Saying the term almost makes your tongue twist, but wearable electronics are all the rage. After fitness trackers and mobile apps, it was only a matter of time before digital high-tech found its way into classic mountain bike accessories. The fact that the long-established Fürth-based company Uvex introduces the Variotronic ff, the first electronically controlled spectacles was a surprise at the Eurobike trade fair in 2015. "We want to emphasise our Made-in-Germany philosophy with highly innovative products and are investing heavily in research to achieve this," says Head of Development Frank Proksch.
Self-tinting windscreens have been around for a long time. However, depending on the quality, they took up to three minutes to darken. The brightening time was even longer. Not very practical when the light conditions suddenly change while cycling. When riding into a forest, for example. The technology used under licence by Uvex manages the tint change in 0.1 seconds. The blink of an eye takes longer. And the highlight: the whole thing works fully automatically if required. To do this, Uvex laminates a special, highly flexible LCD film onto the inside of the lens. The liquid crystals are either disorganised (light mode) between the two boundary foils or aligned in parallel (darkened mode) as soon as a current is applied.
The details are quite complex. To put it simply, the crystals can be imagined as a kind of micro-louvre blind. The rider selects one of the two tint modes at the touch of a button on the temple. However, because one hand is rarely free when biking, the glasses also have an automatic mode in which a light sensor determines the tint. This is a huge advantage and a positive safety aspect in rapidly changing light conditions, such as those encountered in downhill riding or racing. With Variotronic, the feeling of flying blind when entering a dark spruce forest could finally be a thing of the past. But as is so often the case when electronics are involved, the devil is in the detail - see the practical test. Nevertheless: a very promising technology.
PRACTICAL TEST
Admittedly, charging the glasses via USB and then selecting the tint at the touch of a button seems pretty futuristic at first. But the system actually works! The tints can be changed at lightning speed. The battery life even allows for long multi-day tours. And the wearing comfort is also unobtrusive. Another positive aspect is that the goggles are effectively switched off in light mode and do not consume any power. This means they can still be used even when the battery is flat. The fact that the displays of smartphones or GPS devices can only be read to a limited extent when the glasses are darkened takes some getting used to. An effect that is also familiar from sports glasses with polarised lenses. In practice, only the automatic mode was not entirely convincing. The calibration can be easily changed depending on your personal perception of light/dark (press and hold the button for five seconds), but the change from CC to Enduro helmet already required recalibration. More relevant is the fact that situations arose in the practical test in which the automatic system reacted too quickly despite dimmed stray light and irritated the rider with a "flickering" windscreen. Switching off the automatic system helped. The defect in the LCD screen that occurred in our test sample also shows the relatively high sensitivity of this high-tech product.
The advantages and disadvantages of the Uvex Variotronic FF
+ Very quick tint changeover at the touch of a button or automatically
+ Simple and intuitive operation
+ Practical, long battery runtimes
+ Automatic mode works largely reliably
+ Brightness during switching can be calibrated individually
- Very expensive (price 299.95 euros)
- Increased sensitivity of the LCD film to mechanical and thermal stress
- In unfavourable conditions, the glasses may "flicker" in automatic mode
Price 299,95 Euro
Info www.uvex-sports.de
Conclusion Christian Artmann, BIKE tester
There is no doubt that the technology behind the Uvex Variotronic goggles is highly innovative. The lens, which darkens and lightens in fractions of a second, is particularly useful for those riders who regularly struggle with slow-motion, self-tinting lenses and whose light-sensitive eyes simply hunger for more optical performance. For all those who have managed well with normal glasses, whether with interchangeable lenses or self-tinting lenses, the Variotronic glasses remain above all a pioneering high-tech product.
