Sunglasses

yost72

I read something saying that a good pair of sunglasses is important, and the article recommended a pair of Oakleys, priced between £150-200. I could never justify spending that much on a pair of sunglasses. I currently have a £10 pair of Muddyfox sunglasses (the ones with changeable lenses) which I bought from Sports Direct.
My questions are:
1/ Would there be any significant benefit in getting a more expensive pair? My current pair do 'fog up' at times so a pair which doesn't do that would be useful
2/ If so, any recommendations at a more reasonable price - say £50ish?

birdie23

What you have is fine.

If you ever feel the need for something better, save until you can afford the Oakley glasses because for me no others come close.

finlayson99

IMHO as long as they fit, you can see thru them and you like the look it doesn't matter who makes them or what they cost.
Fit is the most important thing.
I'm sure the last edition of one of the mags was bigging up some Decathlon ones at £4.99 if memory serves me right.

S'pose it depends if you want to pose or not, personally I'd save my cash for components or a curry.

Tjgoodhew

If you are looking for a more expensive pair i would suggest having a look at the Salice 006. You could prob pick them up in the sale for close to £50 and they are a great. Very comfortable and comparable to Oakley at 1/3 of the price

juanerasmoe

You won't notice any major difference.
But, if you want to change the ones you have at the moment, I would recommend these http://goo.gl/ugmwcN
They are affordable, come with three set of lenses, and can fit RX inserts if you need prescription. I've been using them for a while and I'm very satisfied.

lostboysaint

juanerasmoe wrote:

You won't notice any major difference.
.

I have about a dozen pairs from Decathlon (BTwin) specials through to Oakley Radar Path and Radar Pitch and I can say, quite categorically, that you WILL notice the difference - in the same way that everyone that puts on a pair of Oakleys does. The lack of distortion is immediately noticeable*.

*I wore the photochromic Radar Path on an MTB ride on Tuesday and a couple of people tried them and were blown away by the clarity under the tree cover.

PerformingMonkey

Oakley have an outlet store down here (Gunwharf) where there are some bargains to be had.

lostboysaint

PerformingMonkey wrote:

Oakley have an outlet store down here (Gunwharf) where there are some bargains to be had.

Where some of mine came from

Or look here - http://www.eyewearoutlet.co.uk/

iPete

I've ridden happily with Bole <£10 clear lenses and sunglasses for a few years and as much as they do the job there is a noticeable difference to my Oakley Radars. The visibility is better, the lack of distortion, fit, polarised lenses etc. make them a pleasure to use.

Worth it? that's up to you. Got mine free from an employee @ Oakley but I would consider paying now that I know better.

jotko

I lose/break sunglasses so go for the cheap and cheerful option usually.

If you live near a TK maxx then go have a look in there - they have loads, and often have cycling specific ones.

I have a couple of Ironman branded ones -£9.95 and they are great and pretty much disposable.

diamonddog

lostboysaint wrote:

PerformingMonkey wrote:

Oakley have an outlet store down here (Gunwharf) where there are some bargains to be had.

Where some of mine came from

Or look here - http://www.eyewearoutlet.co.uk/

^^^^This

StillGoing

Rudy Project and a host of others are just as good as Oakley. It's the same with cars; some people are drawn by a badge.

birdie23

philthy3 wrote:

Rudy Project and a host of others are just as good as Oakley. It's the same with cars; some people are drawn by a badge.

Not sure that is the case... I've certainly never tried a set of glasses that have the optics of Oakley's. I have to wear safety glasses at work everyday and I wish they had the clarity my bike lenses do. Personally I wouldn't pay more than £40 for anything other than a pair of Oakley glasses.

That said, I think as long as you can see, are comfortable, and like how some glasses look you'll be more than happy with them and I'd go for one of the sets that contain three lenses or so at the lower prices, the choice is nice to have with British weather.

rickeverett

There's a few options out there that do exactly the same thing as a £200 pair of branding.

DECENT Safety glasses for example can come in very slick designs. They are designed to offer the eye full protection, to be comfortable and light for working in. The added bonus is stronger lenses that come with the usual UV specs etc.

There specs are usually better than many Sunglasses out there.

Becuase they are not in the sport market they also cost very little. I use them in winter but you can also get tinted ones for summer. I have a pair of Contours and they dont distort and are visually clear, however I did have a different design tinted pair that went as good.



http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/contour-metal
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/mamba
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/silium-0

IanRCarter

I have Oakley Radarlock Paths and think they're great, really comfortable to wear. Cheap sunglasses always had some problem such as fogging up too easily, sitting too close so my eyelashes caught them whenever I blinked, falling off my nose whenever I looked down and in the case of DHB interchangeable lens glasses, the frame bends so one side sits closer to my face. I made sure to try the Oakleys on in a sunglasses shop abroad before buying them to make sure that they'd address these problems and hoped they'd be cheaper, unfortunately they were twice as much as over here!

