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Aftermarket Lenses - Revant/Walleva/Fuse/Ikon/Linegear...etc
- Thread starter XMetalAddict
- Start date
I've had good luck with @Revant Optics
Sorry, I don't have any super in depth reviews, but I can say that I don't get random headaches and I my eyes don't hurt when I put these on...
I used to have 20/10 vision but now in my mid 30's I'm going blind at 20/20 lol...
I have a lot of Revant lenses, but ever since @Chris A Hardaway joined the forums, I've purchased a lot of custom cut lenses from him...
Pretty much all of my XS lenses are Revant (except my custom cut Violet Polars)
...and I only use 1 Revant lens for my XX - the drop dead beautiful Titanium Mirror Shield...I got this color lens for both the XS and XX...they're freaking gorgeous, ESPECIALLY in a polished frame
Pictures:
Emerald
Ice Blue (pretty much Sapphire)
Titanium Mirror
Titanium Mirror
Looking good @Litos
So I have only tried Walleva lenses off eBay. It sounds like most people are into the @Revant Optics lenses.
More power to you guys, I've seen the videos on the Revant especially the premium ones, very nice.
Seriously though stay away from Walleva, total garbage. Lenses are so thin and flimsy... I can't (or should I say I don't) believe they pass ANSI standards for basic impact, let alone high mass/velocity impacts.
Also the ones I ordereded for a Square Whisker were way undercut. Lenses would wiggle and fall out without impact, like at cleaning.
Peace to all my customizers!Hey Guys,
Just joined the forums, nice to be here!
The reason for my joining was to share my experiences with the Ikon lenses I just bought. But first, a little background:
I purchased a pair of GarageRocks about 10 months back. These were my first pair of Oakleys, but I have owned other higher end brand shades before: Ray Bans, Serengeti, Maui Jim, other random pairs of $100-ish pairs I thought looked good at Brand X sunglasses store, etc... When I first got the Oakleys, I was blown away by the clarity. Hands down they were the clearest lenses out of any brand I had previously owned. I was instantly hooked.
I typically only own 1 pair of sunglasses at a time. Ill keep them until they wear out or the lenses get scratched up enough to warrant getting a new paid. The GaragerRocks were no exception. I mention this due to the fact that using the same pair day after day, vs rotating out multiple pairs, will naturally cause them we wear faster. The GarageRocks held up fairly well given the plastic frame, vs a metal one, being harder to distort. But as fate would have it, eventually the lenses got scratched up enough to start to bug me. When searching for deals on a new pair at Oakley.com, I noticed they sold replacement lenses. However, the GarageRock line is being phased out and none of the lenses left in stock were to my liking. Since the frames were still more than usable, I felt it to be a waste to spend 2x as much on a new pair and instead started looking for an aftermarket lens. After doing a bit of searching, I found that Revant and Ikon seemed to be the 2 most popular brands, but there were still many warnings out there about aftermarket lenses not being as good as OEM. But for $35, I figured I would give one of them a try and the Ikon 24K gold won out over the Revant simply because they had a color that I wanted. Since there was very little in the way of reviews online for the Ikon brand (except for here of course) I thought I would do the interwebs a favor and do a review of my experiences. I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with Ikon. Im just a normal dude that puts an emphasis on good optical clarity and figured other may be able to benefit from my experiences. Im not an expert on sunglasses either, so if there is something specific you want to know, Ill do my best to answer the question but I cant promise anything.
First I took a series of pictures of how the lenses were shipped and what all it came with. The packaging was secure enough and everything came completely undamaged:
After unboxing, I grabbed my Oakleys with OEM lenses and snapped a few pics so you all could see how they started. They dont look as scratched up in the pics as they do in real life. They arent HORRIBLE, but it is enough to be distracting while wearing them:
After that I removed the OEM lenses, gave them a good cleaning and snapped a few pics that I felt demonstrated the "hue" looking through them, their ability to reduce glare, and their image distortion properties (or lack there of in this case).
Holding the camera about 1" away from the lens and looking through it:
Next I did the same shots with the Ikon lenses, recreating the exact angles as best I could. I should note that the icon lenses ARE polarized and the Oakleys are NOT. While I understand the difference in effect between standard and polarized lenses, I am not an aficionado when it comes to whether or not polarization will affect clarity or lens-image refraction (though I wouldnt think that it should):
Difference in Anti-glare backing (Oakley lenses on top):
(Im out of uploads for this post, on to the next one!)Ikons:
(Polarizing properties obvious with this pic as compared to the one with the non-polarized Oakley lenses)
Looking through the Lens with the camera approximately 1" away:
Finally, here are 2 pics showing the quality of the polarization:
Despite not having had a lot of time with the new Ikon lenses yet, and based solely on the presented photos alone, I would say the Ikons are very close to, if not on par with the Oakleys. They are very clear, little to no distortion, superior anti-glare properties (granted mostly due to being polarized), and they are just a shade or 2 darker than the OEMs when looking through them. Time and long durations of wearing them will tell if they are truly as good as the Oakley lenses optically. I will try to report back in a few weeks with an update.
Fit and finish is 100% on par with the OEM lenses. The fit was spot on in the frames. Absolutely zero wiggle in them at all. They also arrived with a beautiful and flawless finish on both sides:
I am by no means an Ikon Fan boy. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by these lenses as I did have my doubts due to their relatively low cost of $37.99 vs the replacement Oakley lenses at $37-$40 for NON-polarized (polarized were not available, but in other models they are about double the price of standard lenses; $70-$90). For someone in my situation where their frames are still functional, but the model is being phased our and lacks replacement support for lenses, the Ikons turned out to be a great find. In the coming weeks I will do a follow up review on their optical quality after I have had an opportunity to wear them more.
Hope some folks find this helpful! Stanleybb50
I should Work at Oakley
^ ^ ^ Thanks! Great post!
Nice review and welcome to the forum.
As for optical clarity. The eyes truly cannot be the judge.
We need true optical clarity tests to be done.
kronin323
Font of Useless Knowledge
I exactly concur...Similar threads
