The week before last, thanks to the recommendation from a member on another site, I ordered an ESS Crossbow 2x set from *** and thought I should pass along my first impressions now that I’ve had them a few days and have used them some.
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They’re light so I don’t really notice their weight and the earpieces with their rubber grippy pads fit my gigantic noggin (I’m anywhere between a size 7 5/8 and 8 hat) quite well. Unfortunately the nose piece pinches the bridge of my nose a little so I’ll have to get used to that or figure out a way to carve on it some.
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The lenses are NICE–I noticed only the tiniest bit of distortion at the very lowest edge of the lens but I’m not sure that’s entirely attributable to the lens since my contact prescription is a couple years old. They have good coverage, with just-enough of a relief cut on that lower part of the lens so they don’t hit my cheeks when I smile/grimace. They wrap around enough that in the wind a few days ago I didn’t feel much of a breeze coming in on the periphery of my vision so that should help during the dusty/sandy days we occasionally get.
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They’re supposed to have a scratch-resistant coating on the outside (didn’t test that) but the anti-fog coating on the inner surface works quite well. I left them on the bathroom counter while I showered yesterday and they didn’t fog at all. Yesterday I wore them during a fairly ridiculous Crossfit WOD and despite my sweating quite heavily, they stayed clear the whole time.
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Getting the 2x set with a pair of completely-assembled glasses (both black frames–one clear lens and one gray lens) is nice and will save time swapping lenses between one frame but I would have preferred a gray/yellow lens combo. The latch/lens retention mechanism is damn-near impossible to work with gloves on but with two assembled glasses, I won’t be doing that all that much, if at all.
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In the box: two sets of assembled glasses, a semi-hardshell MOLLE-attachable case that’s only big enough to hold one set, a microfiber storage/cleaning bag, a snap-in elastic retention band for around the back of your head (I didn’t need it despite a metric shit ton of bouncing around doing plyo stuff today), some documentation, and an ESS logo sticker.
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I don’t have electronic earpro (on the list, just far from #1 priority) but I was able to get a good seal with the old passive earpro I use.
Here are some pics, FWIW:
Just the glasses:
Back side of the case:
Gratuitous gun/gear pr0n:
