Family: Wire
Date: April 2015

Mass: 27g
Frame:
Lens:
Carbon
Grey
$190
OO4088-05
Carbon
Prizm Daily Polarized
$270
OO4088-03
Pewter
Fire Iridium
$200
OO4088-04
Pewter
Ice Iridium
$200
OO4088-02
Titanium
Black Iridium
$200
OO4088-01


The Game -
Frame: Pewter
Lens: Fire Iridium

This is what the Madman should've been, a circular lens with good wrap. Instead we got something that is very unique but not much function. At least they got the tailend right. A great lightweight wire frame that stands out above the rest. Spring hinge is sturdy, the case is functional and the coverage is superb. If there's any down side in my opinion is the color combinations, I hope they do more. I'd love to see a ruby variant and please more polarized options. The daily prizm is not for me. I went with the fire lens because it stands out the most.
o-xide -
I love the lens cut on this. It's like how does one put art in a ordinary circular lens? Oakley did just that with the Tailend. Being that it's a rimless (upfront), the Tailend design made it look like it has a bezel type of effect. I really like the texture, color reflections and the integrated look of the lens perimeter especially with the fire iridium. By the way, a quarter frame do exist and is hidden behind the top lens. I believe this "hidden half orbital behind the lens" design is a first of this kind with the "Tail" series and is pretty clever.

I am also loving the stem because it comes with a spring hinge and most of all, the pig's tail coil effect. I was getting tired of the straight stem and the hammerstem is somewhat dated so to have a new stem design is a real nice addition to the Oakley line of cool stems. I believe this pig's tail coil effect is also an Oakley first of its kind.

On the other hand, the outer box is ordinary but the hardcase is sub par and well below what I expected. I wish it came with the aluminum case like the Sliver F.

Final thought: These pairs are awesome but it will only be for display purposes as it looks ridiculous on me hence I give it a 4 star.
Surfaced -
There is so much classic Oakley design on the Tailend. It's easy to pick out inspiration from the Zero 0.1/2/3, the Mars/Moon, and the Madman which debuted about 2 months earlier. I love the laser-etched frosted effect around the lenses; it not only looks great, but you can handle Tailend's by the lenses without smudging them. The icons are a good, proportionate size. The ear stems have a very angular flourish just past the icons which compliments the "tabs" on the lower part of the lenses. The nose bridge has a spear-like underside. Reminds me of the new X-Metal nose bridges, or even the old Metallica typestyle. But it's subtle enough here.

Fits my face perfectly whereas the Madman has too much distance from my temples. The spring hinge well-implemented and quite necessary for a frame this small. By comparison, a larger frame like the Madman should not have spring hinges. Solid C5 aluminum frame. I have Carbon with Prizm Daily Polarized. A classy, but still edgy/non-conformist look. Very pleased. Would've been great if the nose bombs were Unobtainium like the ear socks. Also would've been great if Luxottica didn't make them in China. Oh well, can't have it all. I'm satisfied.
PaulT00 -
Got the carbon/Prizm daily polarised version from the O Store in London. They'd only had them in stock for a week or so. I really love this. It's almost Oakley being derivative of themselves, but it still feels new, and provides a much needed injection of weirdness for the 'normal' line of glasses to go with the delicious insanity of the Madman in the new X-metals. This has a wonderful tinge of mad scientist, and I can see echoes of everything from the original E-wires, through to Moon, Mars, styling nods to the projections on the old X-metals which were due to screws holding the orbitals together, even a hint of Madman. They're great. They probably won't suit everyone, but they are light but solid feeling. The spring hinges work nicely, grippy without being too tight. The fit for me (fairly large head) is great. The lenses give pretty good coverage, and the Prizm Daily polarised is very very similar to one of my alltime favourite functional lenses, the OO Black Iridium Polarised. A rose base tint with great polarisation. These have less iridium mirror on the front, meaning eyes are visible, but from a functional point of view the lenses are excellent and from an aesthetic angle the shape is different and unique. A future classic. Now if they only did an emerald polarised version...
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