Actually, only fanatics buy Oakley and Oakley lenses. Other
brands are actually just as good, if not better. Brands like Rudy
Project, Tifosi, Maui Jim, even adidas are more value for money
than Oakley. If you have money, tag heuer is way better.
I work in the optical industry and can honestly tell you that
Oakley lenses as much as they would have you believe, do not have
better optics than other brands. They are just very good at
marketing and giving fancy names to thier process and material
parts. Plutonite is basically just polycarbonate lenses which are
treated with layers of hardcoat. Many companies exist which supply
military equipment also can provide these polycarbonate lenses.
Plano lenses are not calculated for wrap distortion in the
industry, only RX lenses. Their XYZ optics is more a psychological
thing. Vision is very sensitive to autosuggestions on the mind, if
I tell you something is good what you see actually becomes clearer
because your mind reinforces that. People who like Oakley thinks
that only Oakley is good, so their mind shuts out other
options.
Just to quote a few cases of Oakley's problems, their iridium
lenses which is mirror coated with metal oxide is one of the worst
by industry standards. The scratch easily compared to other brands.
The reason is that the control for their mirror coating is not
impressive. Other European companies can do thicker mirror coats
much better with more vibrant colors. Note that Oakley always
stress their impact protection, but these lenses are not produced
exclusively for them or by them, many companies can do it, not just
for the 102 mph test Oakley did but in actual bullet shots test. So
called independent test on lenses cited are still affliated to
Oakley in some way and in everyway American biased. These test can
be easily manipulated. That is one reason why they cannot afford to
give consumers warranty on lenses. If they are so good, why worry
about giving a replacement guarantee like Rudy Project.
Another thing is that the frames also exhibit defect even when it's
new. Take for example the X metal range, you will find that the
gasket can be loose on one side and the other side is very tight.
Also, I had to on many occasions help customers to add nylon
strings between the lenses to stop them from moving in the frame. O
matter frame once slightly scratched will start to peel off. The
lenses will also peel off once the iridium coating is exposed to
long period of sweat, salt water and sun.
I did a little experiment (blind test) on a so called die-hard
customer once, he's got a collection of over 20 pairs of Oakley.
Brought him outdoors and gave him a tray of 15 pairs of lenses to
look through. Apparently, those he identified as protecting his
eyes best and most comfortable are not Oakley!! To make it worse,
he compared a pair I got from a pasar malam to being about the same
quality as an actual Oakley lens.
My point is that you may want to be more open and consider what
will give you the best comfort and protection and not be swayed by
brand names and fanciful marketing. A lot of Oakley fans tend to
look down on others and other brands so when you see one, you know
a red flag coming. These people don't work in the industry and are
usually brainwashed from the truth.
