Panda Optics Fixed Sport sunglasses review

The Panda Optics Fixed Sport sunglasses are decent-quality, bright cycling sunglasses.

Although the brand might not be as well known as some more fashionable big-hitters, the design is striking and the glasses do their prescribed job well.

While not perfect and still commanding a chunk of cash, you can easily pay much more for cycling sunglasses that might fit you far worse.

Panda Optics Fixed Sport details and specifications

The Panda Optics Fixed Sport sunglasses feature a full-frame design, with a fixed shield lens.

Two colourways are available – the ‘Hot Ice’ combination with a pink-blue translucent frame and bright red-orange lens, and the ‘Iridescent’ option, which pairs a black sparkly frame and gold lens.

I’ve tested the Hot Ice variant, which features 13.54 per cent light transmission and applies a yellow tint to the outside world.

The Iridescent version cuts light transmission to 9.89 per cent, arguably making it slightly better suited to bright light conditions. This brings an orange visual tint, Panda Optics says.

The lens is made of polycarbonate material, and carries a Category 3 and UV400 rating, blocking out both UVA and UVB rays.

Panda Optics claims the nosepiece is fully adjustable to suit a wide variety of nose shapes. It’s attached via a tiny screw, suggesting this could be replaced when needed (although no spares are supplied).

The arms carry inserted grippers. There are also some holes in the arms – there’s no specific benefit claim attached to these, but they’re a decent-looking design feature.

The frame features a central pillar bridging the lens between the nose bridge and upper brow bar.

Unlike the metal pillar seen on Oakley’s Sutro Lite sunglasses, this one forms part of the frame and is a matching colour.

The Fixed Sport sunglasses weigh 36g.

Panda Optics supplies a microfibre cleaning bag with the sunglasses.

Panda Optics Fixed Sport performance

If you like bright and bold sunglasses, you’ll probably appreciate the Panda Optics Fixed Sport in this Hot Ice colourway.

It stands out, even in a group mostly sporting various models of Oakley Jawbreakers and Radar EVs.

The lens is especially bold, and is strongly mirrored in any light condition.

Looking through the business side of the lens, I’m impressed by the visual clarity and the lack of distortion – objects appear as far away as they really are in the correct dimensions, which isn’t something that can always be said about lenses on sunglasses.

There’s a small amount of tint change to the extreme edges of the lens (corresponding to the blue hues seen externally), but this never proved distracting when riding.

Contrast is usefully good too (albeit not quite on a par with Oakley’s Prizm lens technology, for one), but the lens can struggle slightly in the face of glare.

If the sun happens to be in your line of sight, thin lines can be seen coming out either side of the source. It’s a relatively rare occurrence to have the sun positioned like that, but if it's low in the sky, it can prove a slight annoyance.

I found the frame could also be a little distracting. Most of the time, it’s not noticeable, but when the light is especially bright, it can effectively light up the translucent frame.

The glasses gripped my head well, with the sprung arms (while not adjustable) offering a secure snap-like action when opening and closing.

Overall, the Panda Optics sunglasses are comfortable to wear, but no matter how much I played with the nosepiece to get the optimum fit, I felt some pressure on the bridge of my nose.

It’s possible this is just a factor of my bone structure – I have a medium-large face and a longish nose. My partner also tried the sunglasses, and she remarked how well-fitted they were to her smaller face and nose, noting they offered plenty of draught protection for her eyes (which she appreciated as a contact lens wearer).

As Panda Optics has far less presence compared to bigger brands, it may be hard to try before you buy (something we’d always recommend) – so these observations may prove indicative if you want to give the Fixed Sport sunglasses a punt.

At £89, they certainly challenge the establishment. At the extreme, the ever-popular Oakley Jawbreaker is a similar-looking option, but costs a very punchy £201 (with some variation).

Panda Optics Fixed Sport sunglasses bottom line

The Panda Optics Fixed Sport sunglasses offer a premium-looking design without costing big-brand money.

The dominance of those major brands is probably more down to style and reputation than hugely better performance. The Fixed Sports would seem to bear this observation out.