#Eyewear

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by Vista Outdoors in which Bushnell Optics was featured. At the event, myself and other writers within the industry were treated to a first-hand look and experience of Bushnell’s new Performance Eyewear lineup that was accomplished through a partnership with Mirage Occhiali – an Italian sunglasses designer. While at the event, we had a chance to test out the new eyewear and see their entire lineup. The new Bushnell Performance Eyewear lineup is available now for those interested.

There’s hardly a shooter anywhere who doesn’t know and love Magpul. From their wildly popular PMAG line of magazines, polymer stocks and other gun furniture, series of rifle slings and flip sights, and much more, they have spent their 21-year history becoming the first word in firearms accessories. One critical shooting accessory that sits on you rather than on your weapon is a quality set of eye protection. Your eyes are incredibly important organs and the shooting sports introduce inherent dangers to them. Good eye pro is an absolute must – and no, not just any old pair of sunglasses will do. They need to be ballistic rated so if you do experience some sort of spall or ricochet, the wayward fragment speeding toward your face at high speed won’t simply smash through your non-ballistic lens and shred your precious oculus anyway. You need the right face shield.

Leupold has recently launched its Performance Eyewear line of glasses. As a designer and manufacturer of high-quality optics, this is a bit of a departure from their normal product line up. However, I’m willing to give almost anything a shot, and Leupold generously sent out a pair of “ Packout” style glasses for testing and evaluation.

One thing that is almost a sure bet we all own, but do not always put a tremendous amount of thought in are our shooting glasses or eyewear. When it comes to shooting, hunting, boating, and generally being an active outdoors person we all probably own a slew of glasses (where did I put them again?), but who honestly meticulously weighs their options before those fateful repeated purchases. I know we are all guilty of this (myself included), but the difference between the el’ cheapos and mucho primos can be pretty significant and simultaneously difficult to see on the surface. In this TFB Review, we take a look at 4 different sets of eyewear from the Oakley Standard Issue series and the lines of Ballistic, Thin Blue Line, and Speed Jacket.

Magpul is branching out their lifestyle brand into the realm of eyewear. They have taken their design and materials expertise and applied to to three frame designs and seven lens options. Some models of Magpul Eyewear is available now with more coming soon.

ESS (Eye Safety Systems) is a subsidiary of Oakley and has spent years designing and manufacturing eyewear for the US military. In fact they’re the only authorized eyewear manufacturer for the USMC. During SHOT Phil and I spent some time at the ESS booth taking a look at what’s coming in 2015, and one of the products we were able to take a look at was the Influx.

ESS – Eye Safety Systems – was founded in 1998 and has a long history of providing the military and law enforcement communities with top-tier eye protection. All of ESS’ eyewear is ballistic rated, which is quite an impressive feat in itself, and their products are renowned for both durability and performance. The 17-year-old company is a subsidiary of Oakley and is the only authorized dealer for the US Marine Corps.

Revision Eyewear have developed an impressive protective eyewear lens designed for combat. This video shows the Sawfly being shot by a 12 gauge Remington 1187 shotgun firing #6 lead shot from 16 feet: