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Oakley Sylas Review

VirusSixZero

Oakley Enthusiast
137
133
Canada
I picked up a pair of Sylas yesterday. Polished Root Beer frame and Prizm Bronze lenses. I also picked up Deep Water Polarized and Prizm Daily lenses for my Flak 2.0 but this post will focus on the new Sylas frame, and the Prizm Bronze lens.
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Sylas is a very simple design, and it's very lightweight to wear. It's reminiscent of Sliver, just with the curved stems, and a keyhole bridge. You'll see there are some angular elements at the temples, but Sylas is a conservative design overall.
Prizm Bronze is a great lens to wear, it's the typical brown soothing effect on the eyes, with just a hint of contrast from the Prizm. Those of you who are looking for an everyday wear lens that isn't polarized, and is understated, try Prizm Bronze. Bronze is to Tungsten, as Grey is to Black. There's no Iridium reflective coating, so for those who prefer to not have their eyes visible, look at Tungsten instead for a brown lens that's better at hiding your eyes.

Overall quality of Sylas: The frame is quite light, as mentioned. The construction is all plastic, there is no silicone or metal at all anywhere. This means Sylas should be treated in a similar way as a thin metal frame ie: it will likely be destroyed if you sit on it. As a tradeoff, Sylas is a cheap date by Oakley Standards. The hinges have that typical 'snap open' position, and feel just as sturdy as any other similar frame like Sliver, Holston, etc. Sylas is a great pick for everyday or day-long wear as it has so little weight to it, and without unobtanium pads, it's simple to clean.

Where it sits with Oakley products: This is where Sylas kind of falls apart. If you like Sliver, this is basically more of the same. In the budget frames, Oakley already has its mainstays of Frogskins and Holbrooks with tons of options. Sylas by comparison is launching with four options, and all are fairly simple to match the understated aesthetics. Oakley touts that Sylas has a "hat compatible design" which basically means the stems taper and are thin by the ears, as opposed to the wider and thicker ones on a Holbrook. I'm not sure anyone would choose their sunglasses because one makes it easier to wear a hat though. It seems Oakley wanted to release something new for the summer, but it's hard to see where Sylas has a leg up on the competition, even within Oakley's own products. I chose the Root Beer frames and Prizm Bronze because they are a little different from the typical Black/Grey combo, and this pair will see a lot of everyday wear from me. Looking at the other Sylas frame/lens combos however, Sylas is going to struggle if it doesn't see some more interesting variety. It's an unobtrusive design that won't really turn heads, and that might be its intended role. It would be wise for Oakley to quickly follow up this launch with a few more frame/lens options aimed at casual wear though. Sylas could benefit from a Chrome lens pairing for a classic mirror look that's more understated than Sapphire, and I'd love to see Sylas paired with Prizm Road for a simple driving glasses option. Pitching Sylas as a casual and simple frame for everyday wear and not pairing it with the Prizm Daily lens seems like a curious misstep as well.

Read more about the Sylas here:
 
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Happened to order a pair of Sylas' and received them a few hours ago. Honestly shocked at the pathetic quality - the lenses rattle within the orbitals, the temples rattle when shaken and the O-matter feels flimsier than $10 shades. This is a definite non-keeper.


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