Learn what makes Oakley Frogskins LX different than the standard Frogskins sunglasses and see what our members had to say!
Background
Well, I’ve been in New York for the last 6 months and never heard anything about the Oakley Frogskins LX at all until a week ago when I saw an old post in a local forum.
As I’ve recently posted a thread “Too bored of Frogskins” and got rid of most of my Frogs, which were Smog Plaid, Marine Fade, Grenade Fade, VR46, Blacklight Green, and Polished Black. Now that I have only the Jupiter Camo to represent my Frogskins collection, it was less than thrill for me about this find. Be sure to check out our complete guide to Oakley Frogskins for more information.
As I’m nearsighted and need Prescription lenses, I managed to put Rx lenses in all my frogskins as well as my X-Metal collection, which are Romeo in Titanium, X-Metal XX in X-Metal, and Juliet in Polished frames. And now that I got rid of the Frogs, I have 6 pairs of spare Rx lenses lying around, I decided to look for the Frogskins LX to see if they will fit. After a few calls, as I’m currently in Thailand, I found that they are available in a Japanese department store in the heart of Bangkok, called Isetan. So I went there yesterday to see if it’s worth getting one.
Initial Impression
My first impression is the logo on the side of each stem. They are polished metal (as I’ve been informed by a sales rep) and look really good on the polished black frame. The overall dimension of the frame when compared with regular Frogskins is a bit different. The frame looks thinner and rounder. The nosebridge seems narrower, first I thought that it might because of the nosepad (where you put glasses on your nose) is of different shape, but later found out that these are actually asian fit.
The metal hinges look strong but can’t imagine how it would be when used for years. The fit is just fine. Well, kind of a little loose. They don’t actually stuck on your face. I feel that the current generation Frogskins fit better for me.
I’ve been doing some research on the internet and found next to nothing about the Frogskins LX but the fact that they’re available in many Japanese website. Some western websites say that they’re available in Japan only, which leads me to the fact that the first gen Frogskins were made in Japan and got me thinking if these were made in Japan as well?
As I’ve seen no “Made in USA” nor “Japan” screened anywhere inside the stem, I asked the sales rep where were these glasses made and he replied reluctantly that many of Oakley glasses were made all over the world nowadays and even mentioned “Vietnam”. I’m not sure if this sales rep is uneducated about the products or that these glasses were actually made somewhere other than USA.
I found out that these Frogskins LX are made from acetate as well (not O-Matter?) and that leads to another fact that many companies use acetate as main material of their frames such as Chanel, Ray-Ban, and Persol (Mostly made in Italy).
Specifications
- Hand made acetate frame with smooth, high texture
- AsianFit specification to fit comfortably in Japanese retro modern impression
- Clear view with HDO ® lens technology
- Plutonite ® lens to cut 100% of harmful blue light to the eye UVA, UVB, and UVC,
- Polarized lens option
- RX lens ready
Colorways
There were 3 different colorways available here in Bangkok at the moment:
- Brown Tortoise with Dark Bronze Polarized
- Polished Black with Black Iridium
- Tortoise Blue (outside of the frame is tortoise and inside is light blue) with Dark Bronze.
I found that the Brown Tortoise frame looks the best. The price here are around $200 for those come with Black Iridium or Dark Bronze lenses and around $230 for those come with Polarized lens.
In the images below, the upper image is Brown Tortoise frame followed by Polished Black and Tortoise Blue.
I asked the sale rep if lenses from the current generation Frogskins would fit the Frogskins LX. He said they would (reluctantly once again). But from shape comparison between these glasses, I found that they’re somewhat different. So, just to be sure, I decided to go back later with my spare Rx lenses to see if they really fit as I don’t want to spend more for lenses especially not for any Frogskins. Will post the update when I actually have a chance to go back to the store. Or maybe not if I started to get bored with Frogskins LX again as well. Stay up to date in the thread below!
