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Aftermarket Lenses - Revant/Walleva/Fuse/Ikon/Linegear...etc

XMetalAddict

Oakley Expert
Premium Member
Lifetime Member
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Cambridge, UK
The purpose of this thread is to generate a consolidated thread that compiles people's experience of all types of aftermarket makes/tints. With that in mind, here is a quick review of the lense that I recently acquired.

Sunglasses: Juliet
Manufacturer: Ikon
Lense Colour: Rose Gold
Base tint: Grey/slight green hue.
Coatings: Polarized, iridium, anti-reflective, hydrophobic nano coating and melanin injected to remove UVA, B & C.
Curvature: Appears to be 8.75
Comments: Supplied with cleaning microfiber cloth and cleaning fluid (nice extra). Also provide a T6 screwdriver, but I would keep to the recommended makes on this forum. Also claim to exceed the ANSI Z87.1 high speed impact standard.

The pics

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Initial feelings are quite positive. Aesthetically, the tint is very nice and I feel goes well with the black frame. Not rocket science as there are a lot of examples of this combination in watches. The base tint is relaxing to the eyes and at least with first impressions retains sharpness and does not appear to generate distortion. As I said in a recent post thus does not prove 100% optical correctness.

The lense itself fitted in the Juliet frame without major issues, but the lense itself is a little thinner than the original Oakley lenses. This could be to do with the manfacturing process as the polarized material is actually built into the lense as oposed to an additional layer. No expert on these processes, but it is not beyond reason that a layered approach will yield thicker lenses.

I hope this is useful to people looking into new lenses and hopefully others can post their experiences.
 
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Probably gonna be in review mode again as I got two lenses on the way.

Was curious about Fuse again. For a while the mention of Zeiss being involved with their production was very vague, but they put up a blog post on their site about it and seemed to better-clarify which of their lenses (Fuse+) involve the collaboration. I heard very positive reviews before, but the price still sounds too good to be true. I do have a Blaze pair on order because it won't kill me at that price.

Also got a set of Revant HC3's again in the Fire Red finish. I did review them before for their early run of the HC3. Visuals and fit were so dead-on, and the recent video posted showing insight about their production leaves me very confident about their quality and a purchase was going to be inevitable. Only reason why it wasn't sooner was because I had other eyewear priorities.

With the Jawbone/RJ2 now being finished, aftermarket has become very relevant for me. I mean, OEM lenses are still around starting at $60, but I bought the two lenses above (not to mention one being polarized and the other being an elusive non-vented) for ~$72 after discounts and free shipping. Don't call me an Oakley traitor, but with experience with the HC3, I really believe competition has gotten stiffer with improved quality.

With Fuse namely, they cover designer brands, which may or may not have s*** optics because they're mostly selling the name behind them. If these Fuse+ lenses are legit, there's this realm of possibility of going to Nordstrom Rack or a flea market, taking a functionally s*** pair, and turning it into legitimate premium eyewear — not to mention eyewear with actual lens options.

Maybe too much Kool-Aid in my system, but I am starting to believe this has become a legitimate niche.
 
Volt BIP XX XMetal.-Liked the view thru them. Good reflectivity and polarization. I had a small bit of hand sanitizer on my hand and accidentally brushed the lenses. The BI finish came right off.

Volt Emerald Polarized Gascan-loved the look of and the look thru. Back of lenses were coated a subdued green. View was a hue of reddish which I liked for doing just about anything. Overcast and bright days were no problem. But the front of the lenses are fragile. Very easy to scratch.

Fuse Blaze C-Wire 1.0-Really limed the look of. Better than the pic on their website. Didn't get much use since the spring hinges blew out in the glasses right after installation.
However
Fuse Cosmic Polarized Current XX-love the look if and not gray but not amber see thru. Played golf in them the other day half round was overcast half not. Saw the ball well. Never took them off, and I have never played a round where I didn't take sunglasses off to make a swing. Only thing that bothers me is reflectivity, brighter sun, wearers eyes can be seen.

Matvey Purple/Red Polarized Current Juliet-Unique look. Really like the look. Like +Red but instead of blue, well purple. Same as fuse, would like better reflectivity. Gray lens base. Will probably order a pair for my Gascans as I've reached the thresh hold for scratches in the OEM Blue Pol.

Unknown Juliet Emerald. I think they may be Visionary Lenses. Never used them. One pic is comparison between OEM Ice/Unknown Emerald.

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Thank you @Slojack and @Ventruck for your contributions. I have already learnt two things from this.

