For the longest time, I’d only wear Ray Ban Aviator shades. Since I was a kid, I’ve loved flying machines. I habitually wore a flight jacket that was given to me by an F-4 pilot at NAS Miramar. (I still have it, too!) So naturally, I’d wear Aviators. I eventually branched out though. I started wearing HGU-4s as well!
In the late-1980s I bought some Ray Ban Wayfarer IIs. I thought they were '60s-retro-funky. They’re in ‘regular rotation’ still. In the mid-'90s I bought a pair of Oakleys similar to the ‘Minute’ model. They’re black with little silver stripes. My sister’s husband didn’t like them because he said they made me look like an alien. Right on. I pretty-much stopped wearing them after I got Oakley OOs about half a decade or so ago. Hideously expensive (maybe the company should be called Soakley?) but I really like them. They’re the ones I wear most. I responded to an ‘offer’ of free sunglasses in an aviation magazine a few years ago, so I have a bunch. Mainly, I thought they’d make decent props in a film. I wouldn’t wear most of them. (Except for one pair, which I wore so often that I sprung the temple. They were my ‘stunt glasses’ anyway – ones I’d wear if I was engaged in an activity that might cause me to lose them.) Of course I have a pair of glasses with eyeball holograms in the lenses.
Currently in rotation are the OOs, the HUG-4s, and the Wayfarers. What do you wear, and why?
Well this tread is timely. I just had new prescription lenses placed in my old sunglasses
I wear 1950 metal safety glasses you know the kind your shop teacher wore with the wire mesh on the sides.
I have been wearing these glasses for the last 15 years. Yes I know they look weird but I don’t care.
I bought a pair at a flea market to use outdoors when I was using a chainsaw, working on the farm so on. I soon realized that these were easily the most comfortable glasses I had ever worn. So I put some prescription lenses in them and away we go. I wear the every time I drive or go out.
The only down side is the appearance, one of my daughter friends thought I was legally blind for the longest time.
Ray-ban Wayfarers: A classic style and mine are brown. I wear them most of the time and for most activities. Yesterday I wore them for golf and fishing.
But they are a little heavy sometimes, so I also have a pair of Bolle Coachwhip style glasses. I don’t wear them as often because the lenses are very dark and mirrored, so they get glare. They are what I wear for hiking or skiing in the winter.
I will say this for Bolle - I had a pair of Coachwhips I bought in the early 90’s. The lenses got scratched and I couldn’t find anyone to replace them so I contacted Bolle and they said the could replace the lenses for $35. I sent the glasses in and three weeks later got a box back. It wasn’t my sunglasses. Bolle said that they no longer had lenses for the model I had so they gave me a brand new pair of glasses. :eek: For $35.
That reminds me of the time I lost my first Oakleys – the ones that look like the ‘Minute’. They had fallen out of my car, and I’d run over them. Oakley replaced the frames gratis – but I still needed lenses, since the originals were scratched. They gave me a brand-new pair of glasses for the price of the lenses.
Speaking as you did of Wayfarers sometimes being too heavy, they also do not fit well under a motorcycle helmet. The Aviators are okay, but the wire temples can get tweaked after a while. Both Oakleys fit perfectly. The HGU-4s are also good under the helmet.
In addition to other activities, I am an avid cyclist. For years I wore Oakley Blades. They had a large lens that provided excellent peripheral coverage (my vision is nearly 180 degrees) and the lenses dropt low enough to prevent not just light but debris from striking my eyes.
When Oakley stopped making the Blades in the early 1990s I switched to the M-frame and have been wearing them ever since. Same basic style and look as the old Blades, same coverage (if you get the big lens) and they are very sturdy. The only strange thing about them is that the ear pieces have no hinge. I like this because the hinge was the only thing that ever broke on my Blades. It does mean they are slightly large to fit into a backpack (or purse, for the ladies), but since I leave them on my head when indoors most of the time, it really isnt a problem for me. Leaving them on my head insures that I don’t forget them, they don’t get stepped on, and they don’t get stolen.
