Oakley have always been the iconic brand for snow glasses and goggles, but the sheer number of lenses on offer mean if you intend on doing your homework, choosing a new pair is like embarking on a postgrad thesis. More complicated than adjusting your TV, there’s contrast and light transmission, then coatings and colour filtrations – and what about which wavelengths you want to keep and which ones aren’t welcome? We’ve summarised and simplified it for you.

How they work

Usually goggles have just one lens. That means your one pair of goggles is only suitable for one type of light – be it morning, afternoon, twilight, spectacularly bright, or a white out. Ideally, you need more than one lens if you want to be able to see your way clearly. Oakley’s list of replacement lenses is almost as impressive as the Beatles’ back catalogue.

Light Transmission

It’s all about how much light gets through the lens to your eye. Each lens filters light differently and is designed especially for a particular set of weather conditions. High light transmission means a clear colour lens, letting through lots of light and making it great for low light. A darker or less transparent lens has a low level light transmission and protects your eyes from glare. These lenses are best in bright light.

Contrast

Grey used to be the colour for sunglasses, now they come in yellow and all shades between. Grey lenses work by taking away an equal amount of each wavelength light so everything is a little darker. Great for sunny days but bad in low light where everything gets darker. Grey lenses offer less contrast – the difference between bright and dark places. The colour of your lens or its coating (Iridium) changes the amount of contrast. Yellow lenses allow us to see more contrast by removing blue ligh which is hard for our eyes to focus on and causes blur.

Prizm

Oakley’s Prizm technology is the result of extensive colour science research. Their new lenses, “cut out the background noise” meaning the colour lens dyes minimise colours your eyes don’t need and maximise the ones they do. Your eyes are free to deal with important wavelengths giving you detail, clarity and depth.

Best of the bunch

FOR SUNNY BLUE DAYS

PRIZM BLACK IRIDIUM

Light transmission 5-10% and an Iridium coating for definition.

LOW LIGHT – YELLOW SNOW

H.I. YELLOW

78% light transmission and high intensity iridium coating for as much contrast as possible.

Changeable weather

PRIZM TORCH IRIDIUM

One minute cloudy, the next it’s sunny? With the Prizm Torch Iridium you still get the depth and detaIl. Light transmission score of 5-10% and an Iridium coating for high definition.

THE RANGE

The Range

PRIZM	Lens name	Ideal conditions	Light level	VLT*	Description	Available for
	Prizm HI Pink	Whiteout, Snowy, Overcast	Low, Flat Light to Medium Light	Around 25%	With the Prizm colour technology and High-Intensity Iridium coating, this lens is better at removing more visible light than other low light lenses.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner
	Prizm Rose	Whiteout, Snowy, Overcast	Flat Light to Medium Light	21%+	Filtering plenty of visible light, this Prizm lens performs well in low and brighter light levels.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, Splice
	Prizm Torch Iridium	Partly Cloudy to Sunny	Medium to Bright Light	11 – 20%	With Prizm technology for filtering colours we don’t need, and an Iridium coating for contrast, this lens is perfect for medium to bright light.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner
	Prizm Jade Iridium	Partly Cloudy to Sunny	Medium to Bright Light	11 – 20%	With a green Iridium coating for contrast, the Prizm Jade lens is suitable for cloudy and bright conditions.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, Splice
	Prizm Sapphire Iridium	Partly Cloudy to Sunny	Medium to Bright Light	11 – 20%	Sapphire blue iridium coating for contrast, and Prizm colour technology removing the colours which confuse your eye, this lens is the one for cloudy but bright weather.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner
	Prizm Black Iridium	Sunny	Bright Light	5 – 10%	The Prizm lens and dark Iridium coating cut out the glare whilst protecting your eyes for the brightest bluest cloudless days.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, Splice
	Clear	Night	Super low light	90%	For the night riders, these lenses are completely neutral in colour with maximum light transmission.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Ambush, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, O2, Splice
	HI Yellow	Whiteout, snowy, overcast	Flat or very low light	78%	Perfect for low light, the high Intensity Iridium coating gives contrast and added detail for flat and very low light conditions.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airwave, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, O2, Splice
	HI Persimmon	Whiteout, snowy, overcast	Flat or low light	63%	The high Intensity Iridium coating adds contrast and cuts blue light to boost detail.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Splice, Stockholm
	Persimmon	Whiteout, snowy, overcast	Flat or low light	62%	This lens filters blue light for more contrast. Made for low light conditions.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airwave, Ambush, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, O2, Splice, Stockholm
	VR50 Pink Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	41%	This Iridium coating performs well in various light conditions with good depth perception and contrast. A good mid range lens.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Splice, Stockholm
	Rose	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	35%	Another all-round good lens in a rose colour. Enhanced contrast as well as clarity and depth.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, Splice
	Gold Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	22%	An Iridium-coated gold lens for heightened clarity and depth, a good all round lens for medium to bright conditions.	A Frame, Crowbar, Splice, Stockholm
	Black Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	18%	This is a high-contrast lens with an Iridium coating for detail and depth – perfect for sunny days.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airwave, Ambush, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, O2, Splice, Stockholm
	Jade Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	17%	An increase in visual clarity without changing your perception of colour with this neutral lens. The iridium coating for extra detail and contrast.	A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Canopy, Crowbar, Flight Deck, O2, Splice
	Fire Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	16%	High-contrast Iridium coating for great detail and depth perception. Increased clarity with this dark but multicolour mirror lens.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Airwave, Ambush, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, O2, Splice, Stockholm
	Violet Iridium	Broken cloud, sunshine	Medium to bright light	14%	This is an Iridium-coated neutral lens tint so you can see more contrast.	A Frame 2.0, Flight Deck XM, O2
	Dark Grey	Sunshine	Bright light	10%	Great for bright light on sunny days, this neutral lens increases clarity and won’t change your perception of colour.	A Frame, A Frame 2.0, Airbrake, Airbrake XL, Airwave, Canopy, Crowbar, Elevate, Flight Deck, Flight Deck XM, Line Miner, O2, Splice, Stockholm
	24K Iridium	Sunshine	Bright light	10%	Iridium to keep the contrast and detail, with a highly reflective 24k lens cutting out 90% of visible light for very bright conditions.	Airbrake, Crowbar