Review of the Oakley Encoder Strike sunglasses

The Oakley Encoder Strike sunglasses feature Oakley’s brilliant Prizm lenses, as great as ever, as well as Unobtainium grips and an O-Matter frame.

The lens features a wider wraparound angle and a frameless design to provide an unobstructed field of view. And although the lens has grown compared to the standard encoder, vents have been added above the brow to help cool the forehead.

They offer excellent performance and are super lightweight, but the lenses are not interchangeable and the price is very high.

Oakley Encoder Strike: Design and specifications

The Oakley Encoder Strike is an evolution of the Encoder goggles and features an expanded lens size and six additional vents along the temple.

The O-Matter frame is designed to be flatter to be compatible with a wide range of different helmets, while the ear hooks and nose piece are made from Oakley’s Unobtainium rubber to prevent slipping during training.

The glasses weigh 31g, are 50mm high at the lens, 136mm wide and 125mm from the hinge. However, the lens curves more around the face than most glasses, so the effective length is longer, more like 137mm. The lenses are not adjustable, but the nose piece is.

The lens is the cylindrical Prizm Road Black and allows 11% light transmission for bright sunny days. The Prizm Road lens is specifically designed for road riding, highlighting bumps in the asphalt as well as hazards. It also features PhysioMorphic Geometry, a feature that allows the frame to wrap tighter and closer to the head and have improved structural rigidity similar to a frame, but with a frameless design, especially in the nose and brow area, with the aim of providing additional protection in the event of an accident.

A hard case and a soft case are included.

Oakley Encoder Strike: Performance

When wearing this goggle, it’s clear that it’s absolutely performance-oriented, from its very light weight to the large, wraparound lenses that are suitable for aggressive riding positions.

Due to the frameless design, my vision was never obstructed while riding. The lens also reaches down nicely despite being quite high without hitting helmets. The tighter wrap angle of the lens also helps make these goggles feel very secure. The many small vents on the top help with air circulation in the forehead given the size of the lenses and are quite effective.

The lenses themselves are brilliant. The Prizm road lenses highlight different shades of grey to help you see bumps in the pavement and hazards. They performed very well in both bright light conditions and very heavy rain, with no glare from bright sunlight or reflected light on wet roads. Although 11% light transmission is pretty low, my vision was good in cloudy and even stormy weather without ever feeling like the lenses were too dark.

The water-repellent coating was put to the test in stormy weather. Even prolonged periods of rain did not affect my vision and the lenses maintained excellent clarity.

The nose bridge is easily visible, but only if you really focus on it, as it does not obstruct your practical vision and leaves no blind spots.

The Encoder’s temples are also very comfortable to wear. They are long and thin but don’t interact with most helmet mounts, while the thinness also means they can dock very well onto most helmets available. There is an additional rubber block around the temples that helps to secure them even better in the helmet vents, while the Unobtainium grippers kept them very secure on my face at all times.

My only criticism is that you can’t swap out the lenses. Especially considering the £228 price tag, I wouldn’t want to spend that much again on clear lenses for bad weather or low light conditions. There is no photochromic version available to fix this problem. You can make your own custom versions but the price will then go up even further.

Oakley Encoder Strike: Verdict

The Oakley Encoder Strike goggles are almost the perfect cycling goggles. The field of vision is excellent and unobstructed while the performance is brilliant in every way. The only problem is that the lenses cannot be replaced and the very high price.