I got very expensive prescription Bolle sunglasses, they were stolen from my car. That was back in 2004 and weren’t worth the money for something I wore about 4 times before they were stolen.

I have Maui Jim sunglasses that are great, the polarization is excellent for seeing wildlife in the water. I only wear them occasionally as I’d rather wear 10 dollar glasses I don’t care about wrecking. So I have 4 or 5 pairs of different styles of cheap ones. Most important is to get polarized lenses, other than that if you go cheap you can try every style until you find the right ones for you.

Don’t spend a ton of money on the sunglasses unless you need Rx sunglasses. Fancy name brand sunglasses are a scam - they’re all owned by the same company that creates a false sense of competition between their brands. This allows them to keep prices up on Ray-Ban and other expensive brands. Look up Luxxotica.

If you’re purchasing sunglasses for daily wearing and you know you’ll be wearing or carrying them into situations, just get a comfortable pair of cheapo polarized sunglasses from Walmart. Expensive sunglasses lose value as soon as they’re purchased and if you scratch them, they’ll be functionally and financially worthless from that point forward. Comfort is the most important thing, followed closely by style.

This is a bit outside the box, but you might want to go to the hardware store and look at safety glasses. There are a variety of tints and they are wrap around, making them superior for actual eye protection. Glasses that are open on the side are harder on your eyes.

Granted, you might not care for the look.

Expensive sunglasses are a waste of money.

Go to the mall, find a sunglasses stand. Try on polarized sunglasses until you find something you like under $12 or so.

You’ll find the brand/model number written somewhere on the frame. Google it, and find someplace to buy them by the case.

By a case of 10, put it in your drawer. Bonus points for getting it in another color (I have a set of white frame chunky glasses, but also the exact same model in black for fancy occasions).

Now you have sunglasses you can afford to lose constantly, a backup supply, and a signature look.

Polarized and UV, past that you are just paying for marketing

That shape on your post or aviator style shades seem to work for most face shapes IMO. Don’t worry about brand or price. Just make sure it has UV protection and polarized lenses, and of course try it out and make sure your vision isn’t distorted. Other stuff like plastic or metal material depends on personal preference.

A friend has a pair of Raybans she bought 25 years ago. One day last year she dropped them and they were run over by a trailer with a boat on it. She was pretty upset until she realised they weren’t damaged, not even scuffed. I witnessed this, it was incredible. Worth the expense, I would say.

At one of my previous jobs there was a guy with really expensive looking glasses. Something like gold plated aviator type but really fancy looking. Job was 1000% not as well paid to buy anything like this. I have asked him about his glasses and he gave a nice pro tip: Just buy used frame and put lenses inside yourself.

Makes sense. Used frames are dirt cheap. Senses are not so expensive for a simple sunglasses with no dyoptres. Can go fancy and get some scratchproof polarized lenses and not overpay for a $500 raybans.

Also, afaik, rayban owns pretty much any other glass brand. So, pointless to get rayban for so expensive.

So I have myopia and use transitions and that tech has come a long way. I won’t even realize how bright its gotten because they just activate and until I take them off and realize how bright it actually got I just sorta see the same level of brightness all the time. Usually I only noticed the effect when I come back in from outside. Then if you ok looking stupid there is this full face monocal sunglass mask type of thing sold online. Looks incredibly stupid but when something does something useful I don’t care. Whats great about it is in the winter it blocks wind from your face and in the summer it prevents sunburn on your face. Which is really huge for me on both counts.

The only raybans ive ever owned were found in a bar and lost in a different bar some years later.

Goodr has been making some pretty cheap and relatively durable stuff. Can survive a dog nibble but not a crunch

goodr

I’ve been rocking $10 Chinese sunglasses from Amazon for years. I keep and extra pair on backup, an extra pair in the car in case I forget them. If I lose them or break them no big deal.

I’ve been looking at Neven, but have no idea if they’re as big as they seem or if they’re any more durable than Knockaround.

I like Knockaround’s styles, specifically the Fast Lanes for being somewhere between a classic Rayban and a square aviator, but I keep ending up with scratched lenses. They do have a one-time warranty, but I’m not sure the extent of replacement due to wording. Only tried it once directly through customer service before I realized there’s an actual policy. I took much better care and even ordered more (different colors), but they still wear out. Daily wear, rotate through ~6 pairs. Get about 2 years out of them. I guess that’s fine, but my old sunglasses weren’t so consumable. Maybe I just not familiar with the longevity of mirrored coatings. They’re ~$35usd each and sales are frequent. The custom shop is neat.