Continuing our series of Oakley product reviews, today brings a change of pace from the sport-oriented models I have checked out so far.
While the Radarlocks and Racing Jackets have fared superbly on the slopes, they weren’t quite at home around the groovy new digs of aussieskier.com in Melbourne’s Chapel St/Greville St district, so when the opportunity arose to review some more lifestyle-oriented models I jumped at the chance and was sent a pair of the new Heaven Series in the Plaintiff frame style
The Plaintiff is Oakley’s answer to the classic ‘Aviator’ style of sunglasses, however they are not without Oakley’s typical innovation and engineering nous.
The Heaven Series is comprised of a number of models with Matte Black Frames and Ice Blue Iridium lenses. I was looking forward to this lens as I have a number of styles with their darker Fire Iridium lens which is superb in bright sun but is left wanting in variable light.
The first thing I noticed about the Plaintiffs was their light weight – you can barely feel them in your pocket & they sit comfortably on your face. The ear stems are straight in typical Oakley fashion and grip your head well with no presure points, the sprung hinge is interesting as it resembles an older style leaf spring from cars of a bygone era.
The field of view is excellent, and the frame style does not block peripheral vision as some thick-stemmed wraparound models can do – this is particularly important for driving and answers a criticism I have of many sunglasses. However the bottoms of the frames tend to sit on my cheeks which is not ideal.
The lens tint can cope with bright sunlight but is not so dark that it impedes your vision in variable light such as driving through shadows. In fact the combination of the lens tint and peripheral vision made these a particularly good pair of sunnies for driving.
Overall I really enjoyed these sunglasses and they will be my main go-to pair over this summer for driving and general city usage.
The Heaven Series is a limited edition with only 3000 units manufactured in each style, and they are only available from selected retailers. For more details see the below graphic:
We have some more Oakley reviews to come, we are racing the clock to receive a pair of their new space-age Airwave goggles before Tim goes to Canada, and our Hotham blogger is also a very keen cyclist so I have passed on the pair of Racing Jackets I reviewed earlier to him and he is going to review them here from a cyclist’s perspective.
Review Disclosure: I received these Sunglasses at no cost from Oakley Australia for review purposes. My opinions are my own.
