RE VS. AO sunglasses - Page 2

how does one determine sizing? I don't have a huge face so I think the 52mm Generals may be my size, but not totally sure.

I have the 52mm's and to me they're the perfect size if you have a 'normal' head size.

check out this link: http://www.randolphusa.com/about-equip-faq.htm

look at the size guide for your face. although i bought AOs, i used this since i figured it would be almost identical. i took a ruler and just stood in front of a mirror with the thing over my face and did my best to see how wide i was temple-to-temple. my glasses fit perfect IMHO. the AOs are pretty cheap on OpticsPlanet. You could just order two sizes and send one back. the shipping is free to you, so it wouldn't be that big of a hit to pay the shipping for one pair back to them.

Having tried the randolph in person in all sizes, I can say that 52 and 55 are good. I can't see why anyone would need a 58. Between the 52 and 55 I'd go for 55. The 52 are not small per se, but they have a way of creating this (too great of a) narrowing effect. They don't feel small, but they look too small, if that makes sense. But, yeah, they are deceptively big - I would never have thought that a 52 could fit, but it does, and the 58 which I don't consider to be a big size in sunglasses are huge.

I also find that the whole ruler thing doesn't work so well, maybe between a 52 and 58, but where the difference is so slight between the 52 and 55, I can never pin it down exactly. Order both and decide for yourself.

You have to remember they have a 20 mm bridge (not 15mm like ray ban caravans). I wear a 52 in ao and 55 in the caravans.

Another difference, and the deal breaker for me (seeing that they are so similar in every other way) is that AO's are the original. RE's came on the scene later. It was AO's that Neil Armstrong wore on his trip to the moon and it was AO's that were issued before RE's. RE has done a great job with their marketing/ product placement over the last few years... but AO's are the authentic originals. In fact, Drapper would have been wearing AO's as RE's weren't around yet (they started in the late 70's).

I was just doing a bit more research and came across an interesting fact. The AO's were released in 1958 and the Ray-Ban Caravan's were released in '57. The Caravans were not officially supplied to the military as far as I know, but they actually made before either of the other two options... and yet they catch flak for being "copycats"... no they weren't military-issue but they were out before the others were even on the table. All three are great glasses.

I'm not a big person and I'm wearing the RE Concord in a 55, I believe. I found that the sizing options were slightly different between AO and RE, so I ended up with RE. Also, I found that the cable temples on the AOs were comfortably while the REs were not. So, I'm using standard temples. That's all personal preference.

The differences are slight. Just go for the right fit. 52mm is pretty darn small in my opinion. Consider 55+.