Oakley Airwave Goggles
Oakley have joined forces with Recon Instruments to integrate Recon’s fighter-pilot style heads-up display into into Oakley’s high end goggles.
The Oakley Airwaves cram and impressive amount of technology into a pair of goggles. An onboard accelerometer, gyro, GPS chip and barometer feed you precise details about your speed, altitude, position and the gnarly jumps you’ve landed – all via the HUD. Meanwhile, the Airwaves have Bluetooth integration with your iPhone or Android phone via Oakley’s bespoke app. This means that all the data is recorded so you can brag about in the bar later but, more excitingly, it also allows a group of friends who all have the kit to track each other’s locations. The Bluetooth facility also allows the goggles to display incoming SMS messages, notify you of incoming calls, and even control your playlists. The information is displayed on a prism display inside the goggles which gives the impression of looking at a 14″ screen from a distance of 5 feet. The functions are controlled from a wrist-mounted controller, with chunky buttons that can be operated while wearing ski gloves.
With all that technology included, it’s important not to loose sight of the fact that the primary purpose of a pair of goggles is to cut through glare and keep the snow out of your eyes – not allow you to read text messages. Thankfully, the Airwaves also deliver on that principle objective, with Oakley’s SwitchLock technology allowing you to select the most appropriate lens for the conditions. We’re fans of the clean, minimal look of them as well.
At $599, The Oakley Airwaves are a very expensive pair of goggles. However, when you consider that the technology here was – quite literally – the stuff of science fiction until a few years ago, the price doesn’t seem so unreasonable. Just make sure you don’t drop them off a ski lift…