-Man concept.
As a special cool guy promotion Revision is graciously offering the coupon code:
MONKEY
for 30% off MSRP on up to 5 items. That is some no messing around savings!
http://www.revisioneyewear.com/store/vipertail/vipertail-ballistic-sunglasses.html
