Loyal brand followers may have noticed a new addition to Oakley’s range of performance sunglasses this week. The Tombstone is the American outfit's newest sport-shooting and military issue frame (or lack thereof), but it looks like it may be pretty great for cycling too.
Essentially the Tombstone looks like a frameless version of the ever popular Radar/Radar EV and to our eyes seems similar in shape to Spy Optics' Daft.
Related reading: Oakley Radar EV Prizm reviewed
Based on all the information we have from Oakley, the Tombstone was designed around sport shooting and military applications with an emphasis on field of view, contrast and clarity, and lens interchangeability.
Prizm lenses are designed to optimise vision in specific conditions
In a similar vein to its findings for the cycling-specific Jawbreaker glasses, Oakley used special pupil tracking technology to work out that marksmen mostly utilise the central and upper portions of the lens.
There’s no frame to get in the way on the outer edges of the Tombstone lens, which Oakley claims offers a 120-degree field of view. As the frame, especially at the upper edge of a lens, is what we complain about most, the prospect of a frameless Radar makes a few BikeRadar staffers mouths water.
Related reading: Oakley Jawbreaker released
To keep lens changes quick and easy, Oakley has used a ‘single trigger release’ version of its Switchlock system, where the push of a button releases the arm from the lens to be easily clipped onto the next. This push button system will likely add to the longevity of the Tombstone as ‘pop and lock’ style lens changes can become loose over time.
As with the rest of Oakley's performance sunglasses range, the Tombstone will be available with the Prizm lens, albeit a sport-shooting version. Prizm is Oakley's new lens technology, where special tints are used to block specific spectral peaks and colour wavelengths to enhance contrast and improve clarity in a range of light conditions.
Though it may sound like marketing buzz to drive up lens sales, in our experience the Prizm lenses really work – in a road cycling and trail environment at least. We can’t see why Oakley couldn't just go ahead and release road and trail versions of the Tombstone lens.
Oakley's new Tombstone
Though we’re not sure how well the shooting versions of the Prizm lens will perform on the bike, there's also a version with a standard lens, and three lens shapes to choose from too: Array, Reap and Spoil.
For the moment the Tombstone only appears on the Oakley US site and ranges in price from US$180 to US$285.