Product Spotlight: Oakley Prizm MX Lenses

[caption id="attachment_60072" align="alignright" width="300"] Airbrake Prizm Speed MX Goggle with Jade Iridium lens.[/caption]

Aside from a motocross helmet, goggles-more specifically the lenses-are one of the most important pieces of protective gear a rider can use. Initially goggles were meant to protect the eyes from roost and other debris embedding in the eyes or disrupting vision. So obviously protecting rider's vision came first and performance was secondary.

Eventually tinted lenses, tear-offs, and roll-offs, came along to improve rider's visibility, but now Oakley wants to help give MX riders a leg up on the competition with its new [mageProductLink sku="700-100-744-008" title=""]Prizm MX Lenses[/mageProductLink]. The Prizm lenses provide precise color filtering to key in on the varying light conditions and transitions in terrain such as bumps and surface textures. In a nutshell, the color filtering technology incorporated into the lenses boosts the good colors while reducing the bad colors. The Prizm lens provides a much greater contrast allowing riders to quickly and more easily spot changes in terrain types, avoid obstacles or potential hazards, and better identify the edges and depth of ruts, all in the name of finding the best and fastest lines.

[caption id="attachment_60075" align="alignright" width="300"] Mayhem Pro Prizm Bronze lens.[/caption]

Oakley studied human eye to identify colors and how lighting and changes in lighting effects colors and the way we see them. They were able to identify good light and bad light and they wanted to be able to boost good light while knocking down or reducing bad light in varying conditions. In its research and design process Oakley used a hyperspectral camera to observe specific lighting conditions and terrain in order to measure the entire light spectrum. They repeatedly captured various scenery and lighting conditions to record the light spectrum across a variety of settings. With this information they were able to see spectral peaks and patterns and began working on filtering the peaks.

[caption id="attachment_60073" align="alignright" width="300"] Mayhem Pro Prizm Jade Iridium lens[/caption]

Oakley found dyes (absorbers) that could be narrowed to the specific peaks in the spectral profiles they were working off of and could provide color filtering with emphasis on those narrow peaks rather than absorb broad arches of light like standard dyes typically would do. Oakley also collaborated with a range of athletes to identify what's important to them when it comes to vision, lighting, and identifying objects or terrain. From there they were able to create a lens that boosts shadows, provides vivid color perception, and makes it so that the terrain "pops" resulting in enhanced visual acuity and detail perception across a wide range of lighting conditions.

[caption id="attachment_60074" align="alignright" width="300"] Mayhem Pro Prizm Black Iridium lens[/caption]

Because of the dyes used, the lenses can only be constructed through injection molding, therefore Oakley makes them out of plutoniite (the company's proprietary polycarbonate material). This means that the lenses are only available for the Airbrake and Mayhem pro goggles. Currently Oakley offers the Prizm MX lenses in three colors: Jade Iridium, Black Iridium, and Bronze. Each color is designed to work best in specific conditions/terrain. The Black Iridium is best for extremely bright days and sandy desert conditions. This lens will better separate the foreground and back ground and help you navigate through featureless terrain. The Jade Iridium is more for partially sunny days or trail riding where you will be going in and out of trees and shadows. This lens helps separate browns and greens and greatly accommodates for transitioning from low light tree coverage to exposed sun. The Bronze is best for low light and track days, and helps identify ruts, and boosts varying terrain types and conditions while providing better depth perception of ruts.

[caption id="attachment_60077" align="alignright" width="300"] Oakley Airbrake Prizm Chad Reed Signature Series Speed Stripes MX Goggles[/caption]

The lenses can be purchased individually in either Airbrake line or Mayhem Pro line in MX Bronze ($45.00), Prizm MX Jade Iridium ($75.00, part#), Prizm Black Iridium ($75.00). They are also available with the goggles such as the [mageProductLink sku="700-oo7046-39" title=""]Airbrake Prizm Chad Reed Signature SeriesMX Goggles[/mageProductLink] ($220.00) and the [mageProductLink sku="700-oo7051-40" title=""]Mayhem Pro Prizm Troy Lee Designs Glory MX Goggles[/mageProductLink] (($160).