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Gatorz or Oakley sunglasses?

BenY 2013

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 23, 2012
1,296
16
28
SW Arkansas
I am trying to decide on a decent pair of sunglasses. Something tough that will last me a long time. I like that the Gatorz are made from Aluminum, they seem like pretty tough glasses. Made in the USA. Just wondering if I should consider Oakley instead? I have never owned a high dollar set of glasses so I would appreciate if someone with experience with these would please chime in! Thanks

Ben
 
I've had the same pair of Oakley M frames for about ten years. Just now kind of need a replacement lens. No complaints on my end. Also have a pair of Oakley polarized that I've been happy with.
 
I use Oakley. They are strong and if you prescription lenses the glass quality and lens treatments are second to none.

If you have vision insurance, you can use your benefit whether a prescription is required or not to help pay for the frames. Has to be through an optician though like LensCrafters so they can bill insurance.


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I have several pairs of Oakleys and one pair of aluminum Gatorz and I like them both. Only down side to the aluminum Gatorz is if you leave them in your truck in the summer or just wearing them on a hot day they get hot as hell. My go to is a pair of Oakleys.
 
Don't have any experience with Gatorz, but have/had ALOT of Oakley's over the last 30+ years. They are used at work (flying) and shooting (pistol comps and rifle) with zero complaints. I don't believe I've ever broken a pair. Usually lose them first. With proper/minimal care they will be out of "style" before they are worn out. Just my .02.
 
I am trying to decide on a decent pair of sunglasses. Something tough that will last me a long time. I like that the Gatorz are made from Aluminum, they seem like pretty tough glasses. Made in the USA. Just wondering if I should consider Oakley instead? I have never owned a high dollar set of glasses so I would appreciate if someone with experience with these would please chime in! Thanks

Ben


Gatorz are not made in the USA anymore, the company was sold and they took their stuff overseas. However, the original owner and designer of Gatorz started a new company called Liquid Eyewear. Far better quality aluminum frames and 100% made in the USA and they do prescriptions. I've been wearing them for close to 10 years now from deployments to skydiving and daily use. Give them a call, they offer Mil/LEO discounts.

Liquideyewear.com
 
I've had countless pairs of Oakleys over the years and liked them all. I had two different wire frame glasses that both broke when the same friend sat on each, a few months apart.:mad:

No experience with the Gatorz.

Really like the Maui Jims. They are incredibly durable and have awesome glass. Much more comfortable than any Oakleys. Check out the amber lenses also!
 
ive been wearing Wiley X for a while now. I started when they got issued to me before a TACP deployment and have been using them ever since.
 
I would also point out that the Gatorz ARE NOT a safety glass/ANSI certified lens. Where as Liquid's glasses are ANSI rated, as are the oakleys you are also considering.
 
I have to many Oakleys to count but just got my second pair of Spy's. They are priced much more reasonably and are still polarized and fit well....
 
I've been wearing Oakley Half Jackets for nearly 20 years now and dearly love them. I have 3 pairs, but have never broken a pair. Hands down my favorite lens tint is the Tungsten Iridium. It works well in full Sun as well as flat light conditions and adds a nice contrast boost and makes green/yellow "pop" nicely.

Oakley Sunglass Lens Tint | Oakley.com
 
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Gatorz! Im on my 2nd pair. I dropped a pair under canopy and watched them all the way to the ground( around 1000 ft). They were good to go. Also, I have thrown them in my kit bag and crushed the hell out of them... and they dont break. Also, Oakleys are so last year. JK...
I got a pair of Liquids while down range and they broke right over the nose when I pushed them on on the second day of owning them. I sent them back, and they told me it would be $100 to fix them... ridiculous. Cheers mates.

Also... you will have to buy new Oakleys because the plastic degrades with time. With Gatorz, the only thing that can happen is the lense will scratch or break... which the oakleys will do as well. So, you eliminate the possibility of them breaking and they last hella longer. Its like buying a Mac
 
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Thank you everyone for you input! It is looking like Oakley is the cheapest of what I am looking at. I do really like the looks of the Liquids however...decisions decisions....

