Was reading the review of the Smith Optics & Adidas EvilEye sports sunglasses, and they are quite pricy.
Are the high end lenses worth the high price tag? Must admit ive been a devotee of cheap & cheerful stuff for many years but as my eyesight deteriorates I’m wondering if its worth investing in a decent set of riding glasses. I wear contacts when riding & own several pairs of cheap (£12 – £40) glasses for reference.

I have a pair of Oakleys but end up using my using my work safety glasses – Ox wrap around light tint with a mirror finish for everything now

They cost £3.50. Have full UV protection and anti shatter etc….

I’ll never buy expensive sunglasses for sport again

Are the high end lenses worth the high price tag?

I’d be amazed if you could tell the difference in a double blind test.

I’m thinking more about visual accuity, and how I may need sharper clarity as my eyes age – I’m finding I get headaches from wearing my contacts & cheapo sunnies for a long time.

Yes.

Yes.

I’m just looking for a pair of prescription ones myself. The only ones I can find that fit my head seem to be Oakley Carbon Blades which are bit / a lot more than I really want to spend. The arms on anything else ended up being about 15 to 20mm too short with a similar width deficit.

Anyone recommend anything slightly cheaper that will fit a larger headed chap?

Ja

That’s it, I had a set of Oakleys yrs ago but I couldn’t tell you now if they were ‘that’ much better, but that was over 15yrs ago & technology has moved on.

I lose or break too many to even contemplate buying expensive ones. No matter what they cost it’s a bike like bikes, shoes etc they have to fit, for that reason I’m unlikely to own any expensive Oakley. Bloc are my go to choice.

Yes.

£250. My best glasses with polarised lenses I wear for driving, most of the cost is in the frames
£100. My medium ones for general use but not for sports
£10-50 for skiing, sailing and biking as they get lost / broken

Dunno if they are actually worth the money, but once you get out of the cheapies they are definitely better. You probably hit peak performance at 50-60 quid. Anything more than that you are paying for style/vanity/brand or some specific “thing” you need. Like prescription lenses, warranty (Oakleys is fantastic), polarisation, anti glare or anti fog and so on.

for skiing

Skiing = Goggles.

Skiing in sunglasses? Yes. I am judging you. No. It’s not going well for you.

most sunglasses and all safety glasses are made from polycarbonate the lens part is formed from sheet material heated and then placed over a former,a simple idea, why pay 100 quids plus when your ordianry safety glasses from screwfix work just as well, polarising fishing glasses work better than shop bought polarizing sunglases.

Skiing in sunglasses? Yes. I am judging you. No. It’s not going well for you.

Erm I use prescription Maui Jims to ski, optics are pretty much better than ANY ski goggle on the market, same sunnies have done over 50mph on road bike with no isues of wind interference to eye, why would I wear goggles?

And to the OP’s question there are a few brands where the optics are significantly better than cheaper sunnies, are they worth it? to some people yes, to some no….depends on how well you treat them and how important the increases are to you. None will change your world, its abit like bike parts there is a base price and for each small improvement there is a cost LX,XT,XTR….

Always ski in sunnies, top strength mountain lenses as my (very blue) eyes are sensitive / damaged. Googles for poor viz only. I am not aware of any googles at a remotely sensible price with max high mountain eye protection

I was actually rather interested in some of the Smith Optic models but I know nowt about the brand or whether they are worth the expense.

Smiths as a company I dont really know their product, but a few basics……ignore any manufacturer bullshit about strength and UV protection when/if looking at polycarb lenses they are ALL 100% UV it has nothing to do with the manufacturer its an inherent property of the material, similarly any strength difference will be down to thickness of lens for the same reason.

The optical differences are down to the tints/polarisations and coatings that are then applied to the lens.

Take there into account and within the industry Maui Jim are recognised to be second to none with Serengeti a close second, a few of the others including adidas and Nike also get good reviews. their lead over other brands……pretty small percentages per pounnd tbh. Saying all this I have 2 pairs of Oakley,2 addida 1 nike, 3 maui and a couple of pairs of bolle oh and one of police………for me the Maui’s win every time

Would those brands include Bolle? I note they used to sell cycling glasses at the same price as lots of other high end brands…

There are cheap sunglasses and safety glasses.

Someone recommended Bloc on here to me a few years back and I swear by them now. Superb VFM. I’ll never bother with Oakleys again.

Would those brands include Bolle? I note they used to sell cycling glasses at the same price as lots of other high end brands…

As said above the difference is in the coatings, the bolle safety glass is made from the same polycarb as the sunny, however the sunny has better coatings etc so the optics will be better, whether the price difference is worth it for the coatings……..thats personal opinion.

To help taking tints out of it the best coating around is supposed to let about 15% more light thru, the more light thru the more picked up by the optic nerve, the better the image the brain can define from the light. this coating costs ALOT……..worth it for a 15% improvement that by the time tints etc come into play is more like 3-4%……..hard to say

Skiing = Goggles.

Skiing in sunglasses? Yes. I am judging you. No. It’s not going well for you.

Goggles only look good with helmets (yuk) and when it’s bad weather.

Skiing = headband/bandana and sunglasses. Nothing else needed.

