I dislike eyewear retainers, especially when they get wet and cling
to my skin and neck. I was really pleased with Chums’ Orbiter, not only
does it stay up off the neck but it is super ultralight.
Connection Detail
The Chums Orbiter is a very sleek and super ultralight eyewear
retainer. So light in fact that they weigh in at less than four tenths
of an ounce (less than a gram). The retainer is made from a thin
stainless steel wire coated with translucent color. The rubber grip is
low profile and soft enough to expand over most arms on eyewear frames.
The thin wire is designed to stay up off the back of the neck in a halo
effect.
I took the Chums Orbiter with me on our section hike of the
Appalachian Trail. I wanted something really light that would stay out
of my hair. The Chums Orbiter really lived up to being ultralight. I
really barely noticed the Orbiter was on my glasses. The Orbiter stayed
up off the back of my neck and it also stayed out of my hair. The
flexible cable worked really well especially during storage, I could
close up my sunglasses, wrap the cable around and stuff it all in my
sunglass carrier. When I next removed my sunglasses the Orbiter would
spring back into shape ready to stay up off my neck.
Chums at Great Basin National Park
The Chums Orbiter have been on my sunglasses with me for just over
800 mi (1290 km) on the Appalachian Trail. They have gone down to
Canyonlands National Park twice as well as Great Basin National Park,
High Uintas Wilderness, and the Wasatch Mountains. I did some kayaking
with them in Baja, Mexico, then took them to Trinidad for some
vacationing and swimming in the surf. Since they now live on my
sunglasses I even use them around town. In all that time, the colored
coating on the wire has held up well without any peeling. They did not
seem to be adversely affected by the salt water. The thin stainless
steel wire has picked up a bend in it from being stored with my
sunglasses, but still stays up off my neck. With the high heat and
humidity we encountered along the Appalachian trail, having the Orbiter
stay up off my neck felt really good in the heat. It was one less place
for sweat to form and accumulate.
Keeping up off the neck
Attaching the Chums Orbiter to various styles of sunglass frames is
really easy. The rubber connection is soft and grips thin arms just as
well as thicker arms. My sunglasses have thin arms which fit well into
the rubber holder. Even in the pounding surf in Trinidad, the Orbiter
kept my sunglasses attached to me when the surf knocked them off my
face. The rubber connection is very low profile and sits well behind my
ears. I barely notice it and certainly have not had any issues with
pressure points. In fact even with a doubled over beanie, the pressure
point came from my glass frames rather than from the rubber connection
itself.
I couldn’t be happier with the Chums Orbiter. It is really
ultralight and sits well off my neck. I can wear it under or over a hat
quite comfortably.
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