For hiking, the best sunglasses are polarised, have plastic lenses, categories 3 and 4 UV protection and they are lightweight. Why do you need these kinds of hiking sunglasses? Because you'll save your eyes from straining in the sun and reduce the chance of a severe headache.
Best Hiking Sunglasses (Top Picks)
Best Overall
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Editor's Choice
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Best Value
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Top Choices For Hiking Sunglasses
We reviewed over 19 hiking sunglasses for this article. Below are the best hiking sunglasses that made our short list.
- Oakley Flak 2.0 XL - Best Overall
- Costa Del Mar Blackfin - Editor's Choice
- Oakley Holbrook
- Julbo Montebianco Mountain
- Duduma Polarized Sports - Best Value
Read our complete buyers guide for hiking sunglasses. Also check out our recent review of the Ombraz armless sunglasses.
Best Overall Hiking Sunglasses
1. Oakley Flak 2.0 XL
5/5 Overall Rating
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The Oakley Flak 2.0 XL sunglasses are lightweight and designed to be useful for many various outdoor activities.
The design features rubbery grips at the nose and ears to ensure that they won't get dislodged or fall off during more rigorous activities.
Oakley offers many options for lenses so that you can choose which you prefer. Their polarized lenses offer more protection from glare, while their Prizm lenses optimize colour and contrast.
Oakley lenses are constructed from Plutonite so that they are of high quality and will offer maximum protection for your eyes. Some come with an Iridium finish to help cut out even more glare.
The lightweight design of the Oakley Flak 2.0, combined with its 3-point fit and rubbery grips, ensure that the sunglasses will stay put throughout the day cause no discomfort.
While the XL model is designed to fit people with medium to larger faces more comfortably, the Oakley Flak 2.0 comes in a standard model too, so you can choose which you think would fit you better.
These sunglasses are an excellent choice if you're looking for a durable pair of sunglasses that will stay on your face and provide complete protection from the sun while you go hiking, running, cycling or participate in any other outdoor activity.
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Main Features
What we like
What we dislike
Key Takeaway
The Oakley Flak 2.0 XL sunglasses are the ideal choice if you're looking for glasses that will provide excellent protection from the sun's harmful rays while staying put on your face as you participate in more rigorous outdoor activities.
2. Costa Del Mar Blackfin
The Costa Del Mar Blackfin are an excellent choice of hiking sunglasses if you enjoy going on trails close to water or through misty, mountain conditions.
With a Hydrolite co-injected lining, the frames are flexible, comfortable, and will stay put on your face - even in very wet conditions.
Their wraparound design ensures total protection of your eyes, and its lightweight, flexible frames will remain comfortable all day long.
The Blackfin's polarized lenses offer 100% protection from harmful UV light as well as cutting out glare. This helps to minimize any strain on your eyes and prevent headaches while you're out and about on a bright day.
Costa Del Mar offers a choice of lenses for the Blackfin sunglasses, including glass, plastic and polycarbonate. You can see their video about it here.
While the glass lenses are slightly heavier and may bounce on your face during more rigorous activities, they have excellent scratch resistance.
There are also a variety of colours to choose from so you can choose which will suit you best.
The Costa Del Mar Blackfin sunglasses are a top quality option for hiking sunglasses and will provide excellent protection for your eyes.
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Main Features
What we like
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Key Takeaway
The Costa Del Mar Blackfin sunglasses are an excellent pick for hiking, boating and other outdoor activities. Their wraparound design provide good all round protection and keeps all debris, wind, glare and harmful UV light out of your eyes.
3. Oakley Holbrook
4.5/5 Overall Rating
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The Oakley Holbrook sunglasses are probably the most stylish sunglasses you'll find on this list.
With a typical Wayfarer-like design, Oakley Holbrook look good on just about anyone and can be worn comfortably in your everyday life.
They have a clean, simplistic design and come in a wide range of colourful frames and lenses so you can choose from very typical, plain black sunglasses to loud, vibrant ones and every combination in between.
However, keep in mind that not all lens options are polarized so that's up to your personal preference. Most people prefer polarized lenses as they cut out more glare, and therefore reduce any strain on your eyes.
The Oakley Holbrook sunglasses have a lightweight, stress resistant frame that feel comfortable on your face so you can wear them all day long without any irritation.
Despite their thick frames, they still offer good peripheral vision with their curved lenses.
The lenses are constructed with Plutonite (high-grade polycarbonate), which is very effective in filtering out all UVA, UVB, UVC and High Energy Visible Wavelengths (harmful blue light) up to 400 nm.
Some of their lenses have an additional Iridium finish, which helps to further reduce glare.
With High Definition Optics lenses, the Oakley Holbrook sunglasses offer impressive clarity.
The lenses are also interchangeable so you can collect a few and choose which style you want to wear on any particular day.
