Expensive sunglasses - worth the extra cost?

My Gant sunglasses cost over £150 and were nice but laser eye surgery rendered them useless, since then cheapos have been the order of the day and it's great being able to wear shades off the shelf.

Aldi do some plastic ones for sports and cycling for £1.99, they're really comfy and effective plus they look good too if you're not fussed about them having to be a brand name. I wear them day to day as well as cycling and fishing, plus last week Aldi were selling them for 99p so I bought a couple more :)

Snobs are gonna hate but I really don't care!
 
tk max have plenty of cheap glasses instore. they all end up broke so i just get a new pair each summer for 15 - 20
 
My oakley titanium ones I've sat on and broke the lenses but the frames are fine. The lenses are interchangeable too as I always manage to scratch them.

Just can't stand plastic, light ones that are cheap.
Obviously what I paid for mine is mostly branding, but metal frames I insist on

Polarised lenses definitely
 
i went through 6 pairs of $10 sunglasses this year. After the last one i went and bought a $120 pair of raybans. i still have the raybans i bought in 98 and they are in mint condition but i dont like the style any more.

I find if the glasses only cost me $10 i dont look after them properly, hence 6 pair this year.
 
I have a set of classic Ray-Ban aviators that I bought in 1985, they are still as good as new. Buy quality.
 
depends on the style, the cheap couple of quid ones from tesco will be fully uv protective but they generally don't look as nice.


depends what you want them for, protective, and something you can just throw around and abuse cheap ones, something that you can show off indoors that you have gucci shades well then buy the expensive ones.
 
Gribs said:
My £10 Fakeleys do the same. It's just a function of polycarbonate lenses. Oakley lenses are better optically though for biking I'd rather be able to replace them cheaply.

If you care to look they were properly tested on the single track world forum a couple of years ago for UV protection.
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Im sorry but if you genuinely think a 10 quid pair of fakes are as good as a 200 pound pair of originals (the lenses alone are 60 quid) then you are obviously deluded.:rolleyes:

My other half always bought cheap sunglasses until I decided to treat her to pair of Oakleys- she couldn't believe the difference.
 
Lynndinky said:
Im sorry but if you genuinely think a 10 quid pair of fakes are as good as a 200 pound pair of originals (the lenses alone are 60 quid) then you are obviously deluded.:rolleyes:

My other half always bought cheap sunglasses until I decided to treat her to pair of Oakleys- she couldn't believe the difference.
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in terms of UV protection they will be it's just the plastic thier made from. all our safety specs at work are 100% UV blockers just because of the plastic.


making them optically correct though is more expensive, and scratch resistance.


the lenses don't cost 60 quid, they cost YOU 60 quid but they only cost a fraction of that to make. a big part of the price is they don't sell as many a mould that will make 10,000,000 pairs of cheap shades pays for itself very fast a mould that makes 100,000 pairs of expensive shades is a much bigger cost.
 
I had a set of oakleys and they were heavy and often fell off during sport.

Plastic ones just sit there and don't go anywhere because they're so light.
 
I got some oakleys radar lock something or other and can switch lenses i have few different ones cost me about 250 usd while i was in florida that was two years ago still perfect condition use them every day its nice not to walk around with one eye closed all day and when i go back to florida next month ill be buying some different style sunglasses as my current ones really are for sports look bit odd for work and other occasions
 
Ray Ban and Oakley are made by the same firm, as are most of the branded sunglasses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxottica

I saw a programme on TV, the woman interviewer/investigator interviewed the CEO and he more or less concurred that they increase the price for glasses because purchasers feel better about owning a pair which cost a lot of money.

It also showed that Luxottica owned many (most) of the outlets, certainly in USA, and if smaller outlets tried to sell cheaper but just as efficient sunglasses in their outlets Luxottica would NOT allow them to sell their well known brands, Ray Ban, Oakley, Prada, Giorgio Armani, etc
 
shauncr91 said:
Been looking at buying a decent set of sunglasses (Most likely Ray Ban's) mostly for driving however are they worth the premium?

I've had cheapo knock offs in the past and they really only last a couple of weeks. I'm led to believe that more expensive sunglasses have better UV protection too so less eye strain in the sunlight, is this true?

Thanks
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Yes it is worth it. Try some on though, don't just buy some off the internet.
 
Yes well worth it. Bought some Oakley flak jacket xls 4 years ago now and still in perfect condition. (they came with a great hard crush proof case)
 
Absolutely worth it, I used to buy cheapo sunglasses until I tried on my current pair of Oakley Straight Jackets with the OO Red Irridium Lenses.

Absolutely hands down the best pair of sunglasses ive ever had for driving.
 
I think more expensive ones are worth it.

I mostly use my Oakley Deviations or Square Wire 3.0's but I also have a pair of Randolph Engineering Aviators which always seem to wow me vision wise when I wear them. Not sure whether it's because the lenses are glass or whatever, but they are awesome.

http://shop.randolphusa.com/aviator-p5044.aspx
 
Whenever I play around with my friends Oakleys, Ray bans or whatever I'm always shocked that they cost so much.

Just go one step up from the £3 Chinese specials ime.
 
Thing is a lot of time you can't actually notice the difference between a cheap and optically correct lens, because your eyes make the correction for you without you even knowing. In the long run though this extra strain is best to be avoided.
 
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