Have you damaged your expensive sunglasses?
When it’s really bright I more often than not wear sunglasses when I am paddling.
In most recent times the glasses I have used have been Oakley’s 4+1 Squared (5 Squared). To be fair they take some hammer and my Oakey 4+1 Squared Moto GP pair with fire iridium lenses have taken a beating.
A combination of sweat, suntan cream and time have taken their toll and the gold coating had begun to flake off the left hand lens. Oakley do supply replacement lenses but the fire iridium ones were not available. OK, I could have put in a set of black iridium lenses but I have another pair of Fives that have the black iridium fitted. The frames above, being a limited edition, have a fire orange Oakley logo, so I wanted a close match.
When you look for alternatives the Internet is full of options. But I wanted something that was going to do the job properly i.e. good fit to the frame and good clarity when in use.
Revant to the rescue. Revant are a USA based company who started off making replacement lenses many years ago, and now make replacements for most makes and models. They even have their own range of glasses. Most importantly they have developed a great reputation for producing a quality product.
I picked up a pair of fire iridium type lenses that would match closely to the Oakley originals they were going to replace. I chose the basic lens without polarisation which worked out at under $30 including shipping to the UK.
Fitting them was very straight forward. Push the old ones out and clip the new ones in. Revant have plenty of videos to show how this it done with different models.
So how do they stack up? They aren’t the same but the colour is a close enough match that they look great in the Oakley frames. You can see through the lens (from the outside) a little more than you could with the originals, so may be a little less mirrored.
When wearing them they seem just as good. I can’t detect any distortion at all. They have saved a pair of frames that had been sat on my desk at home for quite some time.
Would I buy them again?
I have been using them for a few months now and have been so impressed that I have replaced another set of Oakley lenses with a set of Revant lenses.
I still buy and use DeWalt safety glasses at under £10.00 per pair. A variety of lenses from clear to smoke with the ‘foggy’ yellow and an iridium finish version at a couple of quid extra. When I coached a lot more I used to recommend them as well. It’s uncanny, how similar they look to Oakleys on the bottom of the river.
Im disappointed, I have received replacement lens for My Arnette Fastball Sunglasses however the replacement lens do not Have Arnette on the outside of the Lens as they come out with.