By Rick Shandley

Cocoon sunglasses are designed to be worn over your prescription eyewear, and they do that very well. This pair of Cocoons Pilot sunglasses has seen all four seasons of use, from glaring sunrises and sunsets to the harsh brilliance of snow reflection on a glorious day.

There is thoughtful styling in the Cocoons series of frames considering task they accomplish. Cocoons have to fit precisely over your frame glasses, protect your eyes from the sun, but not appear to be cumbersome on your face. It’s a balance, and it seems to work. You can expect to pay about $45.00 for a pair of the Pilots.

The Pilot frames include windows in the frame temples so you have your peripheral vision to your right and left. I wore these over my round-eyed titanium frames with the thinnest possible lenses my prescription would allow. They fit fairly well the first time and the frames have never shown a tendency to get torque out to require adjustment. Although you can’t help but sense you have two pairs of eyewear on, it doesn’t feel bulky or awkward.

These Cocoons frames are robust in construction and have on many road trips, hiking, and lots of sun glare bouncing off the surface of lakes or endless acres of snow. What you get is eye protection from the penetrating glare of the sun. And that is a job Cocoons do with aplomb.

You have at least six Cocoon frame styles to choose from. All of the frame styles are available in gray, amber, copper or yellow polarized UV400 Polaré lenses. The blue lenses of the Pilot frames I reviewed are comfortable in any type of day light. These lenses are polarized with gray Polaré, a coating described as flash blue mirror. High marks go to the lens coatings used on the Cocoons. Even though Cocoons come with a sturdy and well designed storage case, including a cleaning cloth, these Pilots spent most of the time in a car console or in a day pack pocket.

Where I appreciate these Cocoon Pilot sunglasses most is when I’m driving into a sunrise or late afternoon sun.  The sunlight can be blinding, and the polarized lenses manage the glare well enough to allow my eyes to focus on the road.

All Cocoons eyewear use Flex2Fit adjustable temples. You can fine tune the fit to your face by bending the temples at the flex-point about half-way along the temples in or out, up or down. It’s a straight forward adjustment you can do yourself.

In my view, the Cocoon Pilots are high-quality sunglass solutions for millions of people. They did stand up to constant use and essentially replaced my clip-on sunglasses. Sturdy large-gauge stainless steel Philips head screws affix the temples on the sides of the Pilots to the actual frame. If you can keep those screws snug, your Cocoons can last for years.

Note: Because I prefer wearing frame glasses more often than contact lenses, Cocoons offered an interesting option. Some prescription frame glasses are mated with a pair of clip-on sunglass lenses, but most frames do not. The sunglasses that came with my prescription glasses sailed away one dust-stormy day from a wicked gust of wind at a New Mexico Indian reservation gas station. Crestfallen though I was, those cool clip-on shades would never come back. Anyways, the Cocoons became a solution.