Ben
 
I've had 4 pair of different flavors of Oakleys. My .02 I is the lenses are shit! All of them polarized and not have had the coating start coming off. I don't baby them by any means but my wife also has a pair and same shit. If you hold them up to light you can see like blotches in the lenses.
The frames are tough as nails though. I still buy them so I'm the jackass I guess. One day I'll remember to send the lenses in for warranty before the years up!
 
Ive ran oakleys for years, comfortable, not crazy expensive and durable. i do have two chips in the fame of both pairs of my current sunglasses right in the same spot. im in no way easy on my glasses. they fallen off my face, out of the truck, smashed into things when on my head more times than i can count and they survived 3 years on a drill rig. Needless to say im pleased with them.
 
Love my Oakleys, had them for 10+ years. customer service there is nice too. sent a pair back with broken arm and they replaced it and gave me new lenses free.
 
Just wondering, have you guys heard of Costa Del Mars, or is it more of a Florida thing? Down here I don't really see many people wearing anything else...costas rule the roost by far. But the company is in Daytona I think so proximity might help. Lenses are superior to the other brands listed here, and they have tons of different frames. Being in the sunshine state makes people a little snobby about their sunglasses... Like I said before they are a little more pricey but you won't find better lenses out there. Good luck OP

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I think you will be very happy with an Oakley glass. In general, they can take quite a bit of abuse. The coatings on the lenses do degrade after many years, but I liked what a previous poster said...they will be out of style before you need another pair due to wear and tear. Short of broken frames due to sitting on them or loading them, they will run for years. If you plan to use them for sport where sweat and fogging and air flow are big issues, the M frames and half jackets are pretty hard to beat.
 
Most of the visor wearing fishermen down here wear Costas. My wife bought me a pair, and they are as overrated as I thought. DO NOT buy glass lenses. I have personally witnessed 2 pairs of broken Costa glass lenses and heard of countless others where they either dropped several inches and shattered, or my favorite was when a friend was putting them on his head and the slight flexing of the frame shattered a lense. Customer service will not replaced the obviously too fragile glass.

I wear a pair of Oakley Flak Jackets. They are polarized, Z87 rated, and there is no metal and no screws holding them together. They snap together like Legos and are nearly unbreakable. My only complaint was that I spent $200 on sunglasses thinking that I was paying for a decent warranty, but later found out that the warranty is only 1 year. I will continue to replace the lenses on these when I scratch them up because they are the most comfortable sunglasses I've owned with all of the features I require, but if I ever break the frames I won't be buying Oakley again strictly on principle. If you are paying $200 for $5 worth of plastic, it better have a good warranty.

-Dan

Just wondering, have you guys heard of Costa Del Mars, or is it more of a Florida thing? Down here I don't really see many people wearing anything else...costas rule the roost by far. But the company is in Daytona I think so proximity might help. Lenses are superior to the other brands listed here, and they have tons of different frames. Being in the sunshine state makes people a little snobby about their sunglasses... Like I said before they are a little more pricey but you won't find better lenses out there. Good luck OP

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Most of the visor wearing fishermen down here wear Costas. My wife bought me a pair, and they are as overrated as I thought. DO NOT buy glass lenses. I have personally witnessed 2 pairs of broken Costa glass lenses and heard of countless others where they either dropped several inches and shattered, or my favorite was when a friend was putting them on his head and the slight flexing of the frame shattered a lense. Customer service will not replaced the obviously too fragile glass.

I wear a pair of Oakley Flak Jackets. They are polarized, Z87 rated, and there is no metal and no screws holding them together. They snap together like Legos and are nearly unbreakable. My only complaint was that I spent $200 on sunglasses thinking that I was paying for a decent warranty, but later found out that the warranty is only 1 year. I will continue to replace the lenses on these when I scratch them up because they are the most comfortable sunglasses I've owned with all of the features I require, but if I ever break the frames I won't be buying Oakley again strictly on principle. If you are paying $200 for $5 worth of plastic, it better have a good warranty.

