Oakley Prescription Lenses Reviewed

June 2020

Grant Williams has very kindly reviewed his Oakley Prescription sunglasses. Here’s what he had to say about his prescription Oakley Field Jackets!

For more than a decade I have combined various Oakley glasses with contact lenses for cycling driving and skiing. I thought this was the optimum combination, until deciding to try a prescription lens, initially for road cycling.

My positive experience of Oakley eyewear prompted a desire to buy into their prescription lenses. By uploading my prescription details into RxSport’s website, I received confirmation that my prescription requirements could be achieved from an Oakley lens.

Oakley create prescription lenses (with various performance traits) for many of their frames designed for sport. Although I already owned frames that prescription lenses are available for, I wanted to experience new design features, which they did not include. I chose to pair my new lenses with the Oakley Field Jacket.

On placing an order with Rx Sport UK, an email confirmation dropped into my inbox shortly after, and my new Oakley glasses arrived within the quoted delivery period. (Rx Sport UK were really helpful in doing everything possible to achieve delivery in time for a cycling holiday).

The Oakley prescription lens provides me with excellent visual clarity. This performance is complemented by the stability of the Field Jacket, which remains constant over rough road surfaces, sections of which are barely paved.

Given the ease of use and performance of these glasses, I decided to seek out something specifically for use in lower light conditions and riding at night. On reviewing my options, and talking these through with Rx Sport UK, I chose the Oakley prescription Brown Transitions lens.

For me, the Oakley Transition lens, with a brown tint is a fantastic option to have alongside the Black Iridium (or Prizm Black) lens. The visual clarity is excellent, and the transition from brown tint to clear, makes it suitable for a broad range of light levels.

Having used the Transitions for several months, these are the ones I reach for when the conditions are predominantly cloudy or for riding into late evening. Given the versatility of the Transition lens, I also decided to try it whilst riding my mountain bike.

Part of the feedback provided by RxSport UK, confirmed a feature of the brown tint is the potential to add definition to surface texture. This certainly corresponds with my experiences whilst riding, as the lens performance assists being able to counter subtle pitting in macadam surfaces, or to interpret an intricate root matrix weaving across an off-camber, narrow trail.

So, would I want to completely commit to using the prescription lenses I now have, for all the riding I do? For the road, yes. However, for mountain biking, personally, I will use the Transition lens with brown tint for virtually all the off-road riding I do. When conditions are really wet and muddy, I will switch to non-prescription glasses with contact lenses. This is simply because the Transitions are vital for my road cycling, and I wish to reduce the chance of the wear and tear that harsher, off-road conditions may cause.

For that reason, I will add an Oakley Flight Jacket Prizm Trail to my collection…..Plus they look pretty cool too!