 Poster: A snowHead
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If you buy replacement lenses for your Oakley goggles, fit them to the frame before you leave on your trip. Oakley seems to be having a quality control issue with one of their manufacturers at the moment and, so far, it has affected some lens types for both the Crowbar and the Stockholm models.
Here's the story:
I've been using Oakley Stockholm goggles for 5 seasons – without any problems at all – and have a number of lenses that I swap out according to conditions (I only ski with goggles, not sunglasses). Changing the lens is a doddle, takes less than a minute and everything works perfectly. Usually.
At the beginning of this season I replaced one of the lenses that I had accidentally destroyed last year. Bought the lens at the Oakley concept store in London and didn't think about again it until I was in Chamonix in January and needed to use it.
Much to my surprise, the danged thing didn't fit the frame properly. The three slots on the lower part of the lens were smaller (I measured them) and of a slightly different shape to the same slots on my other lenses. This meant that the bottom part of the lens didn't slot properly into the frame, leaving a finger-width gap between the lens and frame. As sod's law would have, we had really shite weather in Cham for almost all of January and this was my low light lens, which I needed for 13 out of the 17 days I was there.
When I returned to London, I took the lens (and my frame) back to the Oakley store and the sales assistant said he'd seen the same issue with some of the Crowbar lenses and had contacted Oakley head office but had received no response.
He offered to 'shave' the slots, thereby enlarging them so that the lens would fit my frame. I agreed as long as he accepted the risk and would be prepared to give me a replacement lens if he damaged the lens. At this, he disappeared into the stock room and came out with a replacement and tested the fit in my frame. Happily, the new lens fitted perfectly, even though it was the same lens tint (so, possibly, from a different batch). So, he just swapped the lenses – I took the new lens home and he kept the faulty one. Which is a good result.
I've contacted Oakley customer services about this. Hopefully, if enough customers report the issue, they can resolve the quality control with their manufacturer. I’ve always trusted Oakley quality and will continue to do so, as I believe this is probably a one-off QC issue.
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