Seek Optics Lenses – Everything You Need to Know

We review Seek Optics lenses to see how they compare to Oakley lenses and if they’re worth your cash!

Background

Since 2013, Seek Optics has produced aftermarket lenses for a variety of sunglass brands, including Oakley. They’ve been a forum sponsor here for the past two years, and while there has been some discussion on the site from years ago, we wanted to take an updated look at Seek Optics.

Note: OakleyForum.com does receive compensation from Seek Optics to be a Forum Sponsor, however, no direct compensation was received to write this guide.

Who is Seek Optics?

From the Seek Optics Website, they are an American-owned and operated business. While the company was founded in 2010 focused on retail sunglasses, they officially began producing aftermarket parts in 2013. Today they offer a variety of lenses and rubber parts (nose pieces, grips, etc.). We’ll be focusing on the Oakley Seek Optics parts(for obvious reasons). Currently, they offer similar replacement lenses across most of the Luxottica brands (i.e., Rayban, Oliver Peoples, Spy Optics, REVO, and more).

Now into the lenses themselves. We’ll first talk about the lenses themselves then compare them side by side to Oakley lenses.

What Seek Optics Lenses Are Available?

Currently, Seek Optics offers replacement parts and lenses for 190+ models of Oakleys, including discontinued models such as Oakley X-Metals sunglasses.

Overall we’re pretty impressed by the depth of options available across current and previous models. Additionally, each model appears to have multiple lens colors available. Finally, if you navigate into the listing, you can also see the dimensions of each lens, so you can double-check the size if you’re a bit skeptical or unsure of the variation.

We’ve included a list of the current models they support below for reference, but you can head to their site for the latest listing:

What is the quality of Seek Optics Lenses?

Impact Resistance

To start, Seek Optics lenses meet ANSI Z80.3 and EN 1836:2005 Standards. Note this is different than the ANSI Z87.1 safety glasses standards. However, the ANSI Z80.3 should still give you comfort as included in ANSI Z80.3 is the FDA “21 CFR 801.410” impact testing standard. We’ve pulled the meat of the impact requirement below so you can skip the pages of government regulations. The bottom line is the lenses pass the standard impact resistance test:

In the impact test, a 5/8-inch steel ball weighing approximately 0.56 ounce is dropped from a height of 50 inches upon the horizontal upper surface of the lens.

Sec. 801.410 Use of impact-resistant lenses in eyeglasses and sunglasses.

Clarity and Testing

When we talk lenses, we’re usually focused on clarity and its nemesis distortion. Unfortunately, without very expensive ophthalmology equipment, it can be difficult to objectively test lenses. Seek Optics states that they perform 3 distinct tests for the clarity of their lenses:

• Metyometer Test – Measures the clarity and optical distinctness of an object when viewed through the lenses
• Optical Distortion Test – Measures the level of image distortion in order to identify any distortion error within the lens
• Prism Test – Measures the light-bending power of the lenses to determine whether they are correctly centered

Since these same tests are commonly attributed to Oakley’s XYZ and HDO technology, it could be that SEEK also uses a similar template that Oakley, Rayban, and others are using to produce their lenses.

Polarization and UV Protection

Most Seek lenses are available in Polarized and Non Polarized options. Seek Optics uses a “Hi-Spectrum” polarization technology that reduces fatigue to your eyes by decreasing glare from reflective surfaces like water, metal, snow, asphalt, and windshields. Their lenses also block 100% of UVA, UVB, and UVC rays.

Overall the “Hi-Spectrum” technology sounds very similar to Oakley Prizm lenses, though that can be a bit hard to prove. From testing out a pair, we did see similarities in terms of contrast and can confirm that the Seek Optics lenses passed our 30-second polarization test.

Mirror, Anti-Scratch, and Repel Coatings

Now let’s talk about the lens coatings. Oakley and most other companies offer various lens coatings with cool marketing names, so we’ll try to cut through some of the jargon and talk through what each means. Seek Optics uses 4 coatings on their lenses:

• REVO Mirror Coating – The equivalent of Oakley Iridium, this 4 nanometer layer gives your lenses a mirrored finish so that others can’t see your eyes. As Seek Optics states: “Mirror coating optimizes the available light in your environment to enhance the clarity of your vision and in the meantime conceal the wearer’s eye for maximum privacy.”
• Hard Coating – This coating claimed to be exclusive to Seek Optics and provides additional durability to both the lens and mirror finish. It’s unclear what exactly this coating is though since a classic Anti-Scratch Coating is separate.
• Anti-Scratch Coating – Applied to the face of the lens, this coating provides additional scratch protection. This is pretty standard across the industry and is usually accomplished with a film or liquid coating that bonds to the lens and acts similar to a screen protector on your phone.
• Advanced Repel Coating – Similar to Oakley Nanoclear Hydrophobic coatings, this is a permanent “Advanced Repel with Self Cleaning Technology”. Essentially this will help to repel water, sweat, dust, etc. from your lenses keeping them cleaner, longer.

Where are Seek Optics Lenses and Parts Made?

As we covered above, Seek Optics is owned and operated in the US. However, Seek Optics does currently produce their lenses and parts in China, though this doesn’t tell us anything of the quality since Oakley produces most of their lenses and sunglasses in China today as well. Today it’s just the norm.

How much do Seek Optics Lenses cost?

Here’s where the conversation gets interesting. Most Seek Optics Lenses start at $9-10. No, that’s not a typo – Ten Dollars. For replacement lenses. Compared to Oakley replacement lenses that can often retail for $50+, this is huge.

For this guide, we compared replacement lenses for Oakley Fuel Cell Sunglasses. On Oakley.com, the replacement lenses for Fuel Cells ranged from $50 for Warm Grey to $80 for Prizm Ruby. In comparison, the Seek Optics lenses for Fuel Cells range from $9.99 for Gold Iridium Lenses to $20.95 for Black Iridium Polarized. This is a huge difference! We also found the same Fuel Cells lenses on Amazon with a 4.7/5 star rating across 77 reviews and prime shipping; however, the color options were more limited/out of stock.

Not saying these will be for everyone; sure, there are plenty of purists out there who will only put Oakley lenses in their glasses. But for most people, this is a great value for replacement lenses.

How does Seek Optics compare to Oakley Lenses?

We created the quick table below to compare Seek Optics lenses side by side with Oakley Lenses. Overall if you want Oakley proprietary technologies like Prizm Lenses or Prescription lenses, you’ll need to go to the source. But if you’re looking for a value replacement lens, Seek Optics will likely win on the price side alone.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for very affordable replacement lenses for your Oakleys, these are likely it. Are they Original Oakley lenses? No. Are they 1/10th the price? Well yes. This one is largely up for debate – but for the average person looking to replace a scratched lens in a pair of everyday beater Oakleys, these make sense.

Have you bought Seek Optics Lenses or have any thoughts? Let us know in the thread below!

OakleyBoss

Created this site because of the lack of a place for the Oakley Community to talk. Feel free to Message me any time with feedback for the site, tips o...

• View all 280 articles