Julbo Fury Review

Julbo isn't necessarily the first name that we think of when tracking down a new pair of sunglasses, but this French company has been around for more than a century. With roots in mountaineering eyewear, Julbo has expanded to provide sunglasses for everything from trail running to sailing. The Fury is a recent addition to their mountain bike-specific lineup.

Performance Comparison

Lens Quality

The Fury is available with a variety of lens options, but each pair only comes with one lens. You'll want to make sure that you select the best lens for your typical riding light conditions if you end up going with this model. We tested the Spectron 3CF lens that transmits 12% of visible light, and we found that it works best in bright light conditions. Riding in dappled morning light or transitioning between bright and shaded areas, we found that this lens was a little bit dark. The Fury is also available with Julbo's Reactiv photochromic lens, which adjusts its light transmission based on the light conditions.

The Fury's base-5 cylindrical lens provides sharp, distortion-free optics, and we couldn't discern any difference in optical quality from the other high-end lenses we tested. Additionally, the lens held up incredibly well during our test process. Despite a few brushes with trailside branches and being dropped on the ground more than once, our Spectron 3CF lens was no worse for wear after our test session.

Fit and Comfort

The Fury has an incredibly secure fit, but it isn't the most comfortable model that we tested. The frame fits a little bit narrow, which means that the arms squeeze pretty tight against the sides of your head. This contributes to the secure fit, but it also meant that we developed some discomfort at the sides of the head when wearing these glasses for long periods of time. For situations where we needed our glasses to stay put on our faces, though, we appreciated the tight fit. It's nice not having to worry about your sunglasses rattling off of your face when you're focusing on the trail ahead.

Coverage

At 53mm tall and 131mm wide, the Fury doesn't have the biggest lens in the test. Regardless, the close fit and full-frame mean that these glasses actually provide solid coverage. While wearing them you can see the edges of the frame in your periphery, but it isn't enough to be distracting or cause issues with your field of vision while riding.

Out on the trail or road, these lenses provide enough coverage to keep you from wincing at oncoming bugs or brush. The polycarbonate lens is shatterproof and should provide solid impact protection (luckily, we didn't get a chance to put this to the test.)

Frame Quality

Julbo doesn't specify the material that comprises the Fury's frame, but it's similar in strength and flexibility to the Grilamid TR90 material that some of our favorite glasses in the test use. It is flexible enough to provide a decent range of comfortable fit and rigid enough to give the glasses some structure. The nose piece and arm tips feature grippy soft material that Julbo claims helps to absorb shock and contributes to the secure fit. Overall the frame construction is solid and we don't have any durability concerns.

Field Performance

Out on the trails, the Fury performed admirably. Ultimately, we have no real complaints about how these glasses performed in the field, but they didn't quite stack up with the best models in the test. The mid-size lens provides solid coverage and protection, the ventilated design means that fogging isn't a huge issue, and the grippy nose and arm tip pieces mean that they stayed in place well. While their performance was solid all around, they didn't wow us in any specific area.

Style

The Fury's styling isn't quite as over the top as some of the more gaudy models that we tested, but the reflective Spectron 3CF lens will still stand out in a crowd. The styling is distinctively more casual than the Julbo Aero, and it fits in well with the current trend of large, high-coverage sunglasses.

Case Quality

The Fury is one of the only models we tested that doesn't come with some kind of rigid storage case. Instead, these glasses come with the standard microfiber storage and cleaning bag. These glasses are on the more affordable end of the spectrum, but we're still a bit disappointed that Julbo doesn't include a protective storage case.

Value

These sunglasses are a decent value, but we think there are better options among the models we tested. If you're a big fan of the Fury's styling, they're a solid option, but otherwise, we feel there are better values available.

Conclusion