The Oakley Jawbones are the successors to the hugely popular Radars, and they certainly live up to all the hype. I’ll get straight into the review without any blabbering this time, lol. Without looking at every single aspect of these sunglasses and comparing them to the Radars or similar Oakley models, I thought I’d just make some broad observations and comments about them. Firstly, the fit is absolutely superb; my Radars, although comfortable, often slid down my nose too far due to the very long nature of their ear stems. The Jawbones solve this issue simply by having shorter stems, but still with a good portion of rubber to keep them firmly gripped to the sides of your head. The main difference between these and the Radars would be the fact that the Jawbones are a much more conventional design, with two separate lenses with the frame encircling both entirely, as opposed to the Radars, which had a single-piece lens and no frame coverage at the bottom of the lens. 

The most significant change with the Jawbones is actually referred to by the name ‘Jawbone’. The bottom part of the Jawbone’s frame (the yellow bits under each lens you see above) acts as a jaw, swinging down and enabling the user to switch lenses effortlessly. Changing lenses quickly on the Radars was a pain in the ass, and I’m pleased that Oakley have thought of something better with these. 

Changing lenses is the easiest thing in the world; and with these versions I got a second set of lenses (yellow) to be used when cycling in darker conditions or overcast days. The lenses you see here are the Black Iridium, perfect for riding on bright, sunny days. It’s also worth noting that both of these lenses are vented, which means that there are small holes cut into the upper and lower outside corners of the lenses to ‘surge’ air backwards. Both the new design and new lens gives the Jawbones fantastic coverage of the face and eyes, as well as much better visibility. Peripheral view is not impaired at all, as the Jawbones, once on your face, are much wider than they look. There is no issue with looking behind, up, or down. Where the Jawbones kick the Radars’s ass for me is in comfort; the Radars were tight, but almost too tight. The area behind my ears hurt after a while, and the area around my temples got way too hot. The Jawbone’s vents solve the heat issue, and I’ve also found them to be much more flexible than the Radars, thus providing a much more comfortable fit and feel. 

In conclusion, I cannot stress enough how good these new Oakleys are; I love them. They’ve taken all of the good aspects of the Radar, but enhanced and improved everything. These are certainly the best glasses I’ve ever owned, and probably the best sports glasses in the world. Yeah they’re pricey, but I don’t care because they will last me another four years, just like my Radars.