I'm certainly looking forward to try them on. As I did like racing jacket / Jawbone. Looks like they share some design language. @Ventruck will you be trying a plasma?
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Ventruck
I am Jim Jannard...
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Unlikely to be of the first, at least.
Personally I think this is of the least interesting of the new sports pairs, but it might be the best one from a practical standpoint, which I feel still puts the brand ahead of others. I get that Oakley recognizes that not everyone cares for a "system" pair like a Jawbone/beaker, Radar or Flak array. Case-in-point I virtually stick to a single pair of Jawbreakers and lenses — mainly opening the frames just for cleaning. We've seen this exercise of simplification with the Sutro. It grew on people here and probably sells better than other shield pairs since it draws more casual appeal.
Problem is I don't see the draw for existing, vested Oakley users who already have a go-to, unless it's out of pure fandom. In a utilitarian sense it doesn't make much sense vs. say, getting the next cool casual pair because there's more of a collector's and aesthetic merit to it. There are always good pairs coming out from a performance standpoint, and sure enough I can recognize different advantages, but I haven't found major reasons to absolutely need alternate designs.
Add that retail pricing is unreasonable when compared to the more complex designs we've been offered before, it's a hard sell for me. I've mainly acted on new designs on discount. This take, of course, will not apply to anyone, and no one is wrong for buying what they want. I've kinda settled into one of those users that stuck to their OG Radars or M-Frames — barring an unexpected miracle of a reinvented wheel, I'd really need to see my favorite pair's supply/support dry up to convincingly move on. Ventruck
I am Jim Jannard...
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Believe this was in Oakley's own marketing as well as the "surge ports" of the Radarlock which seemed to be a real stretch in reality.
We see the flare/lip design used in the Flight Jacket and Jawbreaker as well. In theory there could be some practical wind deflection. How I see it is the flare is intended to provide clearance behind the frame for the cheekbones while letting the designer keep enough material for integrity. Of course, aesthetic plays a part as well.
But the Jawbone in particular seems misleadingly big until a person actually handles it for the first time. Like if you imagine that flare just going straight down instead, you probably couldn't put the frames as close to your face.
That color-way doesn’t look too bad actually but Jawbones are still nice IMO.
Thanks for posting some “real world” pictures.
They look better than I envisioned.
The jury is still out on them, i quite fancy the Matte Black version.
WildWires
I should Work at Oakley
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I actually like this colorway. did a few people mention these are available at cabelas??
Juliemac07
I should Work at Oakley
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The grey smoke/prizm road one is interesting. Similar threads
