Oakley Half Jacket Questions

[rubicon]

I've got a Half Jacket frame (original HJ, not HJ 2.0) along with a few XLJ lenses. I love these sunglasses, but have a few issues I'd love to resolve without switching to another frame as I've got a fair bit of money tied up in these frames and multiple Rx lenses.

1. For sports in which my head is tilted forward (e.g., cycling or prone shooting), I end up looking over the top of the frame. I wish these glasses rode a little higher on my nose.

2. When the frame is fully seated on my face, my eyelashes touch the lenses (I'm a guy and don't do anything to my eyelashes).

Seems like larger, or perhaps closer fitting, nose pads would solve both these problems by sitting higher on my nose and pushing the lenses farther from my face. All I can find on the Oakley website is a replacement kit that looks to contain pads identical to the pads that came with my HJ frame.

Would the Asian fit pads resolve my issues (I'm not Asian nor do I have a typical Asian facial bone structure)? Do they sell the pads separately and would they fit on Half Jackets?

3. The arms on the Half Jacket are a bit thick and prevent earmuffs from making a good seal around the ears.

The Oakley rep I reached told me they don't make alternative arms for the Half Jacket and that the arms from other frames (e.g., Flak Jacket) won't fit the Half Jacket. He also told me that the Half Jacket XLJ lenses won't fit any of their other frames, so I wouldn't be able to move the lenses to a frame with flatter arms.

Is everything the Oakley rep told me correct? Are there any other solutions apart from ditching my Half Jacket and Rx lenses and starting anew?

One thing I was considering is removing the arms and attaching a strap that goes around the head. I'd have to figure out how to attach the straps to the frame. Can the arms be removed from the frame without breaking the arms or frame?

 

[OakleyGuru379]

The rep is right. Half jacket lenses only fit in half jacket frames. The arms can be removed, just twist them off of the frame. Welcome to the forum!

 

[rubicon]

The rep is right. Half jacket lenses only fit in half jacket frames. The arms can be removed, just twist them off of the frame. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the welcome!

I saw a couple of posts in the Interchangeable Parts thread that suggest that HJ lenses will fit in a couple of other frames:

Romeo (this seems like an inelegant fit): "Half Jacket will fit into Romeo 2.0 if you take the donut shaped washer out, and use the HJ tab to hook around the T5 torx screw near the temple."

Bottlecap: "Half Jacket (original) lenses fit in the Bottle Cap."
I just dug out the instructions that came with my HJ's and interestingly enough, the lens change instructions are titled, "Half Jacket / Bottlecap Lens Changing Instructions".

And along with those instructions I dug up, I found a set of large nose pads! I had totally forgotten that the HJ's came with these (haven't looked at the original box and contents in many years). Anyway, just put on the larger nose pads and they definitely pushed the lenses a little farther out and up. My eyelashes barely make contact with the lenses now and I think the higher ride height might solve the problem of seeing over the frames with my head tilted down, but I'll have to get outdoors to test that.

So that leaves the arms. Good to know that the arms can be removed, and just popped mine off, thanks. Do the arms of any of the other Oakleys, especially those with flatter arms, fit into the HJ frame?

From watching this video, the Flak Jacket arms look very similar to the Half Jacket arms and look like they use the same two nubs to seat the arm into the frame.

 

[Lexkempo]

Id say look into buying some racing jackets frames... they're mostly made for cycling ...its a bigger frame... different nose pieces that can set them higher and away from the eyes (i have the long eye lash prob and haven't noticed it only SJ's) ... and you can attach a strap to keep em tight and steady on the noggin'

 

[rubicon]

Id say look into buying some racing jackets frames... they're mostly made for cycling ...its a bigger frame... different nose pieces that can set them higher and away from the eyes (i have the long eye lash prob and haven't noticed it only SJ's) ... and you can attach a strap to keep em tight and steady on the noggin'

I swapped out to the larger nose piece on the Half Jackets, so the frame now sits higher and farther away.

The biggest issue now is the thickness of the arms on the HJ. Because I've got a fair bit of money tied up in Rx lenses for the HJ, I'd like to figure out a solution that lets me continue to use those lenses as opposed to starting over and buying new Rx lenses. So either installing flatter arms from another Oakley frame onto the HJ frame, or moving the lenses to another frame with flatter arms.

If the Racing Jackets are larger framed than the HJ, I assume HJ lenses won't fit in the Racing Jacket.

 

[Lexkempo]

I

If the Racing Jackets are larger framed than the HJ, I assume HJ lenses won't fit in the Racing Jacket.

Indeed indeed! I dont know how the arms look on HJ's, i wish you woulda looked into Flak Jackets then ...much flatter on the sides ... maybe the arms are swappable?

 

[rubicon]

Indeed indeed! I dont know how the arms look on HJ's, i wish you woulda looked into Flak Jackets then ...much flatter on the sides ... maybe the arms are swappable?

I bought the HJ many years ago, long before the Flak Jackets were introduced.

The Flak Jacket arm looks like it would fit on the HJ frame - both use the two little vertically oriented nubs to seat the arm into the frame. But frame shape and arm shape where the frame and arm meet are slightly different on the HJ and FJ so I don't think the surfaces of the arm and frame would sit flush to each other when using FJ arms on the HJ frame.

But I think they would fit, and maybe the earsocks would cover up the slightly mismatched surfaces. If someone has both and could try swapping an FJ arm onto a HJ (original, not 2.0) frame and taking some pics, that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[RetinaBurn]

The ear stems cannot be swapped. Not only are they not the same size the are contoured differently, which will prevent them from opening and closing properly. Not to mention they would look ugly.

There really is no solution to your problem, other than buy a new pair of Oakleys (which is never a bad thing).

 

[rubicon]

The ear stems cannot be swapped. Not only are they not the same size the are contoured differently, which will prevent them from opening and closing properly. Not to mention they would look ugly.

There really is no solution to your problem, other than buy a new pair of Oakleys (which is never a bad thing).

So maybe the Flak Jacket arms a no go.

According to the Interchangeability thread, the HJ lenses work in the Bottlecap frame. Haven't seen any other confirmation of that. But if that works, that's a decent solution, as buying a Bottlecap frame would be a lot cheaper than buying multiple new Rx lenses.

 

[RetinaBurn]

It works, but its a bit of a compromise. The Bottlecap has squared lenses and the Half Jacket is more rounded. There is a gap on the outside edge when the lens in installed, it is noticeable.