Hi All,

After few days of consideration I finally decided to buy an aftermarket lens to replace my Romeos cos I cant seem to find an original Romeo 1 lens which has the 'X-Metal' word on it.

So got myself searching again on ebay and found several manufacturers of aftermarket lenses.

Which ones are the best? I know Walleva lenses are crap - thin, too fakey feel on their lenses even the colours are a bit far from the OEM.

Im leaning towards buying from Exovista/Keystone but seems like some people thinks Visionary Lenses (VL) are better

Any thoughts?

Any help/advice would be really appreciated.

Many thanks.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-VL-Polarized-Stealth-Black-Replacement-Lenses-for-Oakley-Romeo-1-0-one-1-/181010756472?pt=US_Sunglasses&hash=item2a2514f378

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXOVISTA-CF4-LENS-FOR-OAKLEY-ROMEO-1-SUNGLASSES-sku-R1-CF4-/310492797318?pt=US_Sunglasses&hash=item484ad01986

Rgds,
salj

Every exo I have seen never fits quite right...VL are thinner than OEM. Why not have some cut from OEM? I have done lots of R1 lenses and tons of others. Trust me, a $20 pair of lenses means you get what you pay for....

I have VL's in mine. They're not bad. The stealth black is very close to black iridium.

I just put some exovista's in my mars, and they are excellent. The fit was perfect and I can't see any difference in clarity from OEM. Both manufactures offer returns so get a pair and try them out. If you hate them, just return them.

You probably won't find much love for non-O lenses around here. Some don't even like custom cut, but it's certainly a better alternative. Considering the lens is most of Oakley's innovation and technology for a pair of glasses, swapping them out is like putting a consumer level engine in a high performance race car.

You probably won't find much love for non-O lenses around here.

No love here.

cutting from OEM sounds like a better idea. Which replacement lenses would fit the Romeo 1's lenses? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Check out the DIY section on Oakleyforum.com. I've got a thread and chart going over there for Custom cut stuff

Where we are just gone?

Go for FUSE aftermarket lenses. They guarantee fit and no optical distortion.

There is a review of FUSE lenses on oakley-forums, the colours selection is pretty good too.

Hope it helps. Sorry if I revived a thread 2yrs old!

That is quite alright ... I am relatively new here myself and keep running into interesting discussions that as it turnes out took place years ago sometimes (LOL). Its kinda like "liking" a facebook post from months earlier and you end up feeling weird ...

There are plenty of discussions and comments here about aftermarket lenses (some almost a decade old) that regard using AFMs as sacrilege. But considering who posted those comments and when they were posted, its easy to understand why that would be considered a truism. I can only imagine if you had the availability (and sometimes the coin) to get ahold of the OEM lenses, then that would be the obvious choice. Unfortunately for new guys like me, i have neither the opportunity nor the cash to indulge. Its always a risk, especially with the vintage frames as they are never guaranteed to be clean and scratch free no matter how much you pay. Which is too bad because, as a huge fan of the Twenty, I have a lot of interest in aquiring Emerald, Fire, Ice, Black and Ruby lenses for my frames. If you can, always go for the authentic lense.

But the reality is, AFMs are far more attainable and affordable for my broke ass, plus they are available in a larger array of colors and types than even Oakley ever intened for some frames. The question for me then was which one to pick.

After a lot of research and reading (and wasting a few $$$) I also found that Fuse was the best brand available. Not only are they quality Z87 polycarbonite, come in a large array of colors, available for a boatload of frame styles, but Fuse will even custom cut if you have a frame they dont offer a lens for. Their customer service wasnt too bad either. They screwed up a couple sets that I ordered a while back and they fixed the issue for free with no hassle. I was pretty impressed and I really like the lenses.

Now I will concede that most likely there is a quality difference between Oakley and Fuse on at an extreme level. I am confident that the OEM lense is better because, come on, its Oakley! But I dont run my frames through the ringer enough to find out where that line is drawn so its immaterial to me. The more I deal with the plutonite lense, the more I appreciate Fuse. They get it pretty close to the original and that means I can get breath some new life in my old glasses.

I sure hope they stick around - the company seems new and I know that there has been several companies that have shown up and either disappeared or are on their way out. Mainly because they made crap lenses which is what drove all the animosity toward AFMs in the first place. But Fuse turned out to not be just a showey, costume lense like Exovista or Revant. I can actually use these things in the really real world. I even have a couple of sets that, by the way I was treating them should have chipped or scratched or cracked at some point. But they held up and im not complaining.

Ill see how they evolve over time and if I need to eat my words on this post. But for now, until Oakley wants to launch some retro line of lenses (and maybe unobtanium kits) for late comers like me, im gonna go with Fuse.

Funny how you guys revived this thread that the OP actually is one of the best OEM custom lens cutters I know of. shout-out to oakleyonthespot! she is based out of the UAE? i think but is a premier resource for non-CONUS lens cuts (she sells in the us too on ebay)