You know, I'm sorry to see the lifestyle shoes go, but from my point of view Oakley's innovation and design in that area has fallen in the past years. Honestly, looking at shoes like my teeth (not affected by this as they're now redesigned and industrial) and bottlecaps, I feel they shifted focus more towards the mainstream, growing blander in the process. This topic has been brought up over and over, but to me it seems that these shoes all look some-what the same and certainly have a more traditional design in comparison. I still enjoy some recent shoes, like the assault shoe and the short-lived centerfire, but I just miss the older, more varied and interesting designs.

It's too bad that most of my recent posts have been negative. Oakley truly is my favorite brand by a wide margin, making up nearly all of my clothing and shoes, but their recent shifts have only made it harder for me to keep this up.

They may be quite clean when it comes to assembling watches, but I can't say the same about their battery replacement procedures. About a year ago when I sent my D1 watch in after it battery gave out, it came back with a few noticeable bits of dirt/dust that would move around under the glass. I will say I didn't baby the watch in the least, using it at times when I knew it would take a beating. Maybe I had an isolated incident, but the whole thing left me irritated. Although, it's not something that even came close to preventing me from getting another Oakley watch.

Ack, I believe this is the first season that I've been unable to find a single thing I'd like to buy from the apparel line. I hope that as Oakley attempts to move onto bigger and better markets, that they don't completely cut ties with their industrial style.

I really love the design, but couldn't they have used higher quality speakers than essentially a pair of $16 headphones?

I'll second the need for industrial furniture. I'm sure that a company producing small volumes of furniture in this style would make a mint. After all, if we'll pay this much for a pair of glasses, how much would we shell out for a couch?

Yeah, the first thump knockoff that I saw looked more like an ipod shuffle mated with a pair of glasses, complete with long dangling earbuds.

I think that Oakley could really make a fantastic paintball mask. After hats such as the medusa and flight deck (whenever that is released), I'd really want to see their concept of head protection.

I've got to say, I'm very impressed with the comfort and durability of my S.I. shoes. After over a year of nearly constant wear, only the sole looks slighly worn. However, I suppose the trade off for this is the low traction on slick surfaces and their annoying tendency to squeek for quite some time after becomming wet.

I was planning on buying an AP pack but haven't been able to visit an O store since they've been released, so I'm hoping the O Review can help me here. I love my Icon pack and it's served me well for years, but it’s beginning to show its age. So, just how large is the AP pack when compared to an Icon 1.0 pack? I read the dimension on Zappos and they list it as smaller, but I thought it looked larger, if not the same on their model. Not sure, maybe I'm going crazy. My other question deals with the detachable areas; just how many of these areas are capable of being removed. Thanks for the help!

Back to the topic, here's a report of another company presenting MP3 sunglasses. I wouldn't worry too much, but they could limit Oakley's already small market in this area.

http://www.i4u.com/article2721.html (The article is on the top center of the page, in a swamp of information.)

(Isotope - 1/13/2005 11:39:32 AM)
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Yeah, got mine yestorday. After getting so many tiny fliers, the 40 pages was a nice suprise.

(Isotope - 11/27/2004 12:53:28 AM)
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On a normal day, I wear Oakley shoes, pants, shirt and watch. I get regular complements, and have yet to be called a poser, so it appears that people don't mind. To the few that have asked why I wear all Oakley I reply with something to the effect of Nate's comments about being different and not just following fads.

(Isotope - 11/2/2004 9:47:06 PM)
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What are you going to be carrying in it? The major difference between the two is that the O Pack 3.0 is 1360 sq. in. and the Small Icon is 510. So if you want hold anything of substantial size I would suggest the O Pack 3.0. If price is a concern and you don't have to have a pack immediately I would suggest Ebay, you should be able to find nearly all Oakley packs for a much lower price.

(Isotope - 9/28/2004 7:59:08 PM)
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Oakley has finally got around to adding the money clip to their website. Although in my opinion the more interesting item is the Oakley bill being held in the clip. Can anyone make out the lettering going around the border of the bill? My best guess is names of staff members.

Oakley enlarged picture:
http://oakley.com/catalog/enlarge_three/accessories/wallets_money_clips/money_clip/titanium

Oakley Premium Dealer, basically they get a wider selection of products from Oakley. This usually translates into more eyewear color combinations.

I'm not sure about the inulation, nut I do know that the boots are not waterproof. However, they are designed to whick water away from your feet, which will aid in quick drying.

(Isotope - 9/19/2004 2:36:07 PM)
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Nice find, where'd you manage to dig that site up from?

(Isotope - 9/12/2004 11:51:02 PM)
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Thanks for the info; the category search was taking forever to load each page on my computer.

(Isotope - 9/3/2004 9:29:36 PM)
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I don't know about anyone else, but the fist thing that comes to mind when I hear "Halo" is the videogame. As far as this being the reason for the change, it's doubtful. Though I do think the Haylon has a more Oakley feel to it than Halo.

(Isotope - 9/1/2004 3:14:47 PM)
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I could be wrong, but don't the US made boots have a non-leather area around the subdued icon?

(Isotope - 8/19/2004 10:04:58 PM)
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I'm really surprised that O-Luminum has a better strength to weight ratio than X-metal. Knowing that, I'm all for more O-Luminum glasses, as long as they make them a little bolder in style as the Hatchet is far to subdued for my tastes.

What's been said is pretty much what I think of the site. They need to update more frequently, simplify the categories (especially in apparel), and in general I think it would be nice for the site to have a glossary of their Oakley-speak as they do in some of the watch manuals. What I especially like the site for the huge product pictures and good explanations of some of their technology.

I found some humor in this new customer button; it shows a different message every seven seconds:

Did the polarized lenses fit easily into the nonpolarized frame? I was thinking about stepping up to polarized lenses, but was worried about cracking or other problems because of the lens thickness.

Wow, great work!

(Isotope - 8/6/2004 4:30:20 AM)
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Some jackets lower on this page:
http://www.0256325348.com/oakley/new.html

As seen in the recent press release: