Walker's shooting glasses review: the four-lens Sport kit and the IKON Tanker, on what Walker's publishes

Who Walker's is

Walker's Game Ear is a hearing-protection company that sells eyewear alongside its muffs, which is why its glasses are priced like an accessory and why the rest of this site keeps pairing them with muffs. The product pages are short. What they do say, they say plainly.

The Sport 4-lens kit

One frame, four "high-grade polycarbonate" lenses — clear, smoke gray, amber, yellow — a soft pouch, a nylon sleeve and a weatherproof case. The lens changes on a "clip & tension mounted design"; the frame's lens pitch ratchets, the nose pad adjusts "to broad bridge sizes", and the anti-fog is a vented "airflow promotion" design rather than a named coating. That is a complete indoor-to-outdoor kit for a shooter who swaps lenses at the bench. The tints and when to use them are on the lens color guide.

The IKON Tanker

A full-frame, single-lens pair in rose, amber, clear or smoke, with "TPR Flex rubber temple arms", an EVA foam nose piece and a matte rubberized frame. Walker's cites "ANSI Z87.1-2010 High Impact Requirement" and "MCEPS GL-PD 10-12 standards" — the latter a Military Combat Eye Protection System purchase description, not the MIL-PRF-32432 fragmentation spec, and we do not treat it as one. The rose lens is the reason a clay shooter would pick it; the rubber temples are the reason a summer shooter would, and the reason a muff wearer might not.

The rating: high impact, older editions

"Exceeds ANSI Z87.1-2003 high-impact requirement" on the Sport kit; "Z87.1-2010 High Impact" on the Tanker. The high-impact tests — the 500 g weight and the steel ball — did not change between the 2003, 2010, 2015 and 2020 editions, so both are plus-tier pairs in practice. What the older citation tells you is that Walker's has not re-stated the claim against the current edition. What it does not do is make the pair less impact-rated. The edition question is on what Z87+ means.

What the pages leave out

• Any military ballistic standard — the Sport kit is a Z87.1 high-impact kit, full stop.
• A named coating; the anti-fog is venting.
• Weight and frame dimensions.
• An Rx insert.
• A UV percentage on the Sport kit (99% is stated on the Clearview Youth).

Against the Genesis

The Genesis costs about the same as the Sport kit on the pages we checked, ships three lenses instead of four, and adds a named Uvextreme anti-fog coating and a military V0 statement on its clear and amber lenses. The Walker's kit wins on tint count and on the yellow lens the Genesis lacks; the Genesis wins on the rating wording and the coating. Both are on the budget ranking.