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Oakley Polarized Iridium Vs Costa 580 Lenses?

BigMikeFromOleMiss

Oakley Enthusiast
43
108
I continue to see people raving about Costa Del Mar's 580 lenses. What is the deal? I am an Oakley guy and have been since I was a teenager, but I may have to pick up a pair of Costas. Does anybody have both? How do they compare?
 
I have several pairs of Oakley and Costa. The 580 refers to the band of light spectrum that the lenses block/filter. Oakleys are 400. The 580 is supposed to filter more of the bad yellow light. I love the blue mirror 580 lenses, but I also love several of my oakley lenses. Oakley makes their lenses in a better way but costa lenses are still high quality.

I think the biggest advantage costa has is the option for glass lenses. Oakley is geared more toward sport/athletic so the polycarbonate is preferred in that regard but glass is far more scratch resistant.
 
I'll chime in as I am a certified optician. Oakley uses polycarbonate lenses. Poly has the worst chromatic abberation of any lens material. They also use digital surfacing to reduce peripheral distortion, which is good. They use a surface bonded polarizing film, which makes them more susceptible to scratching. Costa 580 P lenses are digitally surfaced trivex- tough like poly, but much better optical clarity. Typical laminated polarizing film which is patented because, as mentioned, it reduces blue and yellow light for better contrast. Smith is doing the same thing with their new Chromapop lenses. Costa 580 Glass have spectacular optical clarity- basically they are the clearest sunglass lenses you can get- a few other lenses are close, e.g. Maui Jim glass or Smith Techlite glass lenses. Sorry to break it to you- I like Oakley because they design some very ergonomic and cool looking frames, but they are WAY behind the curve with lens performance. I think most people just don't know this because they don't have the opportunity to do a side by side field test of leading sunglass brands.
 
I'll chime in as I am a certified optician. Oakley uses polycarbonate lenses. Poly has the worst chromatic abberation of any lens material. They also use digital surfacing to reduce peripheral distortion, which is good. They use a surface bonded polarizing film, which makes them more susceptible to scratching. Costa 580 P lenses are digitally surfaced trivex- tough like poly, but much better optical clarity. Typical laminated polarizing film which is patented because, as mentioned, it reduces blue and yellow light for better contrast. Smith is doing the same thing with their new Chromapop lenses. Costa 580 Glass have spectacular optical clarity- basically they are the clearest sunglass lenses you can get- a few other lenses are close, e.g. Maui Jim glass or Smith Techlite glass lenses. Sorry to break it to you- I like Oakley because they design some very ergonomic and cool looking frames, but they are WAY behind the curve with lens performance. I think most people just don't know this because they don't have the opportunity to do a side by side field test of leading sunglass brands.
Can you share such mentioned field tests? I would love to see some optical comparisons.
 
I wish there were published field tests, but there aren't to my knowledge. I am speaking from my own personal experience comparing different sunglass lenses, and of course my technical knowledge of optics. I think that the optical industry doesn't really want people to make direct product comparisons- and most dealers aren't going to do that because they would have to rate some of the products they carry as better than others. It would be nice if people could try before they buy though.
 
Poly and trivex lenses are about equal in impact resistance, more or less regardless of brand. That said, I have seen poly crack occasionally, but I have never seen trivex crack. Both are far superior protection to glass lenses. Think glass for best optics, trivex for best protection. The Wiley X sunglass line is awesome for eye protection as they are ANSI safety rated. However, their lenses are just your basic poly sunglass lenses, nothing to write home about.
 
Funny, I just saw a video of somebody's Wiley x shooting glasses breaking when dropped on the floor, tried to find it, but surfing on the phone is no fun. Anyway, yeah, any Oakley collector with a pair of R1s has seen cracked poly.

I trend to think the vaunted strength of Oakley lenses comes largely from the thickness of the material.

I personally haven't worn better lenses than Oakley's, though my previous sunglasses were all cheap. I HAVE wondered once or twice whether it might be worthwhile to try to get some tinted glass lenses just to avoid scratches, though being introduced to lenspens has helped quite a bit.

Anyway inability to see what I'm typing is probably making me ramble at this point, so one final question. Are Oakley prescription lenses essentially the same material and quality as non prescription?
 
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