RE: The Australian prices. There was a time, around 1999 to 2001 where the exchange rate was 1 AUD = .50 USD so we literally doubled the US prices to convert to Australian.

I remember shopping for Juliets around the beginning of 2001 and the Plasma/Fire was $440 AU and the Plasma/Ice was $480 but very soon after that the RRP of x-metals went up to $500.

Now that the exchange rate is better (1 AUD = 0.75 USD - even got up to 0.80 not long ago) the retail on Juliets is excessive. Aussie buyers can get a much better deal on ebay, practically getting brand new X-metals for about half the Aussie RRP. (from American sellers, natch).

But does everyone here agree that calling the new Romeo a "Romeo" makes no sense since it shares no hallmarks with the original Romeo? It has the bloody Juliet/Mars nosebridge for gawdsakes! What is Romeo about it??

Andrew Ford (ford - 11/23/2004 11:49:55 AM)
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Yes - those prices are Canadian dollars, and as Phil shows, even with the exchange rate there is still quite a mark-up.

Of course, our dollar has been rising re: the US dollar even though Oakley prices have remained the same making the difference even worse.

(I'm sure some economist can tell me it all evens out eventually - tell it to my wallet)

E C (EastCoast - 11/23/2004 1:21:32 PM)
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Does it actually need to have any resemblance to it predecessor to keep the name? Look at Eye Jacket 1, 2.0 and 3.0. No real resemblance there. E-wire 2.0 was similar to the original, but not exact and look at E-wire 2.1. Romeo II is a complete re-envisioning of the style. They gave it the X-Metal nose bridge that all the styles have. It still has Hammeresque stems. Though the lenses are boxed, it can easily be fitted with other lenses if O chooses to do so in the future.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/23/2004 12:05:12 PM)
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I think we need a poll for the Romeo II.

Ob Session (obsession - 11/23/2004 12:32:50 PM)
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Spoke to an Oakley UK rep in Virgin at the Thump launch today, and apparently Romeo II is coming to the UK in the first quarter of 2005. He couldn't justify the price hike, but did say that they would be making some minor modifications to it before it reaches the UK. Wonder what they'll be?

Tim Sparrow (sparra - 11/23/2004 5:34:17 PM)
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I would oblige.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/23/2004 1:25:07 PM)
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Yeah. I wonder why it came from a cox account.

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/23/2004 1:27:11 PM)
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and it didn't say, 'thanks for spending all your hard earned money on our products you guys'

hehehe

Darren Taylor (rolyatnerrad - 11/23/2004 1:29:59 PM)
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I guess Oakley employ them to look after any copyright issues

Darren Taylor (rolyatnerrad - 11/23/2004 1:31:22 PM)
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I think the Romeo 2 images are more sensitive because O has not released officially released them yet to the general public. All the other images are readily available on oakley.com or other public sites, so the prior authorization you had for those images should still be ok.

Ed Chiu (eddyc - 11/23/2004 1:37:34 PM)
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Thump and Hatchet didn't draw any attention, but the site was young. We need to start a guerilla web site now. j/k :P

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/23/2004 1:39:17 PM)
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Well, let's hope that somewhere, someone in Oakley really does like the site and wants us to keep going. Someone who can say, "let them do it, they aren't hurting us in any way." As long as we don't break those few photo posting rules we were given. Perhaps it was too early to post it like Eddy said above.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/23/2004 1:45:22 PM)
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Well, that's basically the jist I got from Ryan Erwin, the head of e-commerce at Oakley. He said, we don't have the resources to assist you in getting pictures, but we won't stand in your way. They even had a meeting because of this site and the existance of fan sites. My guess is that someone is in charge of surfing around and sending out notices.

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/23/2004 2:03:28 PM)
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That's what I was thinking. Someone at O who said, sure no prob to have the site. They just need to think of us a large worldwide online Oakley Street Team. We do this for our love of the product. Of course there is going to be someone else looking out for wrong doings like the group that sent the letter.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/23/2004 2:22:45 PM)
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They sent a response thanking me and said the site was very positive, and she learnt things about Oakley that she didn't even know in her tens years with them.

So this make me wonder when it'll be okay to posts pictures. Do I have to wait until they show up on oakley.com. If so..... I was actually told to redirect people there, but I'm sure that's protocol.

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/23/2004 2:30:39 PM)
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If not when it shows up online, which can take forever, then the release date.

Phil Barket (kingphilbert - 11/23/2004 2:39:22 PM)
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To my knowledge, the Hatchet photo existed on apairofshades.com before it was posted here. That may explain why no one said anything then.

Ed Chiu (eddyc - 11/23/2004 3:07:11 PM)
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True. Oh well, I can wait until some retail shops start having them, and then I won't make a big deal out of it (front news page).

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/23/2004 3:11:51 PM)
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Re: not posting pics early

My guess is that once it's available for purchase pictures are fair game. Isn't the biggest problem competitors seeing what Oakley is up to? Once the product is out anyone can get a hold of it; pictures won't change much.

E C (EastCoast - 11/23/2004 5:55:19 PM)
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Personally i think, the Romeo looks like it uses too many Hybrid technologies, I'd like to see something fresh for a change.

James Lenz (JL - 11/23/2004 6:53:45 PM)
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Oh my god, i dont think anyone has a right to complain about us seeing pictures of oakleys that havent been released yet, we are the people who buy the products we should be able to look at them and discuss them all we want.

Alexis Watkins (LEX7 - 11/24/2004 12:49:05 AM)
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damn, i was on yesterday and I saw the pic, but i didn't save it! Anybody still have it? Johns one doesn't seem to work anymore.

James Lenz (JL - 11/23/2004 10:04:01 PM)
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James, its in the glasses section under Romeo II

Alexis Watkins (LEX7 - 11/24/2004 3:13:15 AM)
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Thanxs Alexis, with the talk above I thought it had been permanently removed.

James Lenz (JL - 11/23/2004 10:47:56 PM)
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No, that's removed too. She re-contacted me and asked to remove that too.

Then contacted a third time and asked to remove all images that came from Oakley.

Yes, all glasses images, apparel, accessories, icons, download images, wallpapers, etc... So really, the site is about finished as far as good content goes. If you want a copy of all the images thus far before I remove them, PM me.

Dann Thombs (Dann - 11/24/2004 10:17:31 AM)
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