Friday, August 20, 2010

Oakley Jawbones One Year Review

Oakley Jawbones Eyewear: One Year And Counting....

The Oakley Jawbones eyewear has been in the house and on my face for a whole year now. I have been wearing a couple of other models from another company's line of late, for testing purposes, and I wanted to draw some comparisons to the Jawbones both positive and negative.

First off, the Jawbones have been trouble free all year. I have religiously kept them in their soft bag when not wearing them, and I have always stowed the lenses not in use in the hard case that was provided with the Jawbones. I have zero scratches and no degradation of the frame's structure over the year of use has been noticed. I have swapped out the lenses a fair amount, and the system works flawlessly to this day. So for the structure and day to day wear issues, the Jawbones score a perfect 100%.

Now for the comparo. The other brand's glasses have no surrounding frame. I happen to appreciate this over the Jawbones, which obviously do not have that feature. However; for a full framed sun protection device, the Jawbones do not seem to "get in the way". I only was a bit annoyed after having not worn the Jawbones for a bit and then swapping over to them again from the frameless design. I lost that sensation after wearing the Jawbones again after an hour or so, and honestly, I do not even notice the frames in my periphery vision anymore unless I think about looking for that, which unless I am doing a review, I wouldn't ordinarily do! I  just note this, and please keep in mind, I have a large noggin, so smaller faced folks may not even notice the frame's edges when wearing these.

Air Flow: The other glasses I have recently tried have quite the wrap around effect, and due to this, the airflow around the eye is restricted. I thought this might actually be a plus in their favor, but with the hot, stifling summer we''ve had, I found the eyewear to be too hot at times. Going back to the Jawbones revealed that the airflow is there while wearing them, but it isn't annoying, or even that noticeable unless you have had glasses on that restict airflow, like I had been wearing. I liked the effect for hot weather, and obviously, this helps keep things from fogging up as well.

Optics: Obviously Oakley's claim to fame is their precision optics and coatings. Although the other eyewear is decent in this regard that I have been trying, you just can't approach the quality of vision you get with Oakley. There were times where while wearing the other brand's glasses, I was wondering why things looked grainy, fuzzy, or just not as sharply in focus. I found out why when I slapped the Oakleys on my head again. There just isn't anything that compares, and that's that.

Conclusions: The Oakley Jawbones passed the one year mark with little to no evidence that they had been used a bunch in everything from rain, mud, dust, and dirt. No scratches, and everything works as it should after a full year. The quality of sight you get with these is unsurpassed, and the comfort of the Jawbones is tops as well. What's not to like? Well, when they are not in use, it is a bit of a negative when compared to the others eyewear! Jawbones: Good stuff and I would call them "Best In Class" with no reservations.

Note: These Jawbones were provided to me at no charge for review. I have not been paid, nor bribed for this review, and in fact, until this appeared here, Oakley and their agents had no idea I was writing this up. This is my honest take on this product.

2 comments:

MG said...

AMEN BROTHER!! You know we're totally in cahoots on the virtues of Oakley's optics, and the Jawbone is their best cycling-specific effort to-date. One feature I think is also particularly impactful is the hydrophobic coating on the lenses, because when you're sweatin' up a storm, the sweat just bounces off the back of the lenses. Also, dust doesn't stick to the front of the lenses, so overall your lenses stay cleaner longer over the course of a ride. It's very nice to have on a day-long ride, not to mention a race that requires one or more overnights. Plus, the ability to easily swap lenses and the availability of an amazing array of lens tints, including Transitions, is a definite bonus you don't get with every brand.

Of course you pay for quality, but what you get is fully worth the price of entry. Performance... That's what it's about.

Once again, great review. I concur on all points.

See you soon, my brother,
MG

Unknown said...

Hi Guitar Ted,
I know of a good place where you could get a large camo hat that would fit your self proclaimed "large noggin". It looks like you could wear large hats such as these at Lamood Big Hats http://www.lamoodbighats.com.