I recently had the opportunity to test a pair of CU belay glasses made by a German company called Power’n Play. The general idea behind the belay glasses is to be able to watch the climber without craning your neck for extended periods. Power’n Play did this using prisms that bend the light and allow you to see ‘up’ without looking ‘up’. It is actually quite ingenious to use prisms because the image is not flipped like it is when you use a mirror.
I’ll be honest, at first I thought the CU belay glasses were a little gimmicky but Power’n Play wanted me to give them a review so with an open mind I took them to Shortoff Mountain to give them a go.
My feelings on the glasses are mixed. These glasses are not toys or cheaply made. When I first put them on I laughed out loud because the optics were so clean and crisp. It was kind of cool to be able to see the rock face without craning my neck. I was also very impressed by the construction of the glasses which is absolutely bomber and they can without a doubt stand up to the rigors of climbing. I’ll give it to the Germans, they certainly know how to engineer some spectacular stuff.
I belayed my partner on the first pitch which gave me a good opportunity to try the glasses in action. The field of view is such that they aren’t particularly helpful until the climber is maybe 30 feet off the deck. After that I popped on the glasses and relaxed while comfortably watching my partner thrash & dangle his way up the line. Because the optics are so clear and there is no mirroring effect, once you get used to them you forget you’re wearing them at all.
About halfway through the pitch the sun came around corner and created some pretty nasty glare on the shiny metal frames. It was really kind of aggravating because the sun was shining on my right side and it wouldn’t have been in my eyes if I wasn’t wearing the glasses. On the plus side the glasses didn’t magnify the sun’s rays and blind me, so I guess I had that going for me.
Besides the glare, the only other downside that I noticed while wearing the CU belay glasses was that I had trouble determining how much slack was in the rope. Normally I look at the droop in the rope to know whether I need to give or take. While wearing the glasses I couldn’t do that. I often found myself with too little or too much rope out which was bad for me and my partner.
After testing the CU belay glasses I would give these a strong recommendation but only in certain situations. If you are going to be working a hard route on top rope for hours while your belay slave is holding your hang dogging bones between thrashes & dangles, I would highly recommend these glasses for the comfort of the belayer. If you are going trad climbing where you will be climbing up and down and need your belayer to manage the rope as much as possible, then I would leave the glasses at home.
Pros:
- Bomber construction
- Sharp optics
- Really comfortable
- Perfect for gym climbers
Cons:
- Glare from the sun
- Trouble judging rope slack
