www.oakley.com
When hunting for high-quality performance sunglasses, substance should always reign over style—nothing ruins a road ride or sinewy singletrack outing worse than foggy lenses (to say nothing of the safety hazards of…ya know…not seeing where you’re going). But Oakley’s Jawbone ups the ante in almost every way. The stylish shades utilize the company’s “switchlock” technology, a tres stealthy lens-swapping feature: Flip up the nose pads, and the lower lens frames swing open on twin hinges anchored at the glasses’ lower temple. The lenses then easily slide out so that you can customize the tint for the weather conditions (the padded case also has nice slots to hold your quiver of lenses). Jawbone’s other premium feature is more noticeable: vents that line the outer third of the lenses and look slightly like dragon spikes. The result? The glasses fight off fog better than almost any other we’ve tested, in all conditions, from trail runs in the swampy August humidity of the nation’s capital to cold-weather cycling with a face mask. The rare instances of fog-up occurred at a standstill—and evaporated two pedal rotations later. Other details (a comfortable frame with a sleek overall profile and gripping stem sleeves, Oakley’s justifiably-praised lens clarity and resolution, impact resistances, and near-full peripheral vision) round out the details. Some may find the overall aesthetic a touch cyborg, but most of us also feel like human meeting machine when running, cycling, or skiing—so it fits.