Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the Oakley Kato cycling sunglasses.
When it comes to sunglasses Oakley has never been shy about bold designs or color schemes.
The new Oakley kato sunglasses continue that tradition with an innovative one-piece lens design
and superhero inspired shape. As you can see from the packaging it's very simple you have the
Oakley logo black box for a nice premium look and then the basic specs written on the side.
So we'll go ahead and take it out of the box and go over the specs. Retail price on
these are 291 dollars so definitely one of the most expensive sunglasses on the market.
They have an innovative one-piece lens design that almost looks like a superhero prop instead
of actual sunglasses. They have an adjustable rake mechanism which is a unique design to Oakley
that actually allows you to adjust the angle between the temple and the lens it has swappable
unobtainium nose pads for a customized fit. You get the Prizm lens technology which is
unique to Oakley provides crisp clear optics and you have a very high base curvature
so you can see from the top view it really wraps around your face for a visor like fit.
In terms of what comes in the box you get the sunglasses we have the Sapphire version here.
Basic protective packaging here to prevent it from scratching while being shipped
you get a fabric bag this little pocket here that can actually be used for the nose pads.
A hard zippered case with the Oakley logo on top which is great for traveling with two additional
nose pads of different thicknesses. So these are the unobtainium nose pads you can swap them in and
out and choose the one that works well for you there's one installed already from the factory
and a basic pamphlet with some specifications and warnings on there. Now let's take a look
at the weight of the sunglasses we have one of the standard nose pads already installed and it
comes in at 34 grams so quite light even though it has a one piece lens and a frameless design.
Now let's go over the fit and finish of the Kato sunglasses these look more like a prop
from the latest marvel superhero movie instead of something you'd find on your local bike shop.
Very distinct styling with this contoured seamless shape
and it's a nice refreshing look compared to all the oversized retro sunglasses on
the market. They went with this more disruptive design they don't typically see
Oakley offers them a couple color options. We have the Sapphire version here a nice blue
and you can see that it goes to purple depending on which angle you look at at it and then they
also have the rode and black version so you can pick the one that best matches your environment.
They also briefly had a 2k version a gold version to commemorate the recent olympics.
Now in terms of the front that's where it's really unique you don't have any
frame design so it's a frameless design so if you look at it from the other angle you just
have the lens so the lens is 99 on the body. There are no interchangeable lenses here as the lens is
the entire sunglass so you couldn't swap this out for a clear lens you'd have to just buy another
one. It has this seamless design that wraps around your nose instead of having it cut out
the top brow has this little curvature and that provides some rigidity to the lens and you can see
it's actually quite thick from the side profile so it's also quite thick despite the lack of a frame.
You also have nice little design elements like these little extensions from the side
minimal branding you have Prizm Oakley and then the Oakley logo on the temple arm temple arms are
very thin too. You can see very high curvature so they wrap in and that really hugs your face
and they're also thin and adjustable so you can see these are just rubber
so you can easily move them around and manipulate them. The other nice thing about these they have
something called the rake system so what you can do is you can basically tilt this up and down and
as you can see it has multiple positions so these little plastic covers. You have to lift up on them
there's a much leverage here as it's pretty small so once you pry up on it it'll actually
fold out toward the lens and now you can see this actually tilts up into a couple index positions.
So you have three positions you have higher lower and then all the way down and this will adjust
the angle so you can see depending on which one you prefer or which position you are on the bike.
So if you're definitely if you're more on the drops you might want to angle this upward to
compensate otherwise you can adjust it as needed once you lock it in i'll leave it in the middle
you just close the door clicks in and that's it. It's a very simple adjustment and it's nice
feature to have the nose pads are also replaceable they're not indexed so you pull up over these
tabs and you can see there's little hooks and that goes into little tabs inside.
To put them back on you just slide them in lift up and over and then it sits there nice
and secure you have two other options the different thicknesses right out of the box. Now
aside from looking cool the optics on these lenses are quite nice as well these usually the Oakley
Prizm technology and that's a non-photochromatic design so it's a single lens category and with
the Sapphire lens this is a 12% VLT which is a category three lens great for sunny weather so
especially here in california it's a great option or if you're somewhere else it's sunny. Otherwise
you might want to look at the other lenses they have a gray base tint so if you look through here
it really brings out debris here and increases the contrast and compared to pock or other sunglass
companies. It's a very crisp clear optics and despite the high curvature you can actually see
there's no real distortion here and that's really impressive with cheap sunglasses you get a lot of
distortion especially as the curvature goes up so definitely pick the right lens for you
and pick the right category and base tint color for the environment you're riding in.
