I have several friends who speak highly of their Rudy Project glasses. What are the RP advantages/disadvantages when compared with Oakley? Are there any documented stats of optical clarity, materials used, strength, etc?

Thank you,

I checked out there site years ago and they seemed to be taking a page out of the Oakley marketing strategy. Similar materials (quality unknown), and also had the hyper technical jargon/mad scientist talk. Haven't tried any though.

The big selling point for RP is their lifetime replacement lenses deal. EDIT: Well, I see they've moved onto charging $20 for replacement lenses now.

I can't say I'm a fan of their glasses, but they seem to perform well enough. I like their alien display heads, though.

Rudy Projects were my very first sport glasses, still have them (Model: Graal). They are pretty good glasses, but just don't have the appeal that Oakley glasses have to me. Also IMO the Oakley lenses are better to look through, feels just more comfortable to my eyes.

My feelings are we only get two eyes and its in our best interests to protect them in every way possible. Here are some facts I know of from direct personal experience.

Oakley lenses will stop a .22 caliber bullet in its tracks.
Oakley lenses can withstand a glancing impact from a .45 ACP round at close range.
I convinced my Dad to get contacts after 30+ yrs of wearing glasses so he could wear Oakleys without RX lenses. After one year of wearing Oakleys with contacts at 50+ yrs of age his vision has actually improved.

I work as a Field Engineer on industrial construction sites and in operating plants. I ONLY wear Oakleys and after explaining that ALL Oakley lenses live up the same high standards many safety officers I talk to start wearing Oakleys too.

Just my two cents.

I have to chime in on this as well. I got my first pair of Oakleys in 1997, I had two pairs of Ray-Bans, a pair of Nikes, and I've since worn both Smith and Spy. All manufacturers are held in high regard. While I was in High School, before I had my first pair of Oakleys, My vision was 20/20. My vision as of last year was 13/15. My vision has had a documented improvement in the course of my military career. It hasn't been as radical as since school to recently, but my ability to distinguish between close shades of color has also improved. My eyes are also much more sensitive to light than they were, to the point that ambient light on a cloudy day makes me have to squint if I don't have sunglasses. I can also see much better in the dark. My vision has become so sensitive that I can see at night, but no longer in the day. That may be one of the motivating factors in the size of my collection. The point of the story is that I have proof that my vision has grown much more acute over the past 13 years, and I started wearing Oakleys 13 years ago. I understand that commonality in no way indicates causality, but even the friends for which I've given Oakleys as a gift, they have reported better vision in as little as a few months.

Just refound this thread. I know several people who are starting to switch over to Smith and Rudy Project. Smith and RP are using Trivex-based lenses more and more these days (NXT and ImpactX, respectively), so I am not surprised there's been a bit of a migration to them. Trivex has the same impact resistance but significantly better optics because of its higher Abbe value. This was before Prizm was introduced so not sure how they stack up.

I'm going to start my own Smith enthusiast website and call it S-Review! Anyone else interested in joining? Hit me up. NO Brazilians!!!