In honor of this past week’s Transitions Championship, I thought I would post my review of the Transitions SOLFX lenses. If you’re not familiar with Transitions from all the commercials over the weekend, they’re a photochromic lens. This means that the lenses change tint based on the amount of UV light they’re exposed to. You can go from out in the sun to indoors or the shade without having to take off your sunglasses (or vice-versa).
The folks over at Transitions sent me a pair of Callaway’s Mag 101 sunglasses, which feature SOLFX lenses rebranded as Neox by Callaway. Neox’s color is a blend of green and amber called G22, which is optimized for enhancing clarity, depth perception, and comfort. It blocks 100% of UV light as well as HEV, or blue light, which allows for crisper vision when outdoors.
The lenses transition from a fairly light tint indoors to a fairly dark tint in direct sunlight. They work extremely well out on the golf course – particularly on partly cloudy days where the sun is constantly being blocked by clouds. You don’t notice the lenses changing tint, you just notice that the brightness level stays constant.
They do give everything a bit of a greenish-yellow tint, but they work exceptionally well at enhancing contrast on the greens and making the golf ball stand out against the sky. It’s almost startling how much they make the greens pop when you first put them on. When you take them off, everything looks a bit dull and hazy by comparison.
After sun exposure
The lenses can get light enough to be comfortably worn indoors and dark enough to be worn outdoors in direct sunlight. The picture at the begining of the post was taken under overcast sky and the picture directly above was taken after exposing the lenses to direct sunlight for approximately 30 seconds. As I said ealier, the brightness levels are really ideal out on the golf course.
However you should be careful when using Transitions lenses in the car. This is a problem area for photochromic lenses in general because they require UV light to trigger a tint change. Car windows block UV light and consequently prevent the glasses from darkening. It’s probably a smart idea to keep a second pair of non-photochromic lenses for use when driving.
In addition to Callaway, the SOLFX lenses are available from Oakley (their G40 Transitions lenses) and Definity Fairway. They can also be ordered as a prescription lens.
Interestingly, Transitions is owned by PPG. As I mentioned in my review of the Tifosi Scatto FC, PPG also supplies Tifosi with their lenses. Tifosi offers a photochromic lens (branded Fototec), but it’s apparently not the same as the Transitions SOLFX lens (although I’m not clear on the differences).
The Callaway MAG 101′s with the Neox Transitions SOLFX lenses have become my “go-to” golf sunglasses. The lenses are clearly a step above anything else I’ve ever tried out on the golf course and really makes the course “pop” in a way that I haven’t seen even with other golf-optimized lenses.
You can buy the Oakley Transitions sunglasses here. If you do, it helps keep the lights on around here. Thanks!
