Best lens available?

Hi all

I've been looking for a quality set of sunglasses (best sun protection as well as optical quality available) but the more I read up the more blinded I become by marketing gimmicks. I've been to numerous optometrist for advice but opinion varies from store to store, the general consensus are the top brand names; Maui Jim, Ray ban, Oakley, Bolle, Serengeti etc...I'm trying to filter the gimmicks and narrow down to one. I have an easy face and don't mind the style or brand, the most important is optical quality and sun protection, with that the consensus seems leaned towards glass lens rather than polycarbonate ones, apparently better light refraction quality? not sure how valid this is but seems technically correct.

I don't mind full frame glass lens, quite used to them so the weight isn't an issue, infact I used to own a old pair of Ray-ban aviator style, was hoping to jump back to them but info seems to suggest they don't make them like they used to. Someone was saying they're all made by Lux..... in Italy now and quality isn't the same as the older US made, could be a myth?. Regardless it seems Serengeti also has range of aviator style glass that offer a little more feature; photochromic (transitional lens), and claims popular with pilots / professional drivers. I do plenty of driving, mostly in hot sunny condition with the occasional shade so the photochromic would be handy. Seregenti's "Drivers Gradrient" lens seems very popular BUT it doesn't have the polarized element, yet the polarized ones doesn't seems to have photochromic properties, so which is a better choice for driving?

That's just in the Serengeti range....so confusing

I guess at the end of the day if you are a driver like me whose number 1 concern is optical quality and protection and nothing else, which lens type / model in which brand would you go for.

Cheers
M

You've done good research and come to the right conclusions.

You are right. Glass lens have the best optical performance, but they can be heavier.

I have not heard that the current Raybans Sunglasses are aren't as good as they used to be. However, I am not as fortunate to have owned a pair of the originals. Ray-Ban is recognized for having developed glass technology that is the lightest possible glass. Ray-Ban is a member of the Luxottica Group which includes the best brands of eyewear.

I am guessing your Aviators have the B-15 or G-15 glass lenses. We are an authorized distributor of Ray-Ban and Ray-Ban Sunglasses and have great prices on Ray-Ban Aviators with Ray-Ban B-15 or Ray-Ban G-15 lens. I recommend the B-15 amber colored lens for driving.

Serengeti Sunglasses are known for high quality glass lenses. The Serengeti Aviator is available with glass lenses in small, medium and large sizes. For driving, I recommend the Drivers tint lens.

As far as my personal recommendation for you, it's a tough call.

Many of our customers have been wearing the same style glasses for years and it's great when we can match what they are used to. If you like your Raybans, I'd get another pair of Ray-Ban Aviators with the amber B-15 Lens.

However, we have many customers who order the same Serengetis, year after year, and you could become a convert. Also, Serengeti and it's Aviator variants are multo sexy! For a change, you might try the Serengeti Salto, Serengeti Lazio, Serengeti Pergusa Aviator or the Serengeti Aviator Napoli. Serengeti has many excellent choices, and I recommend you see the complete catalog of Serengeti Sunglasses.

Keep 'em flyin'!

Thanks Guest, I've gone ahead and order two pairs; a Serengeti Small and a Medium Aviator (in the Drivers Gradient), unfortunately stock won't be available until two weeks time...can't wait!!!.

Bravissimo! Grande successo! Viva Serengeti!

(from Guest)

Well it's been a week since I placed the order and still no news of the stock availability, let's hope the "1-2 weeks" doesn't turn into a 2-3, then 3-4 then...that would be a nightmare of a wait, fingers cross the xmas presents gets delivered before xmas.

Cheers
Minh

Hi Minh!

I think I found your order in our system.

It gets busy for us this time of year and we ran out of the Medium in the style you ordered.

We have the small in stock. It can go out right away but it looks like the order is being held until both items are ready to go.

The medium is popular and we've got a large order from Serengeti that we expect to receive this month.

You might want to give us a call at 800-504-5897 to arrange to make sure you get the smalls in time.

As an alternative style choice, we can get the Serengeti Napoli to you by Christmas. The size is very close. The major difference is the length of the temple - 140 for the Aviator and 125 for the Napoli.

Give us a call and ask to speak to the Eyewear Group if we can help.

Hi Peter, I'd like to add a THIRD pair to my pending order...

http://www.opticsplanet.net/serengeti-vedi.html
6951: Serengeti Vedi Sunglasses, Satin Gun Frame/555nm Polarized Lens

...could you send me some details on how I could amend to the current order and also payment details. I understand the best option would be to call, but because we're in opposite time zone, makes it a little difficult.

Cheers
Minh

Hi Minh,

I added the glasses to your order.

Watch for an e-mail from me.

We have plenty of the Vedi in stock.

Thanks for your order!

Pete

Hey Peter, third and fourth pair paid for, any progress on the order particularly the medium aviator?

Hi Minh - sorry about the wait. Look for an e-mail from me.

Hi Peter, invoice for...

6935: Serengeti Velocity Titanium Sunglasses, Espresso/Drivers Gradient
6989: Serengeti S-Flex Lamone Drivers Sunglasses - Espresso, Drivers Lenses

Paid!, fingers cross they're on their way soon.

Cheers
Minh

Peter, the package arrived Friday, Australian time, Thursday US. ALL owners are extremely happy! Rest assure the words will spread and my CC will soon be hammered again with another family order ...fingers cross not too soon, we're still recovering from the Xmas/New Year session .

Before temporarily signing off, I would like to send a BIG thanks to you and your team for making it happen for us, the amount of emails flying back and forth, the constant amendment to order (I'm sure the sale team didn't mind ). It was the free flowing communication (via emails and forum) that gave us the confident in making such a large order (to us) that otherwise would seem risky at the best of time.

