UKC

Anyone technical out there who knows whether it's worth paying over £100 for a pair of (Oakley) sunglasses? I used to have a pair, got shagged and now I bought a pair of no name sunglasses for 10 quid and they seem absolutely fine. I know that you have to have all that polaroid stuff, but Oakley seems to promote the fact that their lenses are extremly strong, which is not really critical in my experiences (usually the frame get's shagged or you loose them).

With Oakley, you're definatley paying a lot for the name, Bloc and Cebe make sunglasses, with the same quality lenses, but for a fraction of the price. The thing I've found with Oakley is that the frame designs are much more 'stylish' than the rest of the manufactures.

I hope so, Ive just splashed out £120 on a pair!!

There the only optically correct glasses apart from ray bands meaning that the lens does not bend the picture your seeing. That's the main reason they are so expensive. Email oakley for the low down.

Ahh. That was a great insight which seems to make sense. So if I am okay with lenses that can't resist a shotgun blow; slight distortion of the picture; but most importantly not be part of the gang I should be happy with my £12 pair.

Just scraped away the logo and could probably paint a little "o" easily. That takes care of the image.

They must be making a lot of money the guys at Oakley. Good for them.

Thay are not the only optically correct glasses by any means. Julbo are just as good for a fraction of the price and makea bigger range of lenses much better suited to mountain use. Sure theres pose value with oakley but technically they are no better than many other quality brands.

I've got both a pair of oakley e-wires, and CEBE Athlons, and as far as I can tell, the quality is very similar. Granted the styles are completely different, but the CEBE rep said that they are very similar to oakley in terms of quality.

In reply to Mathias: I have had a pair of eyejackets for over four years, best £90 ive spent!!!

In reply to Mathias:
I have a nice pair of wrap-around glasses which I use for driving and wlking in built up areas in the sun (the bright light hurts my delicate blue eyes).

Somewhat nervously, I took them on my recent trip to Bolivia, but they protected my eyes fine.

I even got some impressed comments from trendy teenagers. They asked what make they were (no obvious logo). When I said they were Boots own brand, they changed the subject...

But they have done me fine.

By the way, I like the wraparounds because of the peripheral vision while driving.

Just be careful cos Ive snapped two pairs.
John

In reply to John Roberts

Yeah, but Oakley always used to have terrific after-sales support, post them off to Oakley and they may well repair/replace them.

In reply to Mathias: The thing with Oakley lenses is that even if you scratch the surface of them they will still provide 100% UV protection as the protection is in the material rather than a coating. With cheaper brands scratching the lense removes this protection and, although you may think that there is no change, ultimately in bright condition this will damage your eyes. Worth the money, but buy a hard case with them and use it! Cheers J

In reply to James:

This is all very well but can anyone suggest a good trendy pair of wrap-arounds that will take prescription lenses - cheap!

My brother is on his 8th pair of Oakleys. (metal frames) He worked at an outdoor shop so got them cheaper. They are nice and light but not really durable and he said that Bloc treat their lenses in a similar fashion and in the shop test with some laser thing they came out fractionally better than the O's much to the annoyance of the rep. Bottom line, you pay for the name, they look good, the optics are good, the frames can be weak, if you sit on/drop/bend sunglasses as much as me I wouldn't spend that much.

In reply to Mathias:

personally go for the cheapest option, as i scraped my oakleys climbing when i was going for a hold and i was really close the rock. if u buy a cheap pair it also doesnt matter if you drop them down a bloody crevasse...

you just go any buy a new pair

Used to own a sunglass shop, and the price of manufacture of a pair was $1us. That is fact. The hype that surrounds these shades is purely that. But they to do look the dogs gonads.

In reply to Mathias: My brother used to work in an outdoor shop and the Oakley rep was going on about how the sun glasses don't bend the image & all that. He had some sort of demo that shone a couple of lasers through the lense to demonstrate this & my brother insisted on trying a pair of blocs on the same rig. The rep was non to impressed when the blocs performed better in the test! My brother is on his 8th pair of Oakleys (all replaced free), he's had the frames break mostly but a few problems with the lenses as well. I think they are nice glasses but you do have to take care of them.
Cheers
Toby

In reply to Mathias:

Oakley lenses are the dogs but its true that the frames are easily bent. However, I've got a pair of limited edition E-wire with titanium frames! I've sat on them and dropped them more times than I can remember and they're still the purfect shape. They cost a bit more but are definately worth the extra (£135) if you can get hold of a pair!

I've also heard from a friend who works for them, that Oakley are looking into developing a new frame made from that memoflex stuff advertised on the TV. Now they would be indestructable!

In reply to Mathias:

I use a pair of Oakley Minutes (Cobalt Blue frames + Red Iridium lenses) and they're the best £85 I ever spent. You think that a cheap pair are going to be the same; you're sadly mistaken. The only shades that come close to Oakley quality are Dragon.

If you can stretch to the cash buy a pair. Besides the excellent quality and performance they look awesome!

To all those people who say you are paying for the name - you are correct. You ARE paying for the NAME; you are paying for everything synonymous with the name - quality, durability and performance.

In reply to Jonathan: I have a mate who has had every part of his Oakleys replaced free of charge. The only original parts are the lenses. I think if you are usually breaking glasses, go for Oakleys, if you are always losing them, go for cheapos

I've had my eye-jackets since 96, and I'm now on my third set of arms, in fact last time they went back, they replaced the whole frame!