Retires quickly to dig out Killy racing pants and other old-fashioned ideeas 😉

Gosh,was it only two weeks ago 😉

Bloc are decent and not at all expensive

THM on his hols:

Cant believe people ski/board not wearing a helmet…

no.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/expensive-sunglasses-worth-the-money

Anyone remember when the DX jokeleys (jawbones?) were doing the rounds?
One of our own went and tested the lenses, and found them to be just/very nearly as good as the genuine oakleys.
I managed to pick up some adidas fancy riding glasses for about 1/2 RRP and I do love them so, they are far better than any of the oakleys or nikes I have used previously and don’t fog.
Casual, just normal oakleys. You can generally get them on sale for about £60.

I have a couple of pairs of Oakley Radars, a pair of Rudy Projects and a couple of other £80+ models and I can’t tell any difference between them in terms of optical clarity and I suspect I couldn’t with some of the cheap safety specs out there. If I were target shooting at the Olympics it would probably be a noticeable difference but cycling? Nope.

Anyone remember when the DX jokeleys (jawbones?) were doing the rounds?
One of our own went and tested the lenses, and found them to be just/very nearly as good as the genuine oakleys.

/waves.

Actually tested the DX ones against the US specifications (along with some polarised, safety specs and something expensive the wife owned), I didn’t perform the ball bearing test.

Polarised failed the tests (98% absorption).
Mirrored extended the cutoff range.
Everything else had identical spectra and passed all the tests.

no.

😉

I can definitely tell the difference with Oakley polarized optics compared to cheap sunnies

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/clear-glasses-distorting-vision

Posher glasses are definitely worth the extra, to a point. I have three pairs of Oakleys and shopped around and never paid more than £80 (Frogskins, Switch Jackets and Five Squareds) and they’re great. I’d not spend more than £100 on glasses without a prescription myself, and probably between £50-80 is the sweetspot.

I have to wear safety glasses at work a lot and the distortion is poor around the edges and they can strain my eyes and give me headaches. Same happened with a set of Foakleys from DX. For reference I am a normal glasses/contact lense wearer as well, which I think increases your perceptiveness of poor lense quality.

Yes and no OP. There is of course a law of diminishing returns to take into account. I use clear safety specs from Screwfix or wherever else. I buy 2-3 pairs at a time as wiping them when gritty destroys them. If I did much road riding I may change my mind.

I have some excellent Gill sunnies for sailing, surfing, SUP’ing etc. They float and the optics are very good. Think they were around £35. I’ve had Bolle. Several. The clarity was fantastic and much, much clearer than cheaper models. I’d guess they were around £60-£90 a pair. Currently have some Blocs and they’re great.

I’ve had a pair of Oakleys in the past and was fairly unimpressed. The quality of the lenses and frames wasn’t above Bloc and perhaps worse than Bolle, a personal fav. They were expensive versions too. Full alloy frames (exepct for the shitty plastic hinge).

I can’t mentally justify spending more than £80-ish. Living in SE Asia where I wear sunnies for hours and hours every day though, there is certainly a benefit in spending more than £30-£40. My eyes are noticably less tired after an outdoor day. Polarising is important.

The real life difference IMHO between £5 safety glasses and something a bit more expensive is the latter usually has coatings that help water bead off and reduce fogging up, they can also be polarised/photochromic.

I’ve got some fairly cheap BBB photochromic glasses that seem to do the job just fine and cost about £40, the difference in performance between these and the super expensive ones is largely the difference in time keeping ability between a Casio and a Rolex IMHO.

Would those brands include Bolle? I note they used to sell cycling glasses at the same price as lots of other high end brands…

Bollé make safety glasses, and have also made cycling glasses for a long, long time, not to mention ski eyewear. I used to sell Edge and Edge2s 21 years ago. Back then they were popular and reasonably priced, as well as good to deal with. The Snake range was great too – ahead of its time. Personally if they fit, I’d happily run them.

Similarly I had a pair of Oakley Mumbos / M-Frames while I was working as a guide back in the early noughties. The frame broke while in Grenada, so I contacted Oakley UK. A few days later a new frame arrived, Fed-Ex’d from the ‘states, no questions asked. There’s obvious Snap-On comparisons there, but it does highlight why they are the price they are, but also why they have the following they do. Unfortunately they were stolen two years later in Croatia, and I’ve never replaced them. 🙁

I also broke a pair of Smiths while guiding; I like the company and they were good to deal with, but I had to explain the situation and then buy a discounted frame as opposed to the seamless and faultless Oakley experience. All in all it felt far more ‘small company’, which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on your point of view.

You pays your money…

as my (very blue) eyes

Strangest……………

Yes they are, so long as you are ok at taking care of things and not likely to lose them.

You are only given one set of eyes, why risk damaging them by getting cheapo sunglasses with “100% UV protection” 🙄 🙄 ….(Some are possibly more likely to actually damage your eyes than protect them).

And yes, you notice a surprising difference in visual clarity with better sunnies.

None of the Maui Jim styles seem to have enough around the sides for skiing, in my experience. You certainly need coverage at the sides and also from bellow for use on snow or water..

Saying that, skiing = Goggles, Restaurant terrace = Glasses. So you need flat ones which fit in your pocket without breaking or being to bulky. I have Oakley Frogs for this purpose.