Well done! you have a good thing going on here!.

Cheers
Minh

P.S You'll hear from me again

After some delay getting the Serengeti Aviators, we were able to make the Chicago to Australia connection!

Thanks for your order and your nice words.

Hopefully, the 2008 collection of Serengeti will be here soon and the sunglasses will be hot!

google drivewear, think they are made by younger optics. transition and polarized. you can get the lens put into many frames. got mine in costa. transition from both visable light and uv light - important behind a uv blocking auto glass. start a light greenish tint and progress to a dark brown.

Greetings,
All sunwear is not created equal, just like people we all have different types of likes and dislikes. Fashion,form,and function. With that said, I would like to say that I have been an Optician for longer than I want to admit. So for me I am very sensitive to bright sunlight. I have photophobia. That just means that I am very sensitive to light in certain conditions. I have worn every sunglass imaginable, Costa Del Mars, Serengetti, Suncloud, Ray-Ban, and so on and so on. What I have found that works the best for me is the Maui Jim sunglass. Yes they are very expensive but in my opinion it is the best formulated poloroid lens in the market today. They come in glass and Polycarbonate lenses. I personally prefer glass. You can visit most all of the web sites for every sunglass on the market and find out mor info about how and why there lenses are designed the way that they produce them and get lost in a plethora of information. But if I had to put my money on another set of sunglasses it would have to be the Maui Jim line. Big investment through better Optics.

Best of luck and I hope this helps.

I was in the market for a pair of sunglasses, and was bewildered by the huge range available, not only in terms of brands, but also ranges within brands. Absolute minefield! After a bit research, I soon realised that a few makes (Oakley for example) ended up expensive for their style and name, not their function. Nice, don’t get me wrong, but not for me. In the end, I went back to square one and wrote down what I wanted out of mine…

- General purpose use (bright sunny beach, driving, overcast etc.) – only getting one pair!
- Casual/classic looking frames and lenses, not overly styled
- Rounded rectangular lenses
- Dark (black and/or grey and/or green) glass lenses for optical clarity and scratch resistance
- Photochromic to react to differing lighting conditions (these are general purpose remember)
- Polarizing to reduce glare as I do a lot of driving into the low sun which strains my eyes
- Arms preferably hooked slightly to sit better on/around the ears

With that list written down, it became much easier, as only two quality manufacturers are available:

- Maui Jim
- Serengeti

I’m not an optician, my eyes are not perfect 20:20, and I figure that anything in the range I’m looking at is going to be significantly better than a £9.99 pair of shades from a normal high street clothing store. To cut a long story short, I ended up buying a pair of the following:

Serengeti Dante (7115), grey/green 555nm polarizing lens with shiny gun metal/tannery frame

Managed to get them for half the price of the UK RRP while over in the states. They were a steal, and an absolute bargain to boot. They fit my face perfectly, are so comfortable and light despite the glass lenses, and for such a dark lens they offer an amazing level of clarity. The combination of shiny gun-metal and matt black on the various elements of the frame makes for a really classy, yet understated look.

Maybe the brown driving lens would even better for driving, I don’t know. In all honesty, I don’t care. I hate brown lenses, and these 555nm polarizing lenses have totally transformed my life, literally. I get to work in a morning and home on a night with no eye strain at all. Can’t ask for much more than that. As a bonus, on the beach you can see with amazing clarity, but nobody can see your eyes ;o)

Guest123, thank you for sharing your experience with us!!! Serengeti sunglasses have good optics indeed. I personally own a few pairs. I love the Drivers lens mostly for driving. The brown tint makes all other colors stand out. Their 555nm lenses are also awesome as they maximize green and yellow colors (the ones that we probably see mostly on the road) for higher contrast. But brown versus green is definitely a personal choice. My favorite thing about Serengeti photochromic lenses is that they actually darken behind the windshield while most of the photochromic sunglasses from different brands transition only under direct sunlight.

Another thing that I love about Serengeti is that they offer their Rx program. You can get Serengeti prescription sunglasses with their authentic Drivers, 555nm and Sedona (both polarized and non-polarized) lenses in Rx prescription form. The lenses would feature exactly the same optical properties as the non-Rx Serengeti lenses do. We are a part of their Rx program, so if you are interested you can take a look at the Serengeti prescription sun glasses collection here.

I've had my Serengeti Aviator for over a year now mainly use for driving and can NOT go back to any other, we've done many swaps in the car with various passengers and 1. I have not come across a better glass for driving, 2. all my passengers wants to swap permanently. .

I personally feel that with Oakleys you are paying for the quality of the lenses, unlike some other brands where you are paying for the designer-like fancy appeal. Out of all sunglasses that I have owned I have been the most happy with Oakleys.

I've lost my Aviator last week during a business trip, misplaced it somewhere in a shopping mall, . So it's that time again for new pair for and possibly group order .

It's been almost 2 years since owning the Medium Aviator, Gold/Drivers Gradient (6978), I'll try to summarize the pros and cons I've experienced.

Pros:
- Very good scratch resistance properties
- Impervious to extreme heat where the poly glass/frame would have gone brittle (advantage of a metal frame and actual glass lens)
- Optical quality remains unchanged over the years

Cons:
- Metal Frame gets very hot if left in the car uncased
- I don't know if the lens had Photochromtic properties or not but I didn't notice any light adapting change, would have been good if it had for when entering tunnels etc.
- Lens retaining screws fell off twice, lucky I had repair kits, these screw should have had some thread lock applied to keep them from coming loose, easy fix, just apply some loctite thread lock.
- Not polarized, this is more of a personal thing, great for reducing glare but would hinder visibility if you have digital driving instrument I would think.