Sunglasses buying philosophy

[Fish]

Originally Posted by jidar

Hard for me to believe this isn't mostly just image driven.
Is an ounce less of weight worth a hundred more bucks?

It has much more to do with the quality of optics than the weight. And there can be a huge difference in the quality of optics between the cheapies and the good ones that make them worth the money. I have a small head. All the cheap sunglasses don't have enough of an angle to properly cover my peripheral vision. And any that do have the correct angle, look absolutely horrible and warped when looking through the part of the glass that bends. The more expensive glasses have the same optical clarity despite the bend in the glass. The cheaper glasses also use more shading than actual UV blocking, because it's so much cheaper. They just make them darker instead of making them clear while also blocking UV. Good quality glasses aren't necessarily "dark" when you look through them. They should be clear enough to see fine even in low light, yet block 100% of UV rays.