Oakley Jawbones - what lens type????

Ah_go_on

Looking to get a decent pair of sunglasses for MTBing and I like the look of the Jawbones. Thing is, there are a number of lens options which I don't understand and therefore don't know which to buy

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=jawbone

Photocromatic, polarised, non-polarised.

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons??

cython

Ah_go_on wrote: »

Looking to get a decent pair of sunglasses for MTBing and I like the look of the Jawbones. Thing is, there are a number of lens options which I don't understand and therefore don't know which to buy

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=jawbone

Photocromatic, polarised, non-polarised.

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons??

Photocromic are like so-called reactions or transitions lenses, that darken in response to UV light, i.e. the brighter the sun, the darker the lens gets. Polarised are tinted lenses that have an additional coating/property to reduce glare, by only allowing light that oscillates in a single plane through. Non-polarised are likely normal tinted lenses. The first 2 I mention are apt to be more expensive, and basically they have the advantages over the latter one, and each other, that I mentioned already.

PS this should probably be in the normal forum rather than adverts.

Lemag

Rather than giving your money to CRC check www.eyewearoutlet.co.uk. I picked up a pair of Oakleys from them for less then €50 delivered with thanks to this thread started by TheBlaaMan.

Rew

I've polarised oaklys, find them great and they do reduce glare.

Idleater

I've one pair polarised that I find great for driving, and one pair photochromatic for cycling. Both work really well. Polarised + photochromatic would be ideal.

doozerie

If you are considering a photochromic lense then remember to check whether their light transmission range suits your purposes. I was interested in a pair of (non-Oakley) photochromic lenses for my commute all year round but when I checked their range they went from something like 17% light transmission (dark enough for me) to 78% (too dark for many of my evening commutes) - a decent wide range but they wouldn't have worked well for my purposes.

Polarized lenses reduce glare but Oakley also offer an Iridium coating to do something similar at a cheaper price (though still not "cheap"). I have iridium lenses and although it is hard to compare with non-iridium lenses I believe that I do notice the benefit of the iridium coating. It is a coating though, and therefore prone to scratching, etc., so something to be aware of. I'm not sure whether polarized lenses have an external coating or whether it is built "into" the lense - I've read of glasses which are laminated with the polarized layer being sandwiched between two layer of lense, but I'm not sure if Oakley do this.

So while photochromic lenses are expensive, they might prove cheaper than buying multiple non-photochromic lenses of various tints - depends on how many tints you'd otherwise buy. Iridium coating is cheaper than polarized lenses but is possibly more fragile too. Personally I used bog-standard Oakley lenses for years, with no iridium coating, and found them to be good. I bought iridium lenses more recently and find them a bit better but it's a personal thing to a certain extent and really depends on whether you find glare to be an issue for you.

Rew

Mine are the polarized iridium lens, The iridium coating is starting to get really trashed now but I dont go easy on my sun glasses so cant complain. I have a spare set of lenses to switch when there not usable anymore.

Lemag

Just took the plunge on these. Using the code 'pro40' they come in at under £20 before delivery. I haven't put much research in to glass buying but this seems to me to be a pretty good deal for a pair with photochromic lenses.

ThisRegard

Cheers Lemag, just ordered a pair myself, with the discount code you included I couldn't resist, missed out on the last glasses bargain due to procrastinating about it too much, €29.

kenmc

defo polarized, makes a hell of a difference

Lemag

ThisRegard wrote: »

Cheers Lemag, just ordered a pair myself, with the discount code you included I couldn't resist, missed out on the last glasses bargain due to procrastinating about it too much, €29.

No worries. I've never worn a pair of Pro-Lite glasses. Hopefully they'll sit nicely on the bridge of my nose. At that price they were worth the gamble. Credit for the find must go to gman2k for starting up this thread.

ThisRegard

I actually briefly read the first post on that thread and assumed it was just wheels and other such equipment, cheers both of you so.

ThisRegard

Anyone receive their Ribble glasses yet ? I got the dispatch mail just over a week ago but my local postie can be best described as geographically challenged at times so god knows where they may end up.

Lemag

ThisRegard wrote: »

Anyone receive their Ribble glasses yet ? I got the dispatch mail just over a week ago but my local postie can be best described as geographically challenged at times so god knows where they may end up.

I ordered mine on the 20th along with other stuff (about €180 in total which might effect shipping priority). Got everything on the Monday just gone. I aint overly excited about the shades, tbh. I've yet to take them out in the sun though. I think that I'll be sticking with my Oakleys (which I got after another bargain thread alert) except for when I'll be venturing out on shady routes. I'll put Pro-Lite' photochromic lenses to the test then.

doozerie

@ThisRegard: I decided to take a chance on those ProLite photochromic lenses too. Mine were shipped on the 24th, arrived on the 30th. If yours were shipped last week then it probably won't affect you but Monday was a bank holiday in the UK.

I'd be curious to hear of peoples' experiences with these glasses. I find the fit quite good, and the lenses did not fog in use (but I've only worn them on two commutes so not a real test yet). They stayed in place on my face well too, and while the tint happens subtly they do seem to reach a dark enough tint to take the glare of the sun away. When I first put them on and went out into fairly bright sunshine I had to squint a little - my eyes are fairly sensitive to bright light though and after a very short while I wasn't conscious of the brightness at all so presumably the lenses had darkened enough by then.

However, I'm not sure of the optical clarity of the lenses yet. The first time I wore them I thought there was an area towards the centre of my vision where my eyes had difficulty focusing, a bit like looking through poor quality glass. It was subtle though so I wasn't sure it was really there. I stopped being conscious of it after a couple of minutes, perhaps as my eyes adjusted. The next time I wore them though it seemed more pronounced and at the end of a 30 minutes commute my head was spinning a little when I removed them. I haven't ruled out the problem being me as yet, rather than the glasses, but the lenses are currently the most likely culprit. I've had the same experience with an old pair of Oakleys where the frame had cracked mid-way along the top with the result that the single-piece lense "flattened out" slightly (the frame was no longer strong enough to maintain the full curve in the lense) - I wore these for quite a while, apparently without problems, until I bought a new pair which initially hurt my eyes but which ultimately were less tiring on my eyes and my head. And subseqently another new pair of Oakleys were also fine from the start, suggesting the damaged glasses really were a problem for my eyes. My theory is that my eyes adjusted to the damaged glasses so that I wasn't conscious of the extra demands it put on my eyes to focus, but it really is just a theory and therefore I could be completely wrong. Either way though, the ProLite's seem to be having the same effect on my eyes which might well make them unusable for me.

kellt

Ah_go_on wrote: »

Looking to get a decent pair of sunglasses for MTBing and I like the look of the Jawbones. Thing is, there are a number of lens options which I don't understand and therefore don't know which to buy

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/SearchResults.aspx?Search=jawbone

Photocromatic, polarised, non-polarised.

Can anyone tell me the pros and cons??

I have the jawbones and find that the polarised are your only man they are expensive but are well worth it to avoid glare. the also are great at highlighting spillages/wet patches/shiny surfaces(around potholes etc) on road as they are represented by a darker colour. hope this helps