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Oakley Radarlock Pitch Sunglasses - REVIEW


GolfSpy Dave

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http://www.oakley.com/products/6968/26293

 

Oakley Makes The Shades to Transform a Tool...

Sorry, couldn't help it. But I'm gonna do the things that I wanna do. I ain't gotta a thing to prove to you.

 

 

Hello most infectious groove of 2008. OK, it's out of my system now. Truly. Let's get on to the sweet Oakley Radarlock sunglasses that we have for review today. Oakley sunglasses you say? I thought that Oakley was just Rory's clothing company. Kidding. Oakley has been making great eyewear for decades. I'll be right up front in saying that I am a huge Oakley fan. My teenage-lifeguarding sunglasses were a sweet pair of blue and white Dalmatian patterned Frogskins. Man I loved those glasses. I think I loaned/gave them to a cute girl named Kim. Kim, if you are reading this, I hope you are well, but I would like my glasses back. Not like you haven't had them for 25 years or so...

 

The Frogskins were the first, but not my last Oakley sunglasses. I have a great pair of translucent-rootbeer Gascans when I want to look like Terminator X. My huge melon also looked great in my XX X-Metals, my first pair of expensive sunglasses. Awesome titanium frames that should last forever. Too bad that Oakley has stopped selling the replacement nose bombs. Lost one nose bomb on a course last spring. Total bummer. It did forse/motivate me to purchase my next pair of Oakley sunglasses, the Fast Jacket XLs. White and red just like that stylin' fool Ian Poulter. The Fast Jackets are AMAZING FOR GOLF. There is a reason that a ton of tour pro's wear Oakleys. Expectations were quite high when the Oakley Radarlock Pitch sunglasses arrived at the lair of this golfspy...

 

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Style

Oakley sunglasses to me have always been the pinnacle of bold style. If you wanted safe style, you went RayBan. Not a knock on RayBan, but they just don't even really belong in the same style conversation with Oakley. Oakley is not afraid of bold colors or atypical geometries that would make Cthulhu proud. At the same time though, Oakley understands that the bold designs may not be palatable to the general buying population. Take the Raderlocks that Golfspy Matt and myself had to review. My pair has silver frames with orange accents, coupled with Polarized Fire Iridium lenses. Matt's are all black. Some of you can rock the boldness with me, while others will go with Matt black (see what I did there?).

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Regardless of color, the reason that I, along with many others choose Oakley, is the way the design promotes comfort. You may not remember it, but there was a time when sunglasses stayed on your head by tightly affixing to your nose and wrapping around your ears. Looking at you Vuarnet. The nose and ear sock polymers, combined with the Oakley frame shapes, promote a fit that is really a signature feature of Oakley sunglasses.

 

The Radarlocks are no exception to the Oakley lineage. They fit great. Oakley also supplies different sized “rubber” pieces with many of their glasses to customize the fit for your face. I found the Radarlocks to be snug, but totally comfortable. Matt describes their fit as “Uber comfortable. I've only had two sunglasses that I forget about on the course, these are one of them”. Put them on and they stay put, and you really almost forget you are wearing them. In addition to golf, I have also used the Radarlocks while out getting tired on my road bike. Total comfort there as well, even with the helmet straps. Oakley makes stylin' and comfortable shades that athletes of all sports wear with unrivaled frequency.

 

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On the Course

As I said before, my new Fast Jackets are awesome on the course. The Radarlocks were in for an uphill battle to replace them on my golf face. Here is a comparison with the Fast Jackets:

 

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Lenses

Important points:

• Radarlock lenses are easily interchangeable

• Both Polarized and non-polarized lenses are available

• I used the word “easy” in the first bullet intentionally

 

I have owned sunglasses in the past where the lenses were “interchangeable”. Typically, I would reach a point in the lens swapping where I thought that I was going to snap something off for sure. “And then just pop out the lens” never really worked for me. The Oakley Fast Jackets are also designed for quick lens swapping, but even those do not disgorge the lenses as quickly as the Radarlocks. To unlock the lens, you hold a button on the frame down, then fold the arm. The lens is now unlocked. Total design genius. There is no way to do this on accident, but it couldn't be easier when you do it on purpose. From there you pop the lens off of the nosepiece and un-hook it from the other arm. Done. So easy; so quick. (

?) Wear a dark Iridium lens while driving to the course, then pop in a nice G30 lens for some golfing. Check this series on the ease of swap from Fire to Persimmon lenses:

 

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Both Matt and my pairs of sunglasses came with a dark and a light lens. Both lenses give 100% UV protection, but you can adjust the lens to match the conditions of your round. Some of the lenses even have vents at the top. I am going to look into these for cycling as my body heats up like a furnace when I ride.

 

Golf Performance

Coverage of the visual field is great with the Radarlocks. Matt describes it best. “Lens coverage is awesome, the ball is totally shaded, not split between light and dark.” His take on the ability to swap lenses is also dead on. “Love the versatility of interchangeable lenses...we've had a lot of hazy days where black lenses aren't great but I still wanted UV protection.” I would add that the Radarlocks also stay put on the face during all aspects of the game.

