OAKLEY FLIGHT JACKET

£185 > Take flight with clear vision

HOT ON THE HEELS OF Oakley’s full-frame Jawbreaker sunglasses comes the Flight Jacket. Sharing some typical Oakley style elements, the Flight Jackets offer a similar lens shape, that’s 53mm at its deepest point, with the brow-less frame design vastly improving upwards vision.

Our pair weighs 34g, and comes with interchangeable temple sections to alter the arm lengths by 5mm, and customise their fit for your head size. The O-Matter frame is chunky with little flex, giving long-term confidence in its integrity. The Unobtainium rubber on the arms and nosebridge gives a secure fit that seems impervious to rain, sweat, oily skin and violent head movements. The Flight Jacket’s arms are hinged at the top corners of the frame, and don’t encroach on the edges of the lens, but the broad lower frame can be prominent in your field of view when glancing down, depending on your face shape. Some riders didn’t notice it, whereas some had to move their head to see around it.

Lateral vision is excellent, and the brow-less frame is superb. With nothing to impede your view, and a generously extended lens, it doesn’t matter how far you dip your head, your view of the road ahead is unaffected.

Oakley offers numerous frame colour and lens style choices, and our Prizm Road example is a very good option for typical British weather. Designed for medium light, their rose tint and 20 per cent light transmission make them suitable for bright sunlight. As they aren’t heavily tinted, they still work well on dull, overcast days, with brilliantly crisp contrast and clarity.

In the centre of the frame is what Oakley calls the Advancer nosebridge. A small lever can be flipped downwards with a fingertip, hinging the nosebridge away from the lens, and angling the lens forwards from the top by around 5mm. It increases the gap below the lens, and around the nosebridge too, significantly increasing airflow and reducing fogging. Pressing the nosebridge returns it to normal. It means you can maintain eye protection while climbing, and may not need to remove and stow your glasses. We found that it reduces steaming up and sweat inside the lens, partly because there’s no brow frame section for sweat to collect on. It’s a simple, effective system, if you remember to use it.

The Flight Jackets have a bold look, suit medium to large faces, and deliver on optical quality and useful extra venting for a fairly reasonable price in this style.