Smith Pursuit 1001
REVIEW

Smith Pursuit Eyewear

Photos Pete Roggeman
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In Pursuit of Snow, or dirt?

Under the direction of ski mountaineering boss Cody Townsend, Smith built the Pursuit to bridge the gap between ski goggles and glasses. The XXL windows/lenses combined with a few funky features allow them to to excel as ski eyewear, but they also turn out to be great for protecting your eyes from the heinous rain and muck of a North Shore winter. Let's dive in to what makes the Smith Pursuit sunglasses tick.

Features

There's a lot going on with the Smith Pursuits. The frame is made out of Smith's bio-based Evolve material, with a slight wraparound shape. Not only is it a giant window to the outdoors as standalone eyewear - the bells and whistles are vast. Two lenses are included - one clear, and one photochromic Chromapop lens with a VLT (visible light transmission) of 7-45%.

Removable side shields click into the front frame, which pivot in sync with the temple arms via small magnets. This ensures the shields don't fold inward when donning the glasses, potentially scratching your precious lens. Why side shields? Mountaineers have rocked these forever for protection against bright-ass glacier travelling - snow blindness is no joke. These aren't there to keep dirt out of your eyes, but could very well accomplish that task.

A removable nose guard can be attached behind the two-position nose pad. Again, for UV and cold protection.

A removable strap clicks into the end of the temple arms, allowing them to hang around your neck, instead of jamming dirty lenses into a pocket/pouch, damaging the expensive lenses.

Finally, the Pursuit lives in a soft carrying case, with a sealed zipper and firm partition for protection and to carry both lenses without contacting each other - nice!

Fit and Functionality

Did I mention the Pursuit is HUGE? For the past few years, I've been riding with Smith Wildcats, which offer a large windowpane to look through. For reference, the Wildcat measures 140mm wide by 62mm tall. The Pursuit is 148mm wide and 66mm tall - appreciably bigger. The field of view of the Pursuit is totally unobstructed, better than any eyewear I've used for riding to date.

Riding with Wildcats, occasionally a glob of mud could somehow find its way past the lens, landing directly in my eye. WTF - isn't this exactly what riding glasses are supposed to prevent? My face isn't particularly huge. Luckily, I've been on some disgustingly muddy rides with the Pursuit, and can happily report that my peepers have remained mud-free.

After some practice, lens changes take about about 10 seconds. Hold the bottom of the frame with one hand, and pull the brow away from the lens. This frees up the top edge of the lens. Hold the lens, and squeeze the lower frame slightly downward, releasing the outer edges, finishing with the nose piece. Changing to the new lens in is done via reversing this sequence, making sure to properly seat the lens into the frame slot along the perimeter. Voila.

When the Pursuits first arrived, I removed the side-shields and nose guard, and ran them as bare as possible to mimic regular riding eyewear. I've since re-installed the side shields, because why not? They're minimal, stay out of the way, don't obstruct my field of view, and could potentially mitigate crap entering my eyes. Unfortunately, the side shields are difficult to remove and I feared snapping the frame or marring the lenses due to the receiving holes being a touch too tight. I broke Pete's Shimano ballpoint pen when I tried to push the male side-shield insert out of the frame. This could potentially be a pre-production issue, though other users may experience the same problem.

Optics

The Pursuit arrives with two high quality lenses, one being the moneymaker: a ChromaPop photochromic glacier lens, and a clear lens. Due to 99% of my riding taking place under the verdant canopy laced with fog, I usually choose the clear lens. Up until the ride in which I'm wearing the Pursuit glasses, the weather has been exactly as described above, so I can't comment on the versatility of the photochromic lens. Nonetheless, I'll update this article when I have a chance to rock them on some open terrain or during some ski-touring missions (snow's been tragically low until the past few days). The optical quality from Smith is perfect - I don't notice any visual artifacts or distortion from the lenses.

Both lenses feature a hydrophobic and anti-fog coating. Let's be realistic about anti-fog: if I'm riding or on a hike-a-bike, I'm perspiring. The anti-fog will get overwhelmed if there's not enough air moving across the lenses, particularly when the ambient moisture is hovering around 100%. I don't think this is the fault of the coating, it's merely a factor I need to be mindful of prior to dropping into a trail. If I don the glasses before the climb ends, air will start to clear the fog, or a quick blast of clean water can literally clear this issue instantly. Remember not to wipe moisture off the inside of the lens with a microfiber, as this can remove the anti-fog coating.

Final Thoughts

Smith has built the Pursuit as protective sunglasses with some baked-in features that allows them to nearly double as ski goggles. The near-eye watering 385 CAD price is steep, but I chose a lens which commands a $70 premium over the base model (which retails for 315 CAD). The Pursuit might not be the best choice for outright pow slaying, but that's not genrally what ski-mountaineering entails. I'll happily use these for ski touring missions. And, it turns out they're a fantastic option as full-coverage riding glasses,

Smith Pursuit - starting from 315 CAD / 275 USD

Smith Pursuit 1002
Gdreej
Graham Driedger

Age - 38

Height - 182cm/6ft

Weight - 92kg/205lb

Ape Index - 1.035

Inseam - 32"/81cm

Mountain: Seymour

Bar Width - 780-800mm

Preferred Reach - 475-500mm

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Comments

psyguy
+3 Jerry Willows Doug M. Dogl0rd

That price tag sure is unfortunate. I was hoping these might be a replacement for the trusty 3M safety glasses I always use. I have Smith ski goggles that came with two different chromapop lenses that are dual layer, so more complex. Those goggles were sub $200 cad brand new. Smith seems to be trying the sports car strategy of charging more for less.

Reply

jhtopilko
+1 Graham Driedger

I've been considering Smith options for 8 months. The Wildcat was on my short list and this Pursuit has merit as well.

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Gdreej
+2 Derek Baker Andrew Major

Both are great. Maybe we could lobby Smith for a stripped down, PNW version of the Wildcat (or the Pursuit, for that matter) which would only be sold with a clear lens. This would keep cost down and let riders grab a tinted lens of their choice down the road. Nonetheless, the optical quality and colours through a Chromapop on a sunny day is something to behold!

Reply

mutton
+1 Graham Driedger

Thanks for the review and info. Cody is a boss. I used to think these glasses with massive lenses were silly until I tried a pair. I have two pairs of $10 knock offs. They are amazing and the photochromic technology is amazing if not a little weird when riding from sun into trees. I googled how it works and it's pretty cool 

I had previously tried safety glasses that were fine until any moisture got on the lens and I found my vision would be distorted. These modern large lenses seem to all be flat - which seems to minimize the distortion and also get droplets to run straight down and more efficiently. Still can't wear glasses when I really need them - when actually raining ( I wear them after rain / in cold)  - unless for a single lap perhaps. Too much hassle imo. I did attach some hair ties to my helmet so I can stash my glasses on top without losing them - so they often come along for the ride (and stay up there). 

Muckynuts long (dorky) mud guard FTW.

Reply

evasive
+1 Graham Driedger

I got a pair last summer. I like them as riding glasses for all the reasons discussed, and can confirm they work well with the Forefront helmet. I'll use them for ski touring whenever we get enough snow and imagine they'll be great for that, since that's their intended use. 

The one drawback to the photochromic Pursuit lens is that they don't get quite as light as I'd like when the light gets low. Given the high albedo of snow, the VLT range is shifted darker than MTB photochromic lenses. I also have a pair of Shift XLs, and these are the ones I reach for in fall and winter. The Shift's grey photochromic lens isn't mirrored. It gets light enough that when you're indoors, the only way you can tell it from the clear lens is the "photochromic" stamp at the bottom.

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Gdreej
0

I think we need to be mindful of the intended purpose of the photochromic lens: glacier travel. The lens ranges from category 1 (43-80% light transmission) to category 4 (3-8% of light transmission), and Smith states 45%-7% VLT. Although the lens isn’t the best for riding, I’d be proper pissed if I bought eyewear specifically for glacier travel but allowed too much light through.

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Seven86
0

I really like Smith and their products. I just recently destroyed my wildcat. My bad I know....but I couldnt find any replacement arm. The final Solution was a two component glue for plastic. Solid as a rock and probably tougher than before. Anyways, for a product in this categorie, I would have expected a little bit more.

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Gdreej
0

Smith is very generous with their warranty. It's likely worth sending them an email to see what shakes out.

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Seven86
+1 Graham Driedger

My local shop offered me replacement glasses. So there are no official replacement arms from Smith, unfortunately.

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