Cheap sunglasses are shit, but cheap eye protection with a tint is good. I’ve got some bolle silium for about 7 or 8 quid, the clear ones get a lot more use in this climate but the tinted ones are fine too.

I constantly leave my sunnies in stupid places, so I’ve taken to buying multiple cheap pairs and just leave them dotted all over the place. You will frequently find me browsing those annoying rotating display stands in the local pharmacy, I like to find the most audacious Miami Vice style Aviators possible. I splashed out £13 on the last pair as they had a black frame and matched my moustache nicely 😀

Hmm, tough one.

There are good shades and bad shades, imo, but they don’t necessarily match up with price. I tend to buy Oakleys because I like them, they are so widely available and they fit me well. However there are other brands that I like the look of. Tifosi spring to mind.

Best things about Oakleys I rekcon are the range of models for cycling that are all quite different in fit and funciton, and the choice of lens.

Gutted to have lost my Oakley square wires a couple of years back, and was unable to afford to replace them with like.

Probably yes but given discounts and sales not sure. Own

Oakley’s – so many in our family radars, half jackets, split jackets and racing jackets…..great but shop around and you can find equal or better

Nike we had some from USA in 2000 and they were excellent lost about 5 years but got some from tk maxx 19 quid and they are great

Polaroid glasses not a fashionable brand but the glasses are great again a tk maxx special

Bloc, got about three sets via a work contract and they are brilliant

Dragon …..daughter has several sets and they are equally great if not better than O’s

So my point is shop around around and you will find equally great lens and remember folks

No- one looks good in white framed Oakley’s.

None of the Maui Jim styles seem to have enough around the sides for skiing, in my experience

These are the ones I use,no light iterference from sides, above or below

Hustler, TBF they look OK.

Pigface – the bluer your eyes the more sensitive they are to sunlight. I have to wear top grade high mountain lenses for sailing and certainly for skiing. The good news is they are cheap.

i have one pair of Oakley’s i bought them over 12 years ago for about £80 i have worn them most days (sensitive eyes) about 7v years ago i had a bad crash broke my helmet and chiped my cheek bone the lenses of my Oakley’s got a v shaped scratch exactly the same shape and size as the scar on my cheek. Two years ago the frame snapped in my pocket when compressed oddly fixed easily with super glue, then i got hit by a car the frame died but the lenses survived inducing one i picked up from the middle of the road 5 hours later.

i have replaced the frame at a cost of £30 the lenses for £25. 3 or 4 times i have rung oakley and had the arm covers / nose bumpers replaced free of charge when lost or worn.

So a value for money product over its life time and really really robust . i am also sensitive to optical distortion and have never noticed any with the selection of lenses i have.

Crankboy’s Oakleys

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUl6PooveJE[/video]

Luxottica

As a vertically integrated company, Luxottica designs, manufactures, distributes and retails its eyewear brands, including Lenscrafters, Sunglass Hut, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical, Eyemed vision care plan, and Glasses.com. Its best known brands are Ray-Ban, Persol, and Oakley.

£.£.

Same. Same.

been using some oakleys for 15 or so years now, money well spent.

I’m thinking about prescription sunnies for road use, what worries me is that I look back often (as you should) and look out of the corner of my eye – prescription lenses won’t help me there I suspect..
I prefer wraparound versions due to wind drying my contact lenses out, which is why i was looking at Smith etc.

prescription lenses won’t help me there I suspect

Nor will they help you when it rains, or you’re out at dusk or later…

Nor will they help you when it rains, or you’re out at dusk or later…

Which is what made me go for contacts.

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).

Just out of curiosity, which metal framed Oakleys have plastic hinges? I’ve got a number of pairs of different O’s, and the metal frames all have hinges in the same material, as they’re an integral part of the frame, same with plastic ones, although Frogskins had metal hinges when they first came out, but are now all plastic.

Anti-fog coating on my £5 safety glasses, which seems to work as well as on anything more expensive I’ve owned.

Though you do identify the things I’m missing – tempted to try a pair of Tifosi photochromic as those are about the only ones I’ve seen which aren’t getting silly expensive. Might have a look at some fishing glasses for polarized lenses given they’ve been suggested on here – would be handy for watersports.

Looking at the Bolle website…with them doing clear/yellow and tinted glasses with anti-scratch and anti-fog lenses, designed for far more intensive environments than riding a bike, why do people spend silly money on eyewear when a lot of their stuff costs around £10 a pair? Serious question.

Optical clarity
Fit
Comfort
Eye/Face coverage
Venting
Range of lens tints
Ability to change lenses
The way they look
The fact they make the wearer happy
Etc.

‘Optical Clarity’ 🙂

@CountZero

Just out of curiosity, which metal framed Oakleys have plastic hinges?

Oakley Jurys do. I’d forgotten the model but a quick google of “broken plastic hinge oakley no replacement” soon found it. I was offered a £50 voucher. As well as the broken hinge, the lens was delaminating and bubbling around the edges. Some film on it. Perhaps the polarizing layer. It’s never happened before. They were well taken care of ie. fresh water after the pool or salt water and not a scratch on 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)

Shenanigans!

The wife and I use these for our riding and RC flying and have never had a problem with them.

http://www.rapideyewear.co.uk/product.php/11/expert-cycling-sunglasses-and-running-sunglasses

They also have a full range of replacement lenses and frames.

Well.. I dropped £80 on a set of Smith Asana glasses from RXSports.
They come with three lens options, dark mirror, Ignitor (rose tint) and clear. First opinion was that they are well made & the lenses are a decent thickness/rigidity & well finished with rounded edging. The nose clip has 4 adjustment positions which is nice, and the arms feel solid.
The ‘clarity’ is good, very good in fact & combined with a rimless design means you forget they are there – the very light weight helps with that too.
Thing is, I’m tight as a ducks arse, and £80 is a lot of money..
..so, are they worth the outlay? I’m not convinced they are worth quite that much but they are noticeably better than the triple lens glasses they replaced, that I paid £40 for.

No- one looks good in white framed Oakley’s

You’ve apparently never met me then 😉

Maui Jim’s are worth the money,

Stupendous charity and colour.

I’ve some RayBans I splashed the last £100 of some holiday money on at Brisbane airport 10yrs ago.
They’ve more than earned their keep.
But these days I’m wearing Animal prescription sunnies that came from Boots.
They are spot on.
Just about to get them re-glazed again, for a new prescription.

Oakleys I struggle with, as they are plastic. £200 for plastic glasses…
I’m sure they are great, but on a middle aged ginger nut, of rotund stature…
🙂

Went for Endura Mullets in the end.
Light-reactive lenses with holes so don’t fog up.
Nice fit – not used in anger yet – that’s tomorrow.
£31.50 at Wiggle = bargaintastic.

Its easy to spot some of you guys when i venture to the borders.

Hope the mullets work well cos they’re certainly fugly.

Beauty is in the eye(wear) of the beholder 8)

No its not worth it. Just like any other thing you want to consider e.g. cars, houses, bikes, clothes etc. Cheaper alternatives are always just as good, sometimes better. But they’re a luxury and we’re lucky enough to live in the first world and these things are nice, so why not if you can afford it. I’ve got 2 pairs of Oakley’s I got in sales – still chuffing expensive for sun glasses, but they’re nice and I like them alot, but they’re not any better functionally than cheap sunglasses i’ve had in the past – and i’m alot more precious about them which is a pain sometimes.