short Oakley Prizm review

[MetropolisLake]

Got a pair of Oakley Flak Jackets with the low light Prizm lens about a week ago. Just a short review.

First of all, I don't agree with some guys who say the low light version is all you need. During the middle of the day, if it is clear, the brightness is fairly unbearable to me. I have to wear a hat with them and even then it is very bright. I am going to have to get the darker version. It strained my eyes with long term use quite honestly, but I'm not sure if it is the color spectrum blocking stuff or the brightness.

Personally I think Oakley is marketing them wrong. They act like targets will almost glow. Well... kind of, sort of, not really. There seems to be two things that it does. Any kind of grayish blue tint gets turned into kind of a slight purplish lavendar color, so yeah I guess on raw steel targets it does do this to an extent. It also changes the color of true blue as well, so sometimes the sky or even my Cosmos Blue Jeep looks amazingly cool. Sometimes things get turned into a color that you are not used to seeing and that does catch your attention a bit, but I didn't notice anything blending into the background and glowing like some of the ads make it sound like. However, with this color blocking and enhancement, when you take them off, for some reason the color yellow really stands out. Everything that is yellow caught my eye as seeming super bright. So, it's doing something.

What it does the best though, which many of the ads don't tell you, is that somehow they have packed in some extreme contrast, especially with vegetation. If I am looking into some woods or at least across a field with several trees and whatnot at multiple distances, with the naked eye or normal glasses it often appears to be a big nasty conglomerate of vegetation that blends together and it is hard to tell one from another without studying it. With the Prizm lenses, wow, looking into the woods is more like viewing one of those 3-D pop-up books that kids use, you can really tell things apart and judge distances better. Because of this I don't know why they aren't marketing them to hunters. Seems to me that it would be really nice for that. Multiple layers of trees look amazing through these lenses, I just don't know why. The edges are REALLY defined.

Anyway, just my two cents... or $165 as the case may be.

Edited May 21, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[blaster113]

I use a pair of Blue Iridium lenses in my Oakley Radars, they give pretty good contrast. Eager to try the Prizm lenses now.

[Ssanders224]

Where did you order your Prizm lenses?

I'd like to get a set for my Radars.

[MetropolisLake]

Where did you order your Prizm lenses?

Gander Mountain had the entire setup, not just the lenses.

As a follow up, I'm disappointed to say that it does seem to be the lenses that are causing the eye strain, just not sure why. My eyes are more comfortable with no sunglasses as opposed to wearing these for any decent amount of time. They seem to be ok for short term use but not extended. My Tifosi's of a similar tint does not do this. My ESS Crossbow's that are a little darker than the Tifosi's do this to some extent. I don't know what is different about them. My eyes are a little sensitive due to LASIK complications, not sure if a normal person could tell the difference or not.

Edited May 27, 2014 by MetropolisLakeOutfitters

[Butterpuc]

These are on my list of lenses to try. Currently I have both Oakley Flak Jackets and Rudy Project Rydon II glasses. I took both the G30 lenses (since I don't have the Prizm) and set it side-by-side with my Laser Racing Red lens and there is a distinguishable difference when looking at the red fiber optic of my Dawson front sight, the Laser Racing Red wins hands down.

[Dis-1-Shooter]

Just tried the Prizm lens today. Did not have my G26 lens with me to compare. Conditions were low light with overcast. First impression...Red color really jumps out with indoor lighting and outside.