-Dan

That's interesting... .I've had mine about 3 years now and treat them like redheaded stepchildren, they aren't even scratched yet. I have the 400 series glass lenses and the clarity and contrast is second to none. My fiance has the 580 lenses and I don't see any real difference. I actually like my 400's better. They have fallen off the 4 wheeler, been crushed by people sitting on them, kicked across a boat deck.. you name it. They are more for the fishing crowd but for that they are awesome, no glare. Also helps driving in fog or rain, guess that goes with any quality polarized lenses, but I can see about twice as far in fog with these things than without. With regards to warranty, everyone I've talked to said they either replaced the lenses/frames for free or charged a small fee if it wasn't due to a factory defect. Maybe your buddies got some fakes or a bad run or something, none of that is consistent with anything I've heard or experienced with them. The idea of the Lego construction is a good one.. less opportunity for parts to fail. Nothing against Oakleys. They make a great product and I've owned many. I don't think the OP can go wrong with any brands listed here. I like to fish and for that the Costas have the lenses and warranty I like. I didn't see them mentioned by others so I was curious to see how widespread they have become.
 
A few of these failures happened to fellow employees when I worked at a sporting goods store. It would seem as though they had a bad batch of glass, but they still refused to replace the faulty lenses. I have the 580P lenses in my Costas and cannot tell a difference between these and my Oakley polarized lenses.

That's interesting... .I've had mine about 3 years now and treat them like redheaded stepchildren, they aren't even scratched yet. I have the 400 series glass lenses and the clarity and contrast is second to none. My fiance has the 580 lenses and I don't see any real difference. I actually like my 400's better. They have fallen off the 4 wheeler, been crushed by people sitting on them, kicked across a boat deck.. you name it. They are more for the fishing crowd but for that they are awesome, no glare. Also helps driving in fog or rain, guess that goes with any quality polarized lenses, but I can see about twice as far in fog with these things than without. With regards to warranty, everyone I've talked to said they either replaced the lenses/frames for free or charged a small fee if it wasn't due to a factory defect. Maybe your buddies got some fakes or a bad run or something, none of that is consistent with anything I've heard or experienced with them. The idea of the Lego construction is a good one.. less opportunity for parts to fail. Nothing against Oakleys. They make a great product and I've owned many. I don't think the OP can go wrong with any brands listed here. I like to fish and for that the Costas have the lenses and warranty I like. I didn't see them mentioned by others so I was curious to see how widespread they have become.
 
A few of these failures happened to fellow employees when I worked at a sporting goods store. It would seem as though they had a bad batch of glass, but they still refused to replace the faulty lenses. I have the 580P lenses in my Costas and cannot tell a difference between these and my Oakley polarized lenses.

Well that's crap then.. and doesn't do them any favors in the realm of word of mouth advertising. I'd be pissed spending that kind of money and having them break simply from putting them on my face and definitely let them hear about it. Or living so close I'd just drive down there and be like WTF?? Have a good one bud.
 
I got a pair of Liquids while down range and they broke right over the nose when I pushed them on on the second day of owning them. I sent them back, and they told me it would be $100 to fix them... ridiculous. Cheers mates.

Can you please elaborate more on this? I have been wearing Liquids for a very long time and I have NEVER heard of this happening, this sounds like what happens to Gatorz. You would have to physically bend them at the frame to get them to break. Did you fail to follow the included instructions on how to form them to your face and bend them by holding a lens in each hand and bend your hands toward each other? My guess is you tried to bend them like most people bend their Gatorz. There is no way in hell they broke just by pushing them on your face. So unless you can explain in more detail the circumstances, I'm gonna throw up a BS flag on them breaking as you say. Also, Liquid offers a limited lifetime warranty. If there was anything wrong with them that you didn't do to them, Liquid would have replaced them for free. I've even seen Liquid replace glasses that were clearly abused on more than one occasion for free. I have gotten to know the folks at Liquid very well over the years, they support "our" community so if you have a legit problem tell me, I can make a call and get you squared away quicker than a monkey gets fucked. But if you broke your shit due to failure to follow the instructions that came in the box, then you only have yourself to blame for that.
 
