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Oakley Straight Jacket Glasses Reviewed

Hi,

For my sins I wear glasses (short sighted) –  I have tried contacts but didn’t really get on with them.
My regular glasses are Oakley, normal looking with metal arms and a thin frame. I chose Oakley after trying various different type including the specsavers/vision express cheapies/2 for 1 and have found them to be superb, my current Oakley frames are 4 years old and I’ve never had a problem with them.

Now, with this in mind I wanted something a bit more, well, shall we say “cool” ? Because that’s what I wanted! Something I could wear on the bike, obviously sunglasses are an option but I ride at night, so that was a no no.

I wanted the wraparound style so my eyes wouldn’t water on fast descents… I wanted some sort of shading for sunny days and something that looked a bit better than normal glasses….

After much deliberation and internet browsing I settled on some Oakleys as they seemed to meet all my requirements. I went to an opticians that was an Oakley dealer (Andrew Care ) to try a few styles and decided on the ‘Straight Jacket‘. Mine are the smoke grey frame with grey tinted lenses and transitions shading (they change with the sunlight). Oakley claim to have a unique way of making the lenses so they can make prescription lenses in the wraparound style…..

So… ordered on a Wednesday, phone call the following Tuesday to say they were in, quick service! (Oakley make the glasses to order in Ireland)

So, my impressions?

Excellent, money well spent (£240). They fit great, nice and snug to my face meaning not much light gets in the side and the wind doesn’t make my eyes water on fast descents – this was tested on a mile long 14% gradient on the road bike!

The shading is just right, not as aggressive as a proper set of sunglasses but I’ve never found myself walking into a room or shaded area and not able to see. The beauty of the transitions is it makes these more than just prescription sunglasses, they can be used as normal glasses for everyday use (I have).

The wraparound lenses were the biggest surprise, regular glasses wearers probably don’t realize how much peripheral vision is lost, this was made very clear to me once I’d got these Oakleys! I was amazed at how much easier looking over my shoulder etc was with these glasses, I have a genuine full range of vision now.

The lenses are supposed to go from 15% tint to 90% tint, to be honest you don’t notice the 15% inside but I have yet to see then go fully black, although they warned me it takes a few days full sun for the chemicals to work properly in the lenses.

Note, they can only make wraparound style for prescriptions of up to +4.00.

So, fuller range of vision, no watering eyes, shades as well as normal use and they look pretty good when shaded (unshaded is a matter or personal taste….) for the price of a decent pair of glasses. Yes, I’m happy!

The opticians I used also do mail order and are running 20% off making them fairly competitive.

Apologies for my ugly mug! The image of them shaded with the light blue backdrop is after 10-20 seconds in the sun, gives an idea of the speed they change.

Find me on Twitter @StuartMc1

Note – the Amazon link is non-prescription. Use the optician’s link above if you want prescription lenses! 🙂