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Oakley Iridium Questions?

gmarcano007

Oakley Beginner
1
51
Hello There,

I am a newcomer to the entire Iridium style and have questions regarding Iridium sunglasses.

1) Are Oakley Iridium's the only glasses where you can't see the person's eyes from the outside? Is it only exclusive to Oakley? When I search for Iridium lenses, Oakley is the only brand that appears to have them or sunglasses where you cannot see the other person's eyes from the outside... I just want to be sure as this confuses me greatly.

2) Can Oakley Iridium lenses (or lenses where the person's eyes are not visible to the outside) be prescription? If so, can I order these prescription lenses online?

I recently purchased sunglasses (prescription, full-tint and polarized) from Costco Optical and the employee working there, when ordering, kept assuring me that people would not be able to see my eyes from the outside. Today, when I picked up my sunglasses (Aviator style), it was not what I had expected (see below).

Thank you very much. Any and all help is appreciated.

What I expected was: (where you cannot see the person's eyes, and all you see is a reflection)
upload_2018-8-3_19-1-50.png


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What I received was: (a little darker, with a blue tint, but the eyes are still very visible)
ray-ban-gold-rayban-polarized-aviator-sunglasses-product-2-15440160-195877026_large_flex.jpg
 

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1. Yes and no. Yes as only Oakley uses the term “iridium” but other manufacturers usually use “mirrored”. Some call it mirrored some call it iridium.

2. Don’t know. @Chris A Hardaway might know

3. Under the right angles and light conditions you may still be able to see your eyes regardless of mirror coating.
 
Of course mirrored lenses are available in prescription. Find a real optician. I recommend you don't buy half priced junk from Costco. Find an independently owned optician in your area with good reviews. Use the term mirror coating when ordering... Pick a mirror color. Most sell gold, silver, and blue. Many may also have red/orange!
. Good luck. Don't use retail chains they charge less because they manufacture things more cheaply, not because they hire the best.
 
From what I know Oakley uses iridium to ‘tune’ the light entering the lens and also to reduce glare. Both polarised and non polarised use this technology. As regards a mirror finish, this depends on the transmission of the base lens itself so a lower transmission lens (around 10%) like Ice or Fire for example will have a much darker appearance from the non wearers point of view as opposed to a higher transmission base (28% upward) such as G30 and VR28 for example.
A level of colour will also be present within the iridium as the Oakley use same base lens in various applications. Bronze ( a lens used without an iridium coating on various models ) for example is the base for both Tungsten and Titanium iridium lenses to my knowledge and possibly also Gold Iridium.
 

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