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Main Features
What we like
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Key Takeaway
The Oakley Holbrook sunglasses are overall a good and stylish choice for sunglasses. Their simplistic, lightweight and durable design will keep you looking good on many outdoor adventures.
4. Julbo Montebianco 2 Mountain
The Julbo Montebianco 2 Mountain are perfectly suited for mountaineering, hiking and other physical outdoor activities.
They feature removable side shields to further protect your eyes from sunlight coming in from side angles.
All Julbo lenses are designed to provide 100% UV protection so you can trust in the quality of the sunglasses.
The Julbo Montebianco 2 Mountain sunglasses have a curved temple design so that they will fit any face well. They also won't fall off easily with its innovative shock-absorbing Nose Grip insert.
They also feature an anti-reflective finish, which helps to improve visual quality. The lenses are quite dark so while they are perfect for outdoor use, they aren't great for driving.
The Julbo Montebianco 2 Mountain Sunglasses also make use of special Grip Tech around the ears, which increases both grip and comfort.
Main Features
What we like
What we dislike
Key Takeaway
The Julbo Montebianco 2 Mountain are perfect for outdoor, sporting activities. They have a comfortable, lightweight fit and include features (such as side shields) to provide extra protection.
5. Duduma Polarized Sports
The Duduma Polarized Sports Sunglasses TR90 are a much more affordable pair of hiking sunglasses and are excellent value for money.
With a super lightweight design, flexible frame and 7 layer lenses, these are the perfect budget sunglasses to wear while hiking, running, cycling etc.
The frames are made from TR-90 nylon, which is a durable and flexible material so that they fit most faces well and have good longevity.
Duduma even offers a lifetime warranty on these Polarized Sports Sunglasses so that there is no risk in purchasing them. They also come with a soft pouch, hard case and a soft cloth for wiping them so that they won't get scratched.
The lenses of the Duduma Polarized Sports Sunglasses come in a range of different colours so you can choose a more vibrant, colourful pair to stand out from the crowd or keep it simple with a plain black style.
The UV400 lenses offer 99% protection from UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light.
The lenses are also made with 7 layers, which include a scratch-resistant coating, polarization film, UV400 membranes, a UV filter and strengthening layers.
Duduma Polarized Sports Sunglasses offers good visibility with its wraparound style design, which ensures all angles of your eyes are protected.
Main Features
What we like
What we dislike
Key Takeaway
The Duduma Polarized Sports Sunglasses are an ideal choice for hiking sunglasses if you're on a tight budget. They offer great eye protection, visibility and durability, which makes them excellent value for money.
Buyer's Guide For Hiking Sunglasses
Weight and Comfort
Making sure you choose a comfortable pair of hiking sunglasses is absolutely essential. Sunglasses that have a tight fit or are too heavy are very likely to give you a headache or cause discomfort on your face if you wear them for a long time.
Choosing a lightweight, flexible pair of hiking sunglasses will help ensure maximum comfort so that you don't feel the need to take them off at any point along your hike.
Hiking sunglasses are usually designed to be as light as possible so that you don't even feel like you're wearing them. Glass lenses are heavier than plastic ones so keep that in mind when making your decision.
Lenses and UV Filters
There are a variety of different types of lenses used to make sunglasses, which can effect which pair you decide on.
While most lenses are made from polycarbonate variants, some brands use glass and others have their own special lens materials. Polycarbonate, or plastic, lenses are usually much lighter than glass but not as resistant to scratched.
So your choice will depend on whether you value a lightweight pair of sunglasses over a more durable pair or vice versa.
You should also consider whether the lenses are polarized or not.
Polarized lenses are usually the better choice when choosing sunglasses specifically for hiking and outdoor activities as they cut through glare and effectively reduce any strain on your eyes.
The UV ratings of a pair of sunglasses will tell you how suitable they are to specific uses.
Lens categories 3 and 4 are the most suitable for hiking and outdoor use as they block out most UV light and will protect your eyes on bright, sunny days.
Category 4 lenses will have the darkest tint so are not recommended for use while driving.
Durability
The durability of a pair of sunglasses is very important when purchasing them specifically for hiking or other outdoor activities.
You'll need them to be able to take a bit of a beating so that they survive or exceed the duration of your outdoor expedition.
If you're going on a lengthy trek, you don't want to be left squinting the whole time after bringing a cheap, fragile pair of sunglasses with you.
Many hiking sunglasses are made from flexible materials so that they have some bend to them and won't snap easily.
Make sure you choose sunglasses that were designed with outdoor use in mind so that you can trust and rely on them to last long and keep your eyes protected.
Design
The design of a pair of hiking sunglasses is another key feature to look at when making your decision.
You'll want a pair that not only fits your face well, but suits it nicely and looks good.
Hiking sunglasses with a more curved design will protect all angles of your eyes, in addition to being more comfortable than a simple, straight edge structure.
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