 

Overall, the Radarlocks are very golf friendly, but you may want to be sure that you have the right cache of lenses. I found the Polarized Fire Iridium lens to be amazing as a daily wear lens, but it was a bit dark on the course. Check out the photos below to see some lens/no lens comparisons:

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The persimmon lens is much lighter, and was awesome on the course in the mornings and the late afternoons. I would really like to try these out with the G30 lens, the lens that is promoted as the most golf friendly. I almost forgot to mention the amazing clarity of the lenses. They are so optically clear that one forgets that there are lenses there at all. Zero distortion in the field of view. Maybe it blurs out a bit if you try to look at your nose, but your mom told you not to do that or else your eyes would get stuck that way. Anyway, the Oakley lenses, especially the polarized one, can compete with any other high-end sunglass maker in the market. There is definitely substance with the style.

 

On a side note, have any of you heard that reading greens with polarized lenses is more difficult than normal? I heard this somewhere as an explanation why some tour pros take off the sunglasses on the green. Zack Johnson's Oakleys are surgically attached to his face, of course. B)

 

Coverage is great. They stay on your face. You can easily swap lenses for optimal optics. The Oakley Radarlocks are solid sunglasses for the golfer.

 

Value

Oakleys are not drugstore-on-the-rotating-display sunglasses. You pay for the Oakley quality, but not as much as you think. The polarized versions of the Oakley Radarlocks do carry the price premium of the lenses, costing $300. Additional polarized lenses can be purchased for $165. They are pricy. The non-polarized versions are $220 with additional non-polarized lenses costing only $65/$85. Remember that the $300/$220 price also includes the additional lens. Adding that extra lens doesn't bring the price down, but by including it, Oakley has definitely boosted the value of the package.

 

Summary

If you are looking for some sporty new golf shades, you should slap on a pair of Oakley Radarlocks. You can even choose between the Pitch and Path lens styles to best accentuate your gorgeous mug. Once again Oakley has produced a great pair of sunglasses. In honor of the season, all I really need to say is:

 

My name is Golfspy Dave, and I approve of this message.

 

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Volvo Intorqueo

All the cool kids follow me on twitter: @GolfspyDave

If you are not a cool kid, following me on twitter will make you cool...

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Dave, great review!..Seriously, excellent...It's funny cuz once again, not only do Matt & my opinions on a lot of the players parallel each other's, I picked the black frames on the Radarlocks...I had them side by side with the silver, and well, I'll just say that my off course shades are the Maui Jim Aloha Fridays and the Ray Ban polarized New Wayfarers...I'm a little boring...lol

 

Anyway, loved the pics too..You nailed it!..Kudos...

 

 

Fairways & Greens 4ever...

The black frames are nice. No doubt. And with the hint of silver, not all that conservative truth be told. Side by side with the orange though... Those are bold like the orange tuxedo at a wedding :D

 

Love the classic wayfarers too, but they just never really fit my mellon. Maybe that has made me Ray Ban bitter :unsure:

Volvo Intorqueo

All the cool kids follow me on twitter: @GolfspyDave

If you are not a cool kid, following me on twitter will make you cool...

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Great review!

 

I have been an Oakley fan for toooooooo many years.

 

I wear prescription sunglasses and have had several pairs that have lasted 10 years now. I just get new lens when my script changes from Oakley. That reminds me, need to get a new script next week.

 

Great for a ride on the bike and exceptional vision for all sports.

 

AJ

WITB

Driver: Ping G25

FW: TM RBZ

Irons: Miura 57 Series w/KBS C-Taper

Wedges: Vokey SM4 52-08,56-12,60-04

Putter: Watch This Space

Ball: SRixon Z Star

Other: Tourstriker 7i

 

"Go Hard or Go Home"

 

"Do or Do Not. There is NO "TRY"

 

"Be normal, and the crowd will accept you. Be deranged, and they will make you their leader"

 

"I don't fail. I succeed at finding what doesn't work"

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Dave's review is spot on and probably has enough of my comments, but I want to say for myself how much I love these shades.

 

Dave hit the nail on the head: there are other "replaceable lens" sunglasses, but if it's not easy to do, it's not a feature you use. With these, I trade lenses all the time. And they're super comfortable. And they're slick looking. Oakley really is impossible to beat for sunglasses.

Follow me on Twitter: @MattSaternus

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  • 1 month later...

They look a lot like the radars I have. I guess they are just an upgrade. I like the new button to remove the lens but the nose piece looks the same as the radars. I've had nothing but trouble with those rubber nose pieces coming off during play especially. I've bought new ones but they still don't last long. I even super glued them to the frames but they still came off. So if this new model, has the same nose piece I'm going to pass on these.

 

On a side note did any watch the 60 minute report on sunglasses? Luxottica is huge conglomerate that owns just about all brands of sunglasses like Oakley and Rayban, they also own Lencrafters and Pearl Vision. talk about a monopoly, Now you know why these new Oakleys are $300.

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They look a lot like the radars I have. I guess they are just an upgrade. I like the new button to remove the lens but the nose piece looks the same as the radars. I've had nothing but trouble with those rubber nose pieces coming off during play especially. I've bought new ones but they still don't last long. I even super glued them to the frames but they still came off. So if this new model, has the same nose piece I'm going to pass on these.

 

On a side note did any watch the 60 minute report on sunglasses? Luxottica is huge conglomerate that owns just about all brands of sunglasses like Oakley and Rayban, they also own Lencrafters and Pearl Vision. talk about a monopoly, Now you know why these new Oakleys are $300.

 

That's interesting, I didn't know that. Now their last mission is to take over the gas station and grocery store market!

What's In The Bag:

 

Adams 9064LS

Ben Hogan Edge CFT Ti

Ben Hogan Apex Edge 4-PW

TaylorMade ATV 50* 54*

Mizuno Bettinardi BC3 Tour Issue

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