I highly recommend these shades, especially if you are a very active person.
Looks around . . .everyone else has cool sunglasses . . oh well. I bought huge sunglasses at my optometrist for $40.00. They’re huge wraparounds that fit over my eyeglasses and protect my peripheral vision as well. Yeah, they look like senior citizen’s eyeglasses, I’m just acclimating myself early to yelling “Hey you damn kids! Get off my lawn!”
I’m pretty aware of protecting my eyes. I usually buy the best lenses available, which is not to say they must be the most expensive… though they are usually pricey.
I have a pair of Hobies and a pair of RayBans. Both full UV protection and polarized. Pretty fashionable too.
My ski goggles are da bomb as well. Polarized and 100% UV coverage. Mirrored lenses too.
Strangely enough, I don’t wear glasses when I sail. Somehow, squinting and sailing just goes together for me. Plus, sweating makes the glasses slide down my nose which is irritating. I like the laugh/squint tan lines around my eyes.
My Ray-Ban aviators were bought for $40 before they became popular (over 20 years ago). There’s a pair of wrap around safety glasses that were on the cheap at the electrical supply house, so they serve as beater shades.
I still wear the same pair of gold frame, grey tint Rayban Aviators that I bought in…1978! I have other pais stashed in packs, in the glove compartment of the truck, at work, etc. but these are my go-to shades, and have been for close to thirty years.
My oldest pair is from the mid-1970s. I have other pairs that belonged to dad, and to my mom’s husband. I have Ambermatics from high school, too; and my prescription glasses that I wear when I fly are in Ray Ban frames.
Have they become very popular? How much are they now? (I haven’t bought a pair – nor ‘needed’ to – since the mid-1980s.)
I have been wearing Oakley M-frames for about 8 years now. They rock.
I broke a frame (Hinge) and they replaced it for $25.
I have 3 different sets of lens for my frames, I change them depending on conditions.
BTW** Snowboarder Bo** Ony the M frame pro is hingeless. Regular M frames like mine have a hinge (check your link)
link works fine, you just have to select Pro M-frame on the left… its all flash animation once you get to the site, so no link to get you directly to them.
The hinged M-frames are ok, but the hinge was always what broke on my old Blades version.
Mine are more properly called Aviator Outdoorsman-they have that little plastic hickey at brow level and a tiny circle of metal between the lens frames. Poking around on Ray-Ban’s website indicates that they don’t make that style any more.
I have worn Ray Ban Flight Pande sunglasses for about five years now. They’re super light, very comfortable with the rubber frame ends and cover my peripheral vision completely, which I like a lot. The hinges have that hyper-extension thing built in so the frames are very warp-resistant. The basic styling is cool too, although my friends sometimes call them my Matrix glasses. I don’t care - I couldn’t be happier with them.
At work I wear these clunkers because 1) the straight sided frames fit nicely under my headset and 2) they’re free (gov’t issue). They don’t cover my peripheral vision well, the hinges are cheap and the frames are always getting bent out of alignment, but I can keep them in my flight pubs bag and not miss them when I’m at the beach or running around town.
First of all - guys in aviator sunglasses, oh my. So sexy.
In rotation right now are some supertrendy movie star gigantor glasses from Le Chateau - they’ll be out of style in a week, but I don’t care and they were $10. The only thing to worry about is odd tan lines, since they basically touch my cheekbones. I’ll just load up the sunscreen and avoid the wrinkles, works for me.
I’ve also got these nice Guess sunglasses, similar to these, but with a cute pattern down the outside edge. They’re great, but they’re tinted a light grey colour and weigh so little that I’ll often madly search around for them WHILE THEY ARE ON MY FACE. :smack:
I borrow my mum’s Chanels whenever I get a chance. They’re about 10 years old and the most gorgeous sunglasses ever. I want 'em! She just got the strength of her prescription eyeglasses increased, so perhaps she’ll have no need of the pretty pretty ones anymore.
