Opinions!!! Please... About Gatorz sunglasses to skydiving

[isaac_spain 0]

Hi all,
I've spend too too too much time on Internet to try to know what is the best model and, most important, which colour of pair lens is good to do skydiving?
Well, I know that Gatorz goggles is not the best choices to skydiving, but:
Questions:
- Radiator/Wraptor: What do you prefer? or do they work well to skydiving?
- Colour lens: Grey or silver??? Any clear lens colours good???? sun burst ok??
Thanks at all.

[LouDiamond 1]

Either one of those will work for skydiving if they fit your face well. If you like that style of glasses and want another option, the guy who started Gatorz is now making glasses under the name Liquid Eyewear. A nice feature of the Liquid glasses is that they are designed so they can be bent by the wearer to fit the face better if needed and not break/crack the lenses.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
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[countzero 7]

i like my batrays with orange sunburst lense. however i wear a full face helmet due to being a contact wearer. i know a few jumpers who wear other styles and lenses with a stap and gasket type material on the inside edge of the frames to reduce wind getting in thier eyes while wearing openfaced helmets. see if anyone at your DZ will let you try thiers on to see what style you like. or try contacting Gatorz and talking about your face shape and size. they were very helpful with me on choosing the right frames.

diamonds are a dawgs best friend

[hjumper33 0]

I wear Gatorz for all forms of skydiving, and I wear contacts. Probably around 200 jumps freeflying with them. Just get a strap, I lost a pair on a headdown jump :( . I have radiators which are probably the mos popular style with blue mirror lenses.

[AndyMan 7]

Gatorz work well for skydving, I have a pair that I use most of the time.

They are expensive, and there are plenty of glasses that work just as well if not better and are a lot cheaper.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Rdutch 0]

I saw the recipient of about 6 stitches from jumping with gatorz. He got hit in the face with his risers on opening and it broke the glasses frame right above the lens and pushed the jagged piece right above his eye into his head, it slit a huge gash into his forehead. It was very close to a lost eye. When he landed he had to pull the glasses out from under his skin.

Other than that I have seen many, many people jump with gatorz no problem. But it is something you might want to think about.

Ray
Small and fast what every girl dreams of!

[FFlyer 0]

Ive never jumped with any form of goggles that have glass lenses and dont plan to. I know lots of people do, and they do look cooler,...but its not worth it. Just one hit to those lenses and they will break a lot easier than what regular goggles will, then you've got broken glass in and around your eye while in freefall

Id rather wear less cool looking goggles and know that my eyes are safe. Especially if you're a freeflyer, collisions happen from time to time. Use it, dont use it

[Peej 0]

True dat, i worry more from a landing pov, always remember tonto telling me about some dude slamming in and watching the EMT's remove hard plastic googles and seeing the nice cookie cutter shapes around his eyes

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[kaerodyne 0]

Quote

Either one of those will work for skydiving if they fit your face well. If you like that style of glasses and want another option, the guy who started Gatorz is now making glasses under the name Liquid Eyewear. A nice feature of the Liquid glasses is that they are designed so they can be bent by the wearer to fit the face better if needed and not break/crack the lenses.

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[LouDiamond 1]

Quote

Just one hit to those lenses and they will break a lot easier than what regular goggles will, then you've got broken glass in and around your eye while in freefall

Thats a good point and any type of eyewear that uses either a glass lens or a cheap plastic lens has the potential of breaking and causing injury be it in skydiving or any other recreational activity. There are a few sunglass manufacturers(not many) out there that use lenses that comply with ANSI Z87.1 2003 standards and also provide UVA, UVB and UVC protection. If lenses breaking and eye protection is a concern of yours then sunglasses that have a ANSI certification should be high on your list.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[virgin-burner 1]

OAKLEY have some cool glasses. they should hold up to skydiving, i use one of the m-frames for snowboarding for more than 15 years or so.. that thing took the one or other beating in that time, it is still in mint condition.

i'd just make sure to get one of their plastic models, as the wire-ones dont seem to hold up to abuse too much. i'm thinking of putting them on while you're wearing your helmet, that might chip of the coating of the glasses, the lens itself has never broke.

they're surely on the more expensive range, but you get a frame with interchangeable glasses for all your needs, from yellow to grey, white to reddish/brown. i never bought another pair of sunglasses than oakleys..

and most of their sport models do cover the eyes very good, so it should work i believe.. havent tried it yet tough, personally it would give me the shits to loose a 2- or 300$ pair of glasses in freefall, so i'd go with the typical skydiving googles anyway..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
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[LouDiamond 1]

I get issued Oakleys at work and have had them since they first came out with the original frames. In fact I have an Oakley grave yard of frames,arms, lenses, pieces in a box at work. The major problem with Oakleys is that the frames/arms are always breaking on guys or pieces fall off. The lenses are fine but the frames don't hold up very well. Hence an insane amount of money is spent buying replacements every deployment. I think they are fine for everyday wear and for most activities but they are rather pricey and I agree, it would suck to loose them skydiving.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[isaac_spain 0]

have someone tried the PD wraptor goggles? Sun burst lenses ok?? grey ok'???
http://www.performancedesigns.com/store_files/sunglassselect.asp

[JustChuteMeNow 0]

I'll add to this thread and repeat a caution like Rdutch did. I saw a person land and he had blood coming down his face becuase the metal frame from the gatorz cut his skin from a hard hit to his helmet.

Many people don't have a problem but if you ever take a hit to your helmet, you might want something more forgiving.

Think of how stupid the average person is and realize that statistically half of them are stupider than that.

[mattjw916 2]

I'm a contact lens wearer and I jump(ed) in my Gatorz often. No problems to speak of. YMMV. When I was flying camera I wore flex-z goggles since they fit that particular helmet better.

Full-face offers better protection of course and I bust out my factory diver when it's chilly and for the tunnel!

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