Vault guy told me that Oakley is going to only PRIZM lenses

[discodave]

Today I went to the Vault to pick up some lenses and a guy that has been working there for years told me that Oakley is going to transition to ONLY PRIZM lenses in the next two years. Has anyone else heard that?

 

[Carrera1963]

Can't see it. Prizm is a premium lens, without a neutral option. And what cheap option would they put in MPH...

 

[Rustpot]

I think they've already moved most of the contrast options to prizm. Which is sad if they kill VR28, such a great lens.

 

[del518]

I think they've already moved most of the contrast options to prizm. Which is sad if they kill VR28, such a great lens.

I agree.....it seems like it wasn't that long ago that they were promotimpng VR28 as their cycling lens.

 

[discodave]

I asked the guy if they were going to be able to incorporate lens colors like fire and Ruby into the prizm line and he said that he heard they were going to. They did have a ton of options for the prizm line that they didn't have in the beginning though. The ones I got today look a hell of a lot like sapphire.

 

[max4321]

Whilst I don't like it, I can see it happening, or at least them scrapping all contrast lenses as most people don't know which lens to use when (i.e. if you were just to walk into an Oakley store, you wouldn't instinctively reach for VR28 is you wanted to go MTB, etc). It's already happened for their goggle lens collection, you can get pretty much any 'colour' with prizm snow.

 

[Carrera1963]

Buying the base would make a lot of sense though. At the moment I imagine most decisions are on the external colour of the iridium, but it's the base tint that affects what you see much more than the iridium coating. Good luck Oakley in convincing the general public to buy for situation rather than aesthetics though...

 

[Ventruck]

I wouldn't be surprised if they made a strong (but not complete) shift to Prizm as it's the new way to appear more exceptional in the optics department. As a business model it will be a measure to get behind higher prices, and possibly downsize the overall selection of lenses into the most purposeful options.

Don't get me wrong. Selection and options are great, it's marketable and I'm guilty of buying lenses just for the appearance; but like I said in another thread, there's literally like 10 options that have a blue finish. Is it really justifiable to have that much, although I think some are kinda not being produced now? If anything I'd believe they're gonna keep the prominent Iridium lenses and mainly look to replacing the the VR, G, and lenses that rarely appear already (like Bronze).

And that's where the more plain naming scheme comes in - and Oakley was smart for this like max explained above: reading "Prizm Road" is a million times easier for a casual to interpret than VR28 and OORed. Before this, the Deep/Shallow water tints were headed in such a direction.

 

[Bosoxyacht]

Today I went to the Vault to pick up some lenses and a guy that has been working there for years told me that Oakley is going to transition to ONLY PRIZM lenses in the next two years. Has anyone else heard that?

Lol, That's a good one

It sounds like someone was talking out of their rear.

 

[discodave]

Lol, That's a good one

It sounds like someone was talking out of their rear.

That was the first I have heard of it but it definitely seems possible. Oakley is the only company that offers the variety of lenses that they already do now, and now with all of the new prizm options it seems like it's a bit much.