Here you can see the Oakley Katos on the road we've paired it with our favorite Ale kit
and the Oakley ARO3 helmet which really matches well and provides that eye dock.
Now obviously the Katos have a very distinct design language and they stand out
especially from certain angles where you see that seamless nose piece
and with that wrap around design you can see it wraps around your face. The adjustable
rake and nose pad make it easy to find the right fit for you. What's really impressive about these
despite the aggressive curvature the optics are nice and smooth especially with the sapphire
lens it worked really well for road cycling as it brings out all the potholes and debris
otherwise very comfortable lens and they will stand out on the road with their distinct design.
Now let's compare the Kato sunglasses other sunglasses on the market. As you can see the
current trend in the sunglass market is toward oversized retro frames so you can see they're a
lot taller than the Katos. These are the Smith Shift MAG and you can see nice wide lens this
is the clear lens currently installed but you can see profile wise you have more sharp angles
large nose cut out and a very tall frame. So from the nose bridge to the top brow
is quite tall and that gives you a nice field of view. So if you compare these side by side
the Smith here has a taller lens and a wider one now they're not nearly as curved as the Oakley.
So you can see the base curvature on this is quite a bit more than other sunglasses mark and that
gives it a more visor like fit and means you don't need as big of a frame because it wraps around.
The other thing here is to note uh with normal frame sunglasses like the Smith you can do nice
lens swaps this has the magnetic swap option so a nice little toggle makes it really easy to
swap them out but you do have a lens you have to deal with so unlike the oakleys which have
a one piece design. POC also has some popular lenses you can see here the
POC AIM sunglasses and you can see nice and large what poc does is they actually hide the frame so
you can see it looks a lot sleeker than it is but they actually have a nose bridge down the middle.
Even though you can't really see that it's an in between your eyes anyways once you know
it's there you can kind of you know it's there and if you look to your side you'll see it so that's
the nice thing about the Oakley's you have the one-piece frameless design without any nose bridge
or any additions. Design wise too the POC has a much smoother look while Oakley goes a little more
aggressive so you can see sharper angles where the POC is nice smooth and more european design while
the Oakley is more aggressive. Now when it comes to oversized lenses they've gone bigger and bigger
the biggest one we've currently reviewed are the POC Devours and you can see these are massive
especially side by side. A lot taller they're flatter too so not as curved but you can see
a very big lens and they did this by essentially hiding the lens frame again so the lens actually
goes up and over the frame for the nice frameless look but you also have the structure of the frame
behind it much taller so you don't have anything below you which is a bigger field of view. So even
with the Katos you can see the bottom edge if you look downward but with the Devours you don't.
The downside of the Devour is the fact that even though it has a almost a frameless appearance you
obviously have a frame and you still see that when you're riding. It also has a more cheap feeling a
construction it feels rigid but the plastic design doesn't quite feel as premium as the Oakley you
don't get some of the nice color contrast that you do with at least the white version of these.
Retro sunglasses are also popular these are the Bolle Chronoshields so they're actually designed
to mimic their goggles from the 80s and 90s and you can see they really do look like a pair of
goggles with this framed look. Again much larger and taller but we do expect the Oakley to come
out with the XL version of this in the future and that would add a little bit a wider field of view.
So you can see side by side again and compared to other sunglasses the Oakley
just really stands out that superhero style design is very distinct and the one piece lens
means you don't have that nose cut out which is something every sunglass has again the curvature
is unmatched compared to other sunglasses it wraps around.
Now let's go over the scorecard for the Oakley Kato sunglasses. We're going to grade on four
different categories: design, optics, comfort and value. Design would give it an A as a seamless
one-piece lens that's a very disruptive design. Optics is also an A, very crisp and clear with
great color contrast especially road cycling. For comfort we'd also give it an A it has nice
flexible temples and with the adjustable rake and replaceable nose pads it's easy to get a right fit.
Value we'd give it a B+ at almost 300 these are very expensive you're definitely paying
for that new lens design. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and subscribe.
you can see more content from us on our website at thesweetcyclists.com those follow
us on Instagram at @TheSweetCyclists. This is the sweetcyclist reminding you to enjoy the ride!