Buy ESS CROSSBOW 2 x Two Fully Assembled EyeShields - 1 with clear lens and 1 with smoke grey lens, hard case, and microfiber pouch 740-0386ESS CROSSBOW 2 x Two Fully Assembled EyeShields - 1 with clear lens and 1 with smoke grey lens, hard case, and microfiber pouch 740-0386 Product Description:
- With two options you'll never have to change a lens again.
Product Description
ESS Crossbow 2X Sunglasses 740-0386 work as a exceptional ballistic eyeshield combining technology and premium optics. Eye Safety Systems Crossbow 2X come with two pairs: one Crossbow Sunglasses pair with clear lenses, and one Crossbow Sunglasses pair with smoke grey lenses. These ballistic sunglasses feature patented Tri-Tech Fit technology which provide a zero pressure point universal fit. The lenses are fog proof and scratch resistant due to ClearZone FlowCoat lens coating technology by Eye Safety Systems.
Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
On-par with Oakley quality, great coverage and optical clarity
By Charlie
ESS CrossbowThe Crossbow is on the US Army's Approved Eyewear List (APEL) for ballistic protection. I already have several pairs of Oakley sunglasses, including the Ballistic M Frame 2.0 (with the Hybrid lens) and the original M Frame with the Hybrid S lens. The first thing to note is that the ESS Crossbow does not have any lenses with Iridium coatings (mirror coating). They do sell replacement accessory lenses in different tints other than clear and gray smoke. There's also laser protection lenses available. The reason for this is that only clear and gray are approved for military lenses due to their neutral color distortion. They claim that Oakley's VR28 or ESS's Copper High Def will change colors, but I have found from experience that they tend to enhance reds and fluorescents without distorting greens, yellows, or whites. Amber or yellow lenses, on the other hand, are horrible because they change the colors.To begin, I'll have to say that ESS Crossbow is about on-par with Oakley in terms of quality, optical clarity, and design. The Crossbow doesn't feel cheap to me, and if they applied the Oakley "O" logo onto the Crossbow, I couldn't really tell the difference. Oakley's civilian glasses tend to use glossy frame plastics and Iridium lenses, which enhances the perceived quality of the frames. If you buy Oakley's Standard Issue line of eyewear (designed/marketed towards Law Enforcement and Military), they use matte plastic frames with standard lenses that do not have mirror/Iridium coatings - which looks and feel somewhat cheap. The ESS Crossbow is on the APEL list, along with Oakley's Ballistic M Frame 2.0 - so a fair comparison would be Oakley's M Frame and Ballistic M Frame 2.0 versus the ESS Crossbow.I wore the Crossbow for running outside, cycling, and for working on outdoor projects. The lens is very thick in the area covering the eyes, with great side coverage. There are no blind spots where the frame blocks your vision, and the nose piece is actually less obstructive than Oakley's M Frame or M Frame 2.0. The Crossbow and M Frame lenses are great for cycling because of the coverage of the eyes against stones, rocks, debris, and insects.The lens on the Crossbow is SIGNIFICANTLY easier to change compared to Oakley's Ballistic M Frame 2.0, because the Crossbow uses a center locking piece (called DEDBOLT) that easily flips up or down. Oakley's M Frame 2.0 uses a clip that locks into a drilled hole on the lens, but requires a lot of effort to remove. This can scratch lenses, especially the Iridium lenses, but the ESS is much easier to change. The original M Frame doesn't have that center locking piece, so essentially is even easier to change versus ESS's Crossbow, but the DEDBOLT adds extra protection to prevent the lens from coming off. The Crossbow's lens clarity is on-par with Oakley, I couldn't detect any distortion at the sides. The Crossbow lens covers a large portion around the eyes for greater protection. However, they look very large in the mirror, almost like senior citizen sunglasses. They're certainly not as stylish as the smaller/sleeker Oakley's (Flak Jackets, Fast Jackets, etc...). The Crossbow's smoke gray lens is darker than Oakley's standard issue gray lens. I'd say that if Oakley's gray is 18% light transmission, then the Crossbow's smoke gray lens is closer to 10% light transmission (almost on-par with Oakley's black iridium lens which is one of its darkest lenses).The Crossbow has much better head retention due to the slightly curved earstems. The original M Frame has a similar curve, but lacks surface area and tends to apply pressure to my head. The M Frame 2.0 is much flatter and wider to fit tactical helmets, but tends to slide just a little due to the flat shape (lacks the curve). The ear socks on the ESS Crossbow also resemble the Oakley Scalpel ear socks, which fill the lower half of the stems.The amount of ventilation is not very good. I found myself sweating a bit more behind the Crossbows, but these were designed for protection and not ventilation. Oakley's M Frame lenses are available with vents for cycling and other activities where fogging is a primary concern. ESS does include a small bottle of anti-fog solution with the APEL Crossbow kit.The hard case that comes with the Crossbow feels a lot cheaper than the Oakley M Frame 2.0 case. There's no foam inserts for extra lenses, everything is just tossed into the empty case. There is also a metal rivet for the MOLLE straps, which I'm concerned about scratching the lens. Oakley's M Frame 2.0 case has the foam protection, and a plastic carabiner clip along with a wide belt loop.I weighed the ESS Crossbow at 35 grams. The Oakley M Frame 2.0 with Hybrid lens weighed 30 grams. My Oakley Flak Jacket with XLJ lenses weighed in at 25 grams. I can certainly feel a bit more weight on my nose with the Crossbow, but after wearing them for an hour while jogging and cycling, I did not have any headaches or pain.Overall: 5/5 stars - great value compared to Oakley. I always felt Oakley tended to charge higher prices for the Oakley name/brand/image (Unobtanium/Plutonite vs. Silicone/Polycarbonate), and the Crossbow is on-par with Oakley's quality. The Crossbow lens could have been a tad smaller to match the Oakley Hybrid lens shape, this would shave some weight as well. The Crossbow case feels cheap, but gets the job done. The affordability factor is great with the Crossbow and you get Oakley-level quality.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.Great for shooting!
By EBEDave
Greetings!Got these recently for use at an indoor gun range. Love them! They do NOT fog up!Although, I did find they make you sweat a bit. Not a big deal when you considerthe level of eye protection you get from them. They wrap around giving full protection to those peeps! Here's an example: Went to the range today. I was shooting a Glock 30sf 45 auto...A few rounds in a hot shell casing ejected noramlly, but it hit the wall to my right and bounced back striking the right lens in the corner. I shrugged it off and kept on blasting away! I was wearing the clear ones.The cool thing about the smoke grey ones is on your face they appear very dark, almost black, but looking through them they are not TOO dark like sunglasses. VERY good optics.I'm going to wear the smoke ones next indoors.One last thing, I used 3M Peltor NRR 30 earmuffs with these and the frames were not an issue. All in all I'm very happy with these. Great protection, looks cool, and worked fine with earmuffs (the Peltors are heavily padded, so I guess is "mushed" up to the frame :)Get'em! They rock!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
WAAAYYY BETTER than G.I Issue
By engineer590
Bought these for deployment and they are wayy better than the ones we got issued. stick to your face when climbing in and out of military vehicles. i like the clear lenses more than the dark... switching is a pain and requires excessive force i feel. though the dark look slick. Case is on my vest (durable) with dark lenses ready to wear and another set of clear, ready to wear. Over all great and not flashy, and to military APEL standards.
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