I was still under the impression that the Fuse HC3 was only in black, the red lens sounds great (will review my Linegear one that is on the way). Ventruck I hear where you are coming from regarding the new options that these lenses give.

Regarding the Volt lenses. A clear factor when investing in a lense will be longevity as well as everything else. It may well be a deciding factor. I come across this a lot in my profession, it is OK to buy cheaper but if you are having to buy twice as much and employ double the labour, is that a saving?!

Edit: Meant to add that I particularly like to know what the base tint of a lense since it is not always obvious when purchasing the lense.
 
I have 2 pairs of Juliets, one carbon and one polished. For years all I used was Oakley lenses. Mainly because of the price I tried the Welluva lenses of Ebay. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. They were not shaped correctly and we're difficult to get them in the frames. You could place the Oakley lense edge to edge with the Welluva and you could easily see the issue. The clarity was no where near as good as the Oakley's. The left lense seemed to be the worst. Sorry I don't have pics, this happened a couple years ago. I have used the Revant polarized lenses as well. The clarity and shape were better, but when I sprayed the Oakley cleaning spray on the lense it destroyed it. Oakley claims their spray is safe for all lense types. Revant claimed that there was trace amounts of alcohol in their spray that will affect the coatings on their lenses. I contacted them and they were great about sending another set out. I used them for a year without issues, but only clean with water. The clarity seemed much better than the Welluva, but not as good as Oakley lenses. I have a blue mirror shield and the titanium mirror shield coming from their new H3 line of lenses, I have heard nothing but good reviews with these. Another thing I have noticed is that all the aftermarket lenses seemed to be thinner than the originals, but didn't seem to be to much of a negative issue. The H3's are suppose to be closer to the same thickness as the others. I am not a Oakley pro the way many are on this forum. From my limited research I learned that most say the Linegear and the Revant H3's are about as good as aftermarket lenses goes. I will post a review when I get the frames back from the X-Man, and get the new lenses in them. Looking forward to hearing what others say on this topic.
 
I have 2 pairs of Juliets, one carbon and one polished. For years all I used was Oakley lenses. Mainly because of the price I tried the Welluva lenses of Ebay. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. They were not shaped correctly and we're difficult to get them in the frames. You could place the Oakley lense edge to edge with the Welluva and you could easily see the issue. The clarity was no where near as good as the Oakley's. The left lense seemed to be the worst. Sorry I don't have pics, this happened a couple years ago. I have used the Revant polarized lenses as well. The clarity and shape were better, but when I sprayed the Oakley cleaning spray on the lense it destroyed it. Oakley claims their spray is safe for all lense types. Revant claimed that there was trace amounts of alcohol in their spray that will affect the coatings on their lenses. I contacted them and they were great about sending another set out. I used them for a year without issues, but only clean with water. The clarity seemed much better than the Welluva, but not as good as Oakley lenses. I have a blue mirror shield and the titanium mirror shield coming from their new H3 line of lenses, I have heard nothing but good reviews with these. Another thing I have noticed is that all the aftermarket lenses seemed to be thinner than the originals, but didn't seem to be to much of a negative issue. The H3's are suppose to be closer to the same thickness as the others. I am not a Oakley pro the way many are on this forum. From my limited research I learned that most say the Linegear and the Revant H3's are about as good as aftermarket lenses goes. I will post a review when I get the frames back from the X-Man, and get the new lenses in them. Looking forward to hearing what others say on this topic.
Interesting. As I mentioned in my post I wonder if the thinner lense is related to the manufacturing process used. Will be interested in the H3 mirror shield reviews once you get them.
 
Manufacturer: Ikon
Tint: Rose Gold
Base tint: Grey/slight green hue.
Coatings: Polarized, iridium, anti-reflective (the closes I can get to is that found
Curvature: Appears to be 8.75

Comments: Supplied with cleaning microfiber cloth and cleaning fluid (nice extra)
Where did you get the Ikon lenses? Ive been to their Facebook page, but didnt see ordering and only Gascan lenses.
 
Where did you get the Ikon lenses? Ive been to their Facebook page, but didnt see ordering and only Gascan lenses.
They are on ebay under "ikonlenses". If you do a search for "ikon juliet" you should get all their offerings for that model.

I have to say I am surprised they have not had more input on this site although I note they are now sponsoring the forum.
 
I got the lenses and as soon as my carbons come back from X-Man I will pop them in and post a review. Interesting to hear what others have tried.
 
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