Oakley has some sweet new stuff coming out. They are already delivering to the military
 
I've had a lot of Oakley's issued to me and purchased a few. I've had a reoccurring problem with my M-Frames that I wear for eye protection. It's strange but the tint will actually crack. I don't know what's causing it but it also happened to a pair of Half-Jackets. I currently have a pair of Smiths for everyday wear. They're "transition" type lenses and they're awesome. I think they're actually glass lenses or something similar. They've yet to scratch and I've been wearing them constantly for about 3 years. I'm probably going to stick with Smiths.
 
I've had a lot of Oakley's issued to me and purchased a few. I've had a reoccurring problem with my M-Frames that I wear for eye protection. It's strange but the tint will actually crack. I don't know what's causing it but it also happened to a pair of Half-Jackets. I currently have a pair of Smiths for everyday wear. They're "transition" type lenses and they're awesome. I think they're actually glass lenses or something similar. They've yet to scratch and I've been wearing them constantly for about 3 years. I'm probably going to stick with Smiths.

Most likely caused from a hair product? Sunscreen etc. That causes the tint to crack or the paint to come off...
 
Could be sunscreen I guess. Good to know.

Yeah that is one of the number one killers to glasses. Breaks down everything and makes it brittle. And a lot of hair product too. That's why they recommend using mild soap and water to clean your glasses occasionally
 
Maybe when designing 'sun' glasses they should take into account the likelihood they will be used in conjunction with 'sun'screen and use a material that will not be affected by sunscreen or hair product...the more you know....

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Can you please elaborate more on this? I have been wearing Liquids for a very long time and I have NEVER heard of this happening, this sounds like what happens to Gatorz. You would have to physically bend them at the frame to get them to break. Did you fail to follow the included instructions on how to form them to your face and bend them by holding a lens in each hand and bend your hands toward each other? My guess is you tried to bend them like most people bend their Gatorz. There is no way in hell they broke just by pushing them on your face. So unless you can explain in more detail the circumstances, I'm gonna throw up a BS flag on them breaking as you say. Also, Liquid offers a limited lifetime warranty. If there was anything wrong with them that you didn't do to them, Liquid would have replaced them for free. I've even seen Liquid replace glasses that were clearly abused on more than one occasion for free. I have gotten to know the folks at Liquid very well over the years, they support "our" community so if you have a legit problem tell me, I can make a call and get you squared away quicker than a monkey gets fucked. But if you broke your shit due to failure to follow the instructions that came in the box, then you only have yourself to blame for that.

I couldn't care less if you believe me or not. My team got them downrange and I shit you not, I did what the instructions said and the cracked in the middle. I sent them back, called them and they said the type of paint/coating that we chose actually makes that model more brittle. They said I could get another pair for a nominal fee... And recommended a different coating. It blew me away because typically people cater to guys in our community with things like this... Not to mention admitting on the phone with me that a coating(or process used to coat them that way) they use makes the frame more fragile. I've been issued three pairs of gatorz and never had an issue and beat the hell out of them.
This was in 2011 and I just left the broken glasses with them... I doubt they have them but you're more than welcome to call. As for me and my unit, we ordered gatorz from then on. Later
 
I couldn't care less if you believe me or not. My team got them downrange and I shit you not, I did what the instructions said and the cracked in the middle. I sent them back, called them and they said the type of paint/coating that we chose actually makes that model more brittle. They said I could get another pair for a nominal fee... And recommended a different coating. It blew me away because typically people cater to guys in our community with things like this... Not to mention admitting on the phone with me that a coating(or process used to coat them that way) they use makes the frame more fragile. I've been issued three pairs of gatorz and never had an issue and beat the hell out of them.
This was in 2011 and I just left the broken glasses with them... I doubt they have them but you're more than welcome to call. As for me and my unit, we ordered gatorz from then on. Later

To be clear, your beef is with the frames not the lenses correct?
 
