Oakley Jawbone sunglasses

These sunglasses have snappy colors, great optics and the endorsement of lots of pro cyclists, including Lance Armstrong and others. But they feel too bulky and the ability to change lenses is not really a plus when you factor what you have give up, i.e., a lighter, smaller frame. When two pairs sat side-by-side on my counter--the Oakley and some cheaper brand--I found myself choosing the other pair. Buy them if you are a serious racer and have a legitimate need for changing out lenses. Otherwise, at a price starting around $200 and going up from there, you might want to take a pass.

The Jawbone by Oakley is one of those unfortunate products that in concept seems great, but when fully developed and put into use in everyday settings just seems to fall short. The concept? By building a frame with a pivoting nosepiece and hinged bottom, in the Jawbone Oakley offers a pair of glasses where different lenses can be snapped in and out quickly and easily to match varying light conditions. Riding in early morning? Put in the yellow lenses to enhance available light. Then as the day moves on, swap them out for darker lenses to help beat the brightness.

The optics on the Jawbone are truly top-notch. With an anti-sheen coating on lenses, streaks and smears are easily wiped away. And the venting on the lenses helps keep airflow moving around the eyes to help prevent fogging. The lenses themselves are designed to "float" in a foam buffer suspension system that helps separate them from stresses transmitted by the frame that can distort lens clarity.

While all that is great, the problem comes in the frame design--the "Switchlock" technology--that allows lens interchangeability. The hinged nosepiece that flips up to allow the lower part of the frame to drop away (it's also hinged and looks like a jawbone, hence the name) both combine to add a bulky feel, the bottom part of the frame in particular. And the arms of the Jawbone are much wider than normal where they meet the glasses frame at the temple. In our testing, this caused a noticable limit to your field of peripheral vision, specifically in the situation where you glance back over your shoulder to check what's behind you, such as the position of other riders.

While we definitely liked the optics of the Oakley Jawbone, the look and feel of the frame don't make them a favorite.