Great after sales care from both Oakley & Cotswold!

My julbos are great.

In reply to Mathias:
I think everyone is missing the point! Yep Oakleys do the biz', but best of all they are super cool, so stuff the rest, buy the best (looking!). Besides which the lenses can be replaced independantly, and spare parts can be purchased too.

i've got some blocs, fantastic design, top quality (ok so not perfect) lenses (if they were perfect they wouild have a big O on the side and another £100 on the tag) and all from the price of £35. bargain.

In reply to Mathias: I had a superb pair of Bloc's for 6 years, ended up very scratched though. Now use a cheap pair of wrap rounds for climbing (keeps the dust out). For cool though - Vuarnet, roundish blue lenses, tempered glass for top optical clarity (heavyer than plastic though).

In reply to Mathias: I get all my sunnies from the pound shop in town. They are great and I've got a pair every where so I don't have to remember to pick them up.
It's all hype & fashion. 10 quid is a major rip off.
It isn't hard or expensive to produce a lense that filters out UV a&b Oakley et al haven't got a secret formula..... just a big load of cash from a lot of ooooooooh exceedingly hip suckers.

In reply to Mathias: Smith sliders have changeble lenses which is cool - use Oakley m frames (1 piece) if your worried about breaking them

In reply to Mathias: I owned a pair of the original Mumbo's which were a fantastic lens in every way, cased in a frame that was nothing short of pitiful for durability. However, to be fair, Oakley have made so much cash from idiots like me buying mumbos and frogskins that things are probably a whole lot better now. The ski goggles used to be shite too. For biking when flys and mud coat a lot of the lens in no time I reckon the difference between the lens quality of say Smith or Cebe and Oakley would not be noticable even by those with 20/20 vision. Nice to find a brand you can be sure is providing the right UV protection but no functional need to spend more than £50 methinks. Look really cool though and what price fashion?

The real question is do you want to be a part of that HUGE load of choss that is fashion, surely through being a rock climber (i hope) you will have gained all the credibility you need and oakleys will just make some people think erm... adversley of you? I certainly know some guys who, upon sighting a oakley touting body, will make it their mission to make the person seem a rich git!

ALl that replacement stuff, they don't replace them if you loose them, drop them into your rucksack, never to return... then after forking out 135 squid you are gonna be gutted. Just think of the crash mat you could get with that.

Don't get me wrong, i considered getting some oakley's myself but discounted it on the fact that every pair of sunglasses i have ever owned have been lost, forever, in some place. I know this place now as the vortex.

In reply to Mathias:
Winkler glacier goggles are only £25 and very Luis Trenker retro fashion god...

In reply to Mathias:
I read a report a couple of years ago that said even a sheet of clear ,plain polycarbonate (plastic),offers 98% UVA/UVB protection.That is before any coatings or tints that you get on ALL sunglasses.Even cheapo shades should therefore offer very good protection.
Bloc and Briko offer good quality and STYLISH (for the fashion victims)shades at a fraction of the Oakleys cost.They both also offer a "clip in" system for fitting prescription lenses.
Having said all that, I have a pair of RayBan Predators, because they fit the shape of my head better than any others I have tried.

In reply to Paul Baron: This is absolutely correct. Even done the test myself on a UV spectrophotometer. You just pay for the name.

In reply to Toby_W: I used to have a pair of Blocs but swapped them for Oakleys - best move I ever made. I found I was squinting through Blocs as they didn't reduce glare enough for me; the Oakleys, however, cut all glare, fit really well (don't slide down your nose, drop off, etc) and look nice too

In reply to Toby_W: Just snapped the frame of my eye jackets and I was wondering where I should take them to be repaired. Is the easiest way to mail direct to Oakley in the UK?

In reply to Anthony: Oakley do provide excellent customer service (re my brother) but if you can try and do it through the shop you bought them from (or a friendly shop you know) this will hopefully be less hassle for you and companies prefer this. If you can't I don't know their address but the web site is:
http://www.oakley.com/
Hope this helps
Cheers
Toby

In reply to Mathias:

the best thing about oakley is the fact that their brand image is so important to them. therefore is you break your oakleys, they'll fix them for you. (even though the guarantee is nominally only for one year)

actually, that's not entirely true, they won't touch the lenses, but I've had both arms and the front section replaced on mine over the past four years.

In reply to Martin P:

That's rubbish!there are many brands out there with optical class one decentred lenses equally as good as Okley. Bloc eyewear being one of them.

In reply to Mathias:

I have a pair of prescription Oakley 5s and think they are excellent. To get quality lenses that properly correct your vision offer UVA B and C proptection and eliminate glare is worth the money. I don't really care what they look like but what they are like to look through is great.

In reply to Dave Collier:
I got my son some Cebe wrap around style but the lenses were too close to his face and to fit him he lost the wrap around style and the glasses kept falling off his nose. I still had to pay the £100.00 too!

Nice glasses but there are better for mountaineering. Still, I believe they replace 'em if you sit on 'em and break 'em. Or - that's what the guy at the shop told me but I'm not counting on it. Oh yeh, they do look like the dogs b******s

In reply to JonC:

So who goes for the 'thermonuclear protection' crap then ? Ooooooooooooooooh, that's cool sounding......

If you buy Oakleys for the style, so be it, but the UV protection stuff is just naive, ask any optometrist.