The officially unofficial performance sunglasses thread

[WiskyDan]

Those are pretty cool!! They look like standard D28 (flat-top / 28mm wide) bifocal segments that you would see in regular glasses. Are the additions on the front of the lens or back - I'm assuming front??

 

[zpaul]

Those are pretty cool!! They look like standard D28 (flat-top / 28mm wide) bifocal segments that you would see in regular glasses. Are the additions on the front of the lens or back - I'm assuming front??

The readers are built in sunglass lens and you can feel them a bit on the back but not on the front.
I started with regular Tuna Alley before and I still have them.
You put Readers and non Readers next to each other and you will not see the difference from the front.

 

[BlkGS]

I have a lot of sunglasses. Had a lot of Oakley's, had a set of Maui Jim's I loved until they shattered in cold, been a Costa guy for a while now.

I have some thoughts on lenses.

Firstly, I love the green lens, I think it's their best. The amber base is just so easy to live with, appropriately dark, good contrast, good mirroring (nothing worse than see through sunglasses checking out the 00s and OOs). They're my favorite.

Blue lenses, I like for the boat but not much else. They just seem too bright for me. Good for glare reduction, but I don't like them for everyday use.

Silver mirror, I like overall. Similar to the greens, but they're a gray lens vs amber. I will use them for everyday use, but I prefer the greens. No complaints with them, just I prefer the amber lens.

Mirror Gold, I just got a pair as warranty replacements. I'm not impressed currently. They're designed with more VLT, but they're too bright and optically look weird to me. I've got.like, 5 minutes of use time with them though so my evaluation may change.

Thoughts on Oakley's... Why they gotta be so freaking weird? I still have a pair or two of Gascans, they're one of the few Oakley designs I would even wear. I can get the appeal of the visor types for athletics, but nearly all their other designs are just too weird. They've got probably 5-7 out of the like 100 frames they make I would wear. I don't find their lenses that great, they have nothing on the glass Costa lenses, or Maui lenses. I do appreciate the ability to custom build a set of sunglasses though. I'm just disappointed, metal Oakley's were my first set.of "nice" sunglasses, and if they made something nice and not too weird, I'd consider them again, but they're just not doing it for me anymore (maybe that's because 15-20 years has passed since I was a teenager and liked their styles?)

Cheapies... Never been a fan. I know there's lots of fast casual cheapies now, not quite throwaways on the rack, not quite nice. There's probably little difference between them and the nicer ones, sunglasses are like 80% margin or more, but most of them exist at a price point where I'd just as soon buy nicer ones. You wanna sell me a pair of nice quality sunglasses that are cheapie plus, it's gotta be like $20 shipped, preferably from Amazon and some sketchy website.

 

[adrianp89]

I have a lot of sunglasses. Had a lot of Oakley's, had a set of Maui Jim's I loved until they shattered in cold, been a Costa guy for a while now.

I have some thoughts on lenses.

Firstly, I love the green lens, I think it's their best. The amber base is just so easy to live with, appropriately dark, good contrast, good mirroring (nothing worse than see through sunglasses checking out the 00s and OOs). They're my favorite.

Blue lenses, I like for the boat but not much else. They just seem too bright for me. Good for glare reduction, but I don't like them for everyday use.

Silver mirror, I like overall. Similar to the greens, but they're a gray lens vs amber. I will use them for everyday use, but I prefer the greens. No complaints with them, just I prefer the amber lens.

Mirror Gold, I just got a pair as warranty replacements. I'm not impressed currently. They're designed with more VLT, but they're too bright and optically look weird to me. I've got.like, 5 minutes of use time with them though so my evaluation may change.

Thoughts on Oakley's... Why they gotta be so freaking weird? I still have a pair or two of Gascans, they're one of the few Oakley designs I would even wear. I can get the appeal of the visor types for athletics, but nearly all their other designs are just too weird. They've got probably 5-7 out of the like 100 frames they make I would wear. I don't find their lenses that great, they have nothing on the glass Costa lenses, or Maui lenses. I do appreciate the ability to custom build a set of sunglasses though. I'm just disappointed, metal Oakley's were my first set.of "nice" sunglasses, and if they made something nice and not too weird, I'd consider them again, but they're just not doing it for me anymore (maybe that's because 15-20 years has passed since I was a teenager and liked their styles?)

Cheapies... Never been a fan. I know there's lots of fast casual cheapies now, not quite throwaways on the rack, not quite nice. There's probably little difference between them and the nicer ones, sunglasses are like 80% margin or more, but most of them exist at a price point where I'd just as soon buy nicer ones. You wanna sell me a pair of nice quality sunglasses that are cheapie plus, it's gotta be like $20 shipped, preferably from Amazon and some sketchy website.

curious if you ever tried Shady rays? On the cheap end but one I built my collection, I swap them out once a defect happens (free) or lose one (pay $8)

 

[BlkGS]

curious if you ever tried Shady rays? On the cheap end but one I built my collection, I swap them out once a defect happens (free) or lose one (pay $8)

Nope. They're like $50-110, which is kinda like, too close to a nice set to me. I don't lose sunglasses really because I am constantly wearing them (more likely to forget I have a pair than lose said pair), and Costas have a lifetime warranty on defects too. Costa also runs sales a LOT, so that helps too.

I bet they're as good as any other plastic lens glasses to be honest, they're probably owned by luxotica like every other sunglasses brand, and if not they probably manufacture them lol. But for me to try a not known quantity brand to me, I'd want them to be cheaper. If their really nice lenses and glasses were like 50-60, I'd consider them I guess. But at 50 for cheapies and 110 for nicer ones, unless I was just planning to call them up and lose them monthly or something, I haven't seen the point in trying them.

 

[madtom]

Am I the only one whom uses sunglass straps when I am boating?

I use straps with all my expensive glasses...... When downrange on deployments some folks would get upset when we wore them on our heads or around our necks as it wasn't uniform policy.... but i figure it like this... If I'm paying that much for a nice pair of shades the last thing I'm gonna do is put them in my pocket and scratch them. Also look at Fuse lenses...they make replacements for almost all major brands and they have decent shade options for fishing.... have Gascan and Flak XL frames still plugging along with second or third set of fuse lenses.