Radar Lens Color Question

[lafountain]

Those are fake.

EDIT - was in response to lafountain's (now deleted) post, not a comment to the OP.

Yeah, I should have edited and left it there as opposed to deleting. Oops

 

[Rustpot]

No worries!

Although it did bear a striking resemblance to the iridium from the OP.

 

[tigbball5]

Yeah a lot of the fakes have that similar color. But I'm still sure it was used for a sunglass hut display. I'm still baffled by the color but if I had to guess it would be emerald slate iridium. But I still can't find any evidence of there being a radar in that tint. I also feel that gold iridium is very uniform and doesn't seem to have a true mirrored finish.

 

[Rustpot]

Were they shot with a BB gun, or did they undergo any of the normal high velocity/mass impact tests that Oakley does?

Do you have them? A shot through the looking glass at the base tint would help.

 

[tigbball5]

I did a little research and found out that they do both a velocity test and an impact test. The velocity test involves shooting a 1/4 inch ball bearing at 102 mph at the lens. I saw that on the link below. And my reasoning is, if this was a fake lens, wouldn't it have shattered on impact. I posted a pic of the etching too.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2014/01/29...d-socal-headquarters-and-production-facility/

 

[tigbball5]

Just noticed that you mentioned the velocity test, my bad.

 

[Rustpot]

Would a fake lens shatter? Not necessarily. The main component to Oakley's safety factor is that they use polycarbonate as the main material. It's strong, light, optically neutral, and UV blocking. It's also crack resistance and shatter resistant.

The technology that makes Oakley superior is the geometry they employ and the coatings/methods they add.

Another company using polycarbonate lenses of the same thickness can approximate the same impact results. Which is why most of your standard safety glasses are simple polycarbonate and cost $2-10.

 

[tigbball5]

True, true. Thats a very valid point. By the way,I love your avatar. It seems fitting for this discussion.

When you look through the lens it looks like gold iridium. How does the etching look to you? How good are the etchings on the fakes?

 

[Rustpot]

They do look like a nice even bronze base. I don't know enough about the etching, but nothing jumped out at me.

 

[Ex_Oakley_employee]

Just to back up what Rustpot said, there's plenty of fakes that are 100% replicas in terms of how well it's made and would easily pass velocity tests. The giveaway is often the way the lens tints or mirrors.

Also, being from Sunglass hut doesn't mean a whole lot either, there are plenty of unauthorized copies out there that find their way through the often long winded supply chain and into genuine retailers unfortunately.