Being men and women of the outdoors, we prefer as many different choices for shading our eyes as possible.
But carrying multiple sunglasses with various types of lenses is a hassle. So we bring one pair, and when the sun ducks behind a cloud or falls into the trees, we place our shades on top of our heads or in our shirts. Of course, that's when the klutz in all of us comes out.
Here to solve our decidedly first-world problem is Oakley, with its Fast Jacket sunglasses. The Orange County, California, company has developed a system that matches one frame to multiple, interchangeable lenses.
It's not the first interchangeable-lens system I've seen, but it's the easiest to use. By thumbing a simple locking system built into the frame, switching lenses is a 10-second task. Simply pull down the lever atop each outer edge of the lens to free it from the frame. The lens doesn't fall out when the frame is unlocked; a gentle pull will free it. Nudge the desired lens into the frame and pull up the lever until it "clicks" back into place.
The polycarbonate lenses are available in different shades – our frames came with lenses for low light and for bright sun, but you can get photochromic, iridium-coated or polarized lenses as optional extras.
Oakley touts the lenses as being distortion-free, so you get a clear view straight ahead and in all peripheral directions. I found this to be especially useful when golfing. I took the Fast Jackets out for a nine-hole round in the late afternoon sun, which I was directly facing during many of my shots.
For these shots, I wore the Fast Jacket's dark lenses. I could easily spot my ball against several backgrounds – trees, clouds, sky – and I could follow its trajectory without a problem. Since there's no lower rim on the frames, visibility when glancing down at the ball was great.
The lenses also have a special coating (Oakley calls it "Hydrophobic") which is supposed to prevent water from leaving streaks and sheens. I didn't sweat enough during golf to properly test it, so I wore the Fast Jacket shades on a short kayaking trip around a pier at Hudson River Park in New York City. Even with the water constantly splashing on me (I never said I was a good kayaker) the lens coating passed the test.
