Fuse Lenses have become of the biggest aftermarket lens suppliers. But we wanted to see how they compare to original lenses and if they’re worth your time.
Keep reading as we buy and review Fuse Lenses for our Oakley sunglasses and see how they compare!
Table of Contents
What are Fuse Lenses?
Fuse lenses is an aftermarket lens company based in Clearwater, Florida. The company was founded in 2011 by Brandon Dill and Jon Martino.
Today, Fuse Lenses sells its own sunglasses and prescription lenses, in addition to replacement lenses for top brands including Oakley, Ray-Ban, Costa Del Mar, and Maui Jim!
Now let’s try these lenses out for ourselves.
Fuse Lenses Review
First of all, I want to mention that we have absolutely no affiliation with Fuse Lenses whatsoever. However, in full disclosure, I was provided three sets of lenses to review as a part of this post.
Previous reviews for Fuse Lenses were mixed from what I read, but I was eager to get my hands on them and see for myself.
Keep reading for our complete breakdown of these lenses and how they stood up to our tests!
Website, Selection & Ordering
Navigating the Fuse Lenses website is pretty easy since you can sort by the brand of your sunglasses in the main menu.
Once we selected Oakley sunglasses, we were brought to a page displaying the over 400 frames they support. This is one of the largest selections in the market and includes discontinued and current Oakleys.
Selecting a frame brings you to the lens color and coating options. Currently, Fuse Lenses offers Non-Polarized, Polarized, and Color Enhancing “AMP” lenses. These AMP lenses appear to be the Fuse Lenses version of the popular Oakley Prizm lenses.
They also offer Mirror and Non-Mirror coatings, which provide a reflective coating similar to Oakley Iridium.
We tried a pair of Red Mirror lenses for our review and were excited to see how these lenses performed!
Lens Clarity
When we talk about clarity, it’s often hard to illustrate what we actually mean. We compared a standard eye chart with no lens in front, then with a Fuse lens and an Oakley lens.
Revant Optics Lens Tint through Sunglasses” class=”wp-image-9372″/>So what did we find?
The Oakley lens and Fuse lens are almost identical in clarity. And this definitely impressed us!
We’ve had no headaches and no sense of any distortion after wearing the Red Mirror Fuse lenses for the past two weeks.
Overall we would say these Fuse lenses are on par with Oakley clarity. But there are still some signs that these are aftermarket lenses.
Quality & Base Curvature
To start, these are genuinely top-quality replacement lenses.
The lenses we received are 2mm thick with nice even bevels around the perimeter and have the correct base curvature. This means you won’t have any issues installing your new lenses into your sunglasses.
They also meet ANSI Z87.1 impact standards, not something any other aftermarket lens I’ve seen can boast.
I initially ordered a pair of Fuse lenses for my X-Metal XX, and they arrived as a base six curvature. I had to call and request the colors available in Base 8 to get the correct curvature (for X-Metals). This may vary based on your sunglasses. But for current Oakleys, you likely don’t need to worry about Base Curvature.
We were able to easily install them in our frames without any bending. And the base six curve in these particular frames (my Plasma/Ice pair) wasn’t an issue for me personally.
Overall, these lenses delivered on quality, and we were impressed with the fit on our discontinued X-Metals.
Colors and Tints
One word “stunning.”
The Fuse lens colors are vibrant, and they carry quite a few lenses that are very good “cross-references” to Oakley colors.
For the lenses we received, almost all of the colors were spot on to their Oakley equivalents. You can see our comparison below:
- Green Mirror = Jade Iridium
- Red Mirror = Ruby Iridium
- Black Chrome = Chrome Iridium (it is not a copy for black iridium)
Other comparisons we saw for Base 8 Curve lenses included:
- Purple Mirror = Violet Iridium
- Orange Mirror = Fire Iridium
- Zeiss Grey Polarized = Grey Polarized
- Zeiss Brown Polarized = Dark Bronze Polarized
Not all colors are available in Base 8 Curvature. Not a big deal if you collect Frogskins and the like, but X-Metals all use Base 8, so you’ll find fewer options.
From speaking with Fuse, they are continuously adding colors, and overall the color section impressed us!
Fit and Installation
The fit was perfect for every pair of Oakleys I installed the Fuse lenses in. This is the first time we’ve ever had that happen for aftermarket lenses.
I could have just been lucky, but you shouldn’t have too much trouble either way.
They also have a “fitment guarantee” This means if they don’t fit, you can send them back as long as they’re in the same condition you received them in (i.e., you didn’t wear them out and scratch them).
Durability
To test the durability, I performed a classic Hammer and Scratch test. I will add that I hit the Fuse lenses hard, not putting my whole body weight into it, but I didn’t just tap them.
And they stood up to the hit like a champ. Actually, they stood up to the test exactly like a pair of ANSI Z87.1 approved lenses should. This means they’ll protect your eyes from whatever gets thrown at them (literally).
They also stood up great to our scratch test. It took a lot of trying for us to finally get a scratch into these. But, overall, the durability and scratch resistance of these lenses impressed us!
Options
Fuse Lenses has one of the largest selections of different colors and frames we’ve seen from an aftermarket lens company.
Today they offer replacement Oakley lenses for over 400 models. This includes popular X-Metals like the Juliet and Romeo. Plus, every current frame in the Oakley sunglasses lineup.
And they offer Prescription, Polarized, Photochromic, and Clear lenses. Plus the all-new AMP color enhancing lenses that we’re excited to try in the near future.
Final Thoughts – Are Fuse Lenses Worth It?
Based on the selection, price, and quality of Fuse lenses we reviewed, we would definitely say they are worth it.
The thickness, durability, fit, and colors of these lenses are better than most other aftermarket lenses we’ve tried before. And with a price under $50, they are almost half the cost of Oakley original lenses these days.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some Oakley lens color options that I’ll want and will pay for, but for the colors Fuse Lenses offers, it’s tough to beat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Fuse Lenses Offer a Warranty?
Yes, Non-Polarized and Polarized Fuse lenses come with a 1 year, 1-time replacement warranty. This means within the first year of receiving your lenses, if you have any issues, you can receive up to one replacement pair.
Fuse Polarized and Anti-Reflective lenses (their most expensive) come with a lifetime, 1-time replacement warranty.
Plus, they offer a 60-day fit guarantee. So if you have any issues installing your lenses or purchase the wrong lenses, you can easily return them for a full refund.
Where are Fuse Lenses Made?
All Fuse Lenses are made in the USA. Fuse custom cuts all lenses in their Clearwater, Florida lab and manufacturing facility.
Do Fuse Lenses Offer UV Protection?
Yes, all Fuse Lenses block 100% of UVA and UVB rays, plus all UV rays up to 400nm.
Have A Question?
Want to know more about Fuse Lenses? Or want to share your thoughts? Join the largest online Oakley community and let us know in the thread below!
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