A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about Goggles4U redesigning their site and adding the GlassyEyes-specific contact email. In my perusal, I had a couple of pairs catch my eye.

Neither pair would specifically fill any gaps in my collection, but they both struck me as good looking. The first pair I picked was a rather standard plastic frame with smallish lenses, but a 140mm temple length (which is my most important measurement).

Less than two weeks after my sub-$60 order (FREE SHIPPING), they arrived in my frigid mailbox.

Here we go. The first pair, is optically perfect -- as I expected. Functionally, the frames were a little wonky out of the box. They appeared to have twisted a bit in transit (something that lessened after they got out of the sub-zero temperatures of my mailbox for a while), though they were packaged quite nicely.

Also, the labeled 140mm temples were the shortest 140mm temples I've ever wrapped around my head. They may in fact be 140mm, but they wear more like 132mm. The full metal temple insert allowed me to make them wearable (for my massive head) with only a minimal effort of straightening. The lack of height on the lenses looks great, but makes me work my neck a bit more than I'd like. I'm ever so slowly moving toward the comfort of taller lenses. Coatings (on both pairs) look good. All in all I'd give them a 3.5 out 5.

The second pair, jumped off the page at me when I saw them on the Goggles4U site. I've gotten nearly a hundred requests for information on the frames you see me wearing in the banner of this site -- and they're still the pair I wear when I want to "stand out" a bit. These things market themselves, which is nice -- except I apparently got the last pair in existence.

This second pair reminded me of that pair (^) with different color temples. They still had the "gold" frame, which up until this experiment started was something I'd have laughed at, and the shape was at the very least "reminiscent" (if not direct larceny).

I hurriedly tore open the box to reveal what, at first glance, was a pair of glasses more suited for an eccentric octogenarian in an assisted-living facility in St. Pete, Florida.

The differences were very obvious in my hands. Not only was the shape of the frame "older" somehow, the "fishline" bottom on my favorite pair had been replaced with a "golden" metal frame-bottom. The frame is stamped "Emporio Armani". I don't know if that is true or not, but the fit and finish is better than many of the lower-priced frames I own.

I'd describe the style as "faux-half-frame". They're VERY GOLD and bold as hell. I had a few errands to run and decided that I needed to give them a chance.

Comfortable... Perfect prescription... Hmm...

I caught a glimpse of myself in the door of the drug store and realized that they were awesome -- 5 of 5.

Packaging was the best (most consistent) I've seen from Goggles4U. Both pairs came wrapped (as they always do) in cotton, but this time they came in matching nondescript brown plastic cases. They could do with a branding job, but all in all, more professional than the past.

Fast too -- less than two weeks to Minnesota.