You have to understand you are paying partly for a brand, but that brand exists because of the quality of the products. As birdie23 said, I wouldn't buy anything other than Oakleys over a certain price point, I'd want something to show for my investment (as stupid and poser-ish as that sounds).

If you're happy with your glasses, keep them. Oakleys won't make you faster. If you're not happy, try looking in shops and trying different glasses on, my mistake was buying a few pairs of budget glasses off the internet and finding they weren't up to scratch.

iPete

rickeverett wrote:

There's a few options out there that do exactly the same thing as a £200 pair of branding.

DECENT Safety glasses for example can come in very slick designs. They are designed to offer the eye full protection, to be comfortable and light for working in. The added bonus is stronger lenses that come with the usual UV specs etc.

There specs are usually better than many Sunglasses out there.

Becuase they are not in the sport market they also cost very little. I use them in winter but you can also get tinted ones for summer. I have a pair of Contours and they dont distort and are visually clear, however I did have a different design tinted pair that went as good.



http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/contour-metal
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/mamba
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/silium-0

To be pedantic, DECENT safety sports wear doesn't have metal arms or frames. The risk of course is tiny but the glasses made for the job are better, its whether your are willing to pay for that as its quite a big jump.

p.s. I ride with the the Contours in winter too, although they are due a replacement, probably something all plastic from Bolle. I also used to ride the Spiders in summer but they can't compare with my Oakleys on fit alone, the Spiders are not great when riding on the drops.

I no longer think, 'I could buy 10x pairs of Bolle for that', give me the 1 good pair please.

Slo Mo Jones

The trouble with Oakleys is they are spectacularly hideous.

birdie23

iPete wrote:

rickeverett wrote:

There's a few options out there that do exactly the same thing as a £200 pair of branding.

DECENT Safety glasses for example can come in very slick designs. They are designed to offer the eye full protection, to be comfortable and light for working in. The added bonus is stronger lenses that come with the usual UV specs etc.

There specs are usually better than many Sunglasses out there.

Becuase they are not in the sport market they also cost very little. I use them in winter but you can also get tinted ones for summer. I have a pair of Contours and they dont distort and are visually clear, however I did have a different design tinted pair that went as good.



http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/contour-metal
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/mamba
http://www.bolle-safety.com/model/silium-0

To be pedantic, DECENT safety sports wear doesn't have metal arms or frames. The risk of course is tiny but the glasses made for the job are better, its whether your are willing to pay for that as its quite a big jump.

p.s. I ride with the the Contours in winter too, although they are due a replacement, probably something all plastic from Bolle. I also used to ride the Spiders in summer but they can't compare with my Oakleys on fit alone, the Spiders are not great when riding on the drops.

I no longer think, 'I could buy 10x pairs of Bolle for that', give me the 1 good pair please.

Since Oakley lenses pass high impact testing I think it's very hard to find something comparable on optical quality and frame comfort.

Slo Mo Jones wrote:

The trouble with Oakleys is they are spectacularly hideous.

Aren't all sports glasses if you wear them when not doing sports? I'm not sure anyone on a bike in tight Lycra is setting the fashion world alight to start with.

dfriel2

PerformingMonkey wrote:

Oakley have an outlet store down here (Gunwharf) where there are some bargains to be had.

Was there yesterday, and came away with a decent pair for not much money (well, as compared with RRP!). Were a revelation on my ride this morning..

fudgey

I use Bolle light smoked safety glasses from RS, about £7 a pair. They do the job fine for me

If you are having trouble with fogging then go to a motorbike shop and buy a can of Bob Heath visor antifog. about £2.50 a can

StillGoing

I use Rudy Project Genetyks. Still expensive, but cheaper than Oakleys and every bit as good.

http://www.rudyproject.com/products/gla ... d.html?s=1

rikcougar

I have a pair of Rudy Projects that I paid over £100 for ten years ago

The clarity is still stunning and they are photochromatic too.

Oakleys are good but there are better glasses out there for less money

At the end of the day you get what you pay for

Slo Mo Jones

rikcougar wrote:

Oakleys are good but there are better glasses out there for less money

At the end of the day you get what you pay for

Brilliant advice.

Frank Wilson

I have set up an eye test at local optician who is an Oakley agent. I need prescription but do not want the insert type and I could only find Oakley in this sector unless anybody else can correct me.

However just to make them even more expensive I presume I will have to have the lenses that change with the light so I can wear them when it isn't sunny. Obvioulsy can't just change to normal prescription glasses or it defeats the object of the wrap around.

StillGoing

Frank Wilson wrote:

I have set up an eye test at local optician who is an Oakley agent. I need prescription but do not want the insert type and I could only find Oakley in this sector unless anybody else can correct me.

However just to make them even more expensive I presume I will have to have the lenses that change with the light so I can wear them when it isn't sunny. Obvioulsy can't just change to normal prescription glasses or it defeats the object of the wrap around.

Rudy Project and I'm sure plenty of the others do prescription sport glasses with various lens types from photochromatic, anti glare etc. But, anything that isn't clip on prescription is going to be expensive.