Y&Y Belay Glasses

[Full disclosure: Y&Y gave me a pair of belay glasses to write this review]

When I first encountered belay glasses I figured they were just a fad among ever-too-serious pebble wrestlers. Left to my pride, I decided my neck was stronger and my focus more resilient. I can look up. Come on how hard is that? Years later, I will be the first to admit I was wrong. I tested out my friend’s belay glasses and haven’t looked back. Not only was I watching the leader 100% of the time, but my neck felt great!

Sporting the Y&Y belay glasses. I don’t even look like a dork with them around my neck.

Use
I tested these glasses out over a period of about two weeks climbing in Rifle. I asked all of my climbing partners to try them out and comment. I usually turned on the light reflecting properties of the glasses around the second or third clip by staring into the mystical prisms. I still had to tilt my head back slightly to see the climber. When I am looking straight ahead-neither up nor down-cowboy calculations indicate that what I see through the prisms is 60° off the horizon. This means that if you want to see something directly above you, you would still need to tilt your head back 30° – still a great relief! Additionally, my field of view with the Y&Y belay glasses is more than sufficient to see the climber while still having the peripheral vision to see my immediate surroundings. This can come in handy if I encounter a curious dog, a thieving squirrel, or an attractive girl while on belay duty. Finally the Y&Y Belay glasses fit well on a variety of sized heads and could be worn over prescription glasses without any difficulties.

The case hangs well and provides easy storage.

Construction
Y&Y has everything that you would expect from a pair of top line belay glasses at a reasonable price. Built by the French, the design is comfortable, yet compact, the frames are study, yet light, and the prisms are clear, crystal clear. The case is perhaps my favorite feature. With Velcro, zippers, and handy carabineer I can clip the case to my harness for easy access and storage throughout the day. Unlike other products, the hinges on the Y&Y Belay Glasses make such a compact case possible.

The glasses rest well on my chest when not in use.

Versatility
The light and compact design of the Y&Y belay glasses makes them an easy addition to my climbing pack. I’m even planning on taking them on my next multi-pitch climb! There is no way that the case or glasses could survive a squeeze chimney, but sustained pitches of hard face climbing will be perfect! As I mentioned earlier, the Y&Y Belay glasses fit well on a variety of sized heads and can be worn over prescription glasses without any difficulties.

And then there’s the obvious style factor.

Bottom Line
A great pair of belay glasses at a reasonable price. The versatile carrying case and compact design are certainly the most unique features.

Versatile carrying case? What is versatile about something that serves one purpose? I guess you can wear the glasses around your neck and put your pipe in there.

Is it weird that the photos have a copyright stamp on them?

:)

This reads more like an advertisement than a review.

Until one of these companies makes a set that can adjust the angle of the prism (this would be easy to do but would require a bit more than just glasses frame), they are all the same and are all copycats.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Belay Specs. They are totally copycats too. I am happy the CU got mimicked by so many, their price was absurd.

How about it companies? Anyone willing to put your prisms on a pivot? That would be an actual improvement and would give you justifiable reason to sell at a higher price than the herd.

FWIW, I emailed Belay Specs my idea and the email wasn't returned. Somebody should take it and run.

I've been using belay glasses for about a year and love'em. I'd like to see a comprehensive comparison among the various manufacturers. There are four that I know of (CU, Belaggles, these and one made in Utah) My CU Belay Glasses have smaller prisms that these. Is that a bug or a feature? How do hinges compare to no hinge designs? If any of you have tried multiple manufacturers, what are your thoughts? Since we're mostly buying these online, you can't easily compare one to the other.

I haven't tried dif manufacturers, but I have the Y&Y which I bought for my wife. The quality is good, but I haven't used them too many days just yet. Very happy with the product and price point.

How much are they?

To mention a cheaper alternative, the Belay Shades seem like a solid choice. I just purchased a pair this weekend. I have used the Belaggles in the past and the build quality of the Belay Shades is slightly lesser, but at $40 vs. Belaggles at $90, I am very satisfied.

The functionality of all the models seems similar, so some of the $90-$120 frames are a little overpriced in my opinion. The Y&Ys are $80 on Amazon, by the looks of it.

Major differences between models seem to be in the look/color options and the field of view in the front and sides.

nicelegs wrote:Until one of these companies makes a set that can adjust the angle of the prism.

Hey I found out that I could adjust the angle of the prisms, relative to my eyes, by bending the aluminum frame close to the prisms. It only takes a fraction of a mm of movement to get the angle correct for you. I assume that you could use this technique on any pair of aluminum frame belay glasses.

Also, there are several companies which make belay glasses of similar quality that Joe mentioned: CU Belay, Belaggles, and Y&Y to name a few. All of these are priced in the $80-120 range with Y&Y on the lower end and CU Belay glasses on the higher end. If you want to go really cheap, you can get prism reading glasses from China for $5-10. You still have to flip the prisms or wear them upside down. The main drawback with this choice is that you loose your peripheral vision and can only see what's reflected through the prisms. So if the climber were to fall and you instinctively looked up, you wouldn't be able to see anything. That's the greatest benefit with any one of the aluminum designs is that you can still see what's directly in front of you out of your peripheral vision. Here is a link to the prism reading glasses if you're interested: Alibaba Express

I've got the belay specs, they're steel and pretty simple to bend. It doesn't take much to make the mental leap from bending to having the prisms mounted in a way that allows rotation.

The sweet angle at the creek is different than at rifle and is different than at the gym.

David F. wrote: [Full disclosure: Y&Y gave me a pair of belay glasses to write this review] When I first encountered belay glasses I figured they were just a fad among ever-too-serious pebble wrestlers...

Full disclosure: do you even know how to drop climbing slang bro? poor, innacurate shot fired... weirdest read and weirder pics

nicelegs wrote:I've got the belay specs, they're steel and pretty simple to bend. It doesn't take much to make the mental leap from bending to having the prisms mounted in a way that allows rotation. The sweet angle at the creek is different than at rifle and is different than at the gym.

Do you have any knowledge on whether belay specs or y&y belay glasses are better? They seem very similar and are the same price...

I misplaced my belay specs and got a pair of Y&Ys for gym season this year.

The Y&Ys have smaller prisms and are noticeably lighter for that reason. They fit in front of eyeglasses more or less that same as belay specs, but feel like they are going to stay on better because they weigh less.

The smaller prism results in it being easier to look over the glasses to check on knots, follow climber progress for the the first few feet. etc.

The through prism field of view is smaller, but seems adequate.

Tapas wrote:I misplaced my belay specs and got a pair of Y&Ys for gym season this year...

WHAT IN THE FROZEN HELL F*** IS GYM SEASON

In Minnesota that's the same as winter.

There is climbing season, and then there gym season. Gym is not climbing, rather a methadone-esque substitute. Side effects include, but are not limited to, tweeked pulleys and general malaise (aka gym fever). Proper application of sports tape can mitigate the effects of tweeked pulleys. Gym fever is a more serious disorder. Its affects are more noticeable among the traditional climber population. It can only be treated by avoiding the gym altogether, or by periods of treatment at rehabilitation facilities such as Joshua tree National Park or Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

Anyone wear sunglasses or glasses on multi pitch routes and use the Y & Y clip on belay glasses? I can't bring my self spending $70 on something like that.

Alex Lotti wrote:

Anyone wear sunglasses or glasses on multi pitch routes and use the Y & Y clip on belay glasses? I can't bring my self spending $70 on something like that.

I use Y&Y outdoors with my prescription sunglasses and indoors with normal glasses without a problem.

I use CU belay glasses over my prescription glasses with no problem. I just saw the clip-on style advertised a few days ago. They are trying to solve a problem I don't have.

i haven't seen this thread for a while. I've had the opportunity to try some different belay glasses since my last post. I find that I like the smaller prisms of the CU glasses. They're noticeably lighter and easier to look past when needed. If I had to replace them, I'd buy them again over the alternatives.

Victor K wrote:

 I've had the opportunity to try some different belay glasses since my last post. I find that I like the smaller prisms of the CU glasses. They're noticeably lighter and easier to look past when needed. If I had to replace them, I'd buy them again over the alternatives.

Have you actually tried the Y&Y? It's about the same prism size & overall weight of the CU (vs say the Belay Specs), but with actual hinges and a far superior case. For me, it's no comparison, the Y&Y wins hands down.

Good to know. All the ones I've tried have bigger prisms. Hinged frames would be a real help on multi- pitch routes