My beef is with the response I got from them. We buy tons of stuff from companies like this. The ones that put out small flames like this, thrive and do well. I'm not saying they're a bad company. I make judgments based on trends, not isolated incidents typically and I encourage those making a decision on buying anything do them same by gathering data such as this and eventually make a informed decision.
I digress... The glasses were great for about 10 minutes:). Yes, the frames broke.

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My beef is with the response I got from them. We buy tons of stuff from companies like this. The ones that put out small flames like this, thrive and do well. I'm not saying they're a bad company. I make judgments based on trends, not isolated incidents typically and I encourage those making a decision on buying anything do them same by gathering data such as this and eventually make a informed decision.
I digress... The glasses were great for about 10 minutes:). Yes, the frames broke.

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10-4.

Was just curious.


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I've had many a pair of Oakleys over the years. I love every pair. They are about as much as I would spend for sunglasses, don't think I could stomach spending much more.


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Oakley Here as well. Currently my go to pair is Flak Jacket XJL with black Iridium polarized lenses. Still have 8 year old pair of Half Jacket XJLs and they looks the same as the day I got them.


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I couldn't care less if you believe me or not. My team got them downrange and I shit you not, I did what the instructions said and the cracked in the middle. I sent them back, called them and they said the type of paint/coating that we chose actually makes that model more brittle. They said I could get another pair for a nominal fee... And recommended a different coating. It blew me away because typically people cater to guys in our community with things like this... Not to mention admitting on the phone with me that a coating(or process used to coat them that way) they use makes the frame more fragile. I've been issued three pairs of gatorz and never had an issue and beat the hell out of them.
This was in 2011 and I just left the broken glasses with them... I doubt they have them but you're more than welcome to call. As for me and my unit, we ordered gatorz from then on. Later

I sent your snowflake up and spoke with the owners about your issue. While they don't recall it specifically, they did say that they regret that the problem wasn't resolved to your liking. They also said that they are willing to make things right with you, if you choose to do so. If you do, let me know and I'll pass you their direct contact info so you can deal direct with them and get a replacement pair free of charge. DOL/RLTW :)
 
Gatorz all the way. I've had mine for almost 3 years. They survive 2 combat deployments and I still rock them everyday in the civilian world. I love them and how they fit my face.
 
Gatorz Eyewear has gone out of business and declared bankruptcy. You can read about it here:
Pacific Vector Holdings Inc. Filing for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and Resignation of Officers and Directors

I am representing OutLaw Eyewear, a company that offers similar Aluminum military eyewear with Ballistic Lens technology.
The OutLaw Eyewear Fugitive is extremely similar to the popular Gatorz Magnum.
Check it out here:
OutLaw Eyewear Fugitive Motorcycle Aluminum Sunglass- Black frame with Polarized Gray lenses - Outlaw Eyewear

OutLaw started as a motorcycle sunglass company, but has grown to service the military market as well.

Gatorz left many customers stuck with no where to turn to for servicing their Gatorz sunglasses, and for buying new eye protection.

OutLaw is offering a Gatorz trade-up program. If you own a pair of Gatorz Eyewear sunglasses that are functional, you can trade them in for a $50 discount on a new pair of OutLaw Eyewear sunglasses at OutLaw Eyewear - OutLaw Sunglasses, Biker Motorcycle Aluminum Sunglasses.
The glasses can be damaged, but they must be together.
If you trade your old glasses in, you can get a new pair of OutLaw Eyewear glasses for $50 to $75.

The OutLaw Eyewear Fugitive is the most popular style for military use, and is already being adopted by the Navy and Air Force.

Contact us if we can be of service to you.