When you buy a set of glasses with multiple lenses, isn't the point to have different lenses for different lighting scenarios? I just bought a pair of Fast Jackets off the Oakley Vault because they were on sale for $65, and they came with VR28 Black Iridium lenses and Gray lenses. Both of those have the exact same light transmission.

I noticed another set that is very similar as well with Jade Iridium and Blue Iridium. I'm not mad about my purchase. I bought them knowing the lenses were about the same and just figuring I was getting an extra set of lenses for basically free. I just thought that the combos were kind of pointless.

Intially that was true, it was meant for bright and lower light scenarios. Moreso in the age of the M Frame and Half Jacket arrays, when clear or HI Yellow were the complement to Black/Grey. With the release of the Style Switch, they moved more into 'mood' lenses, so you'd have a flashy lens and a more conservative one. I'd think that the sports models would be catering to the light transmissions more, but that's how things stand.

Vault models may just be getting rid of things, so the lens combos might not be ideal in the end.

Agree with Dann on some Vault models being put together as a way to use up excess inventory of parts.

The colors you mentioned could also be seen as a way of offering a contrast and a neutral base tint lens for different conditions (e.g. partly cloudy or flat light vs. bright sun).

Jade and Blue both offer a similar bright mirror appearance, but Jade has a neutral grey base while Blue has a contrast VR28 base.

Interesting. I guess I'll have to play around and see which base is better for which scenario. Previously I've had a Black Iridium lens and a VR28 (regular not the iridium). So I would use Black Iridium on sunny days and VR28 on cloudy days. I've never had two with the same light transmission but different contrast to compare.

Personal preferences vary greatly, but I like neutral tints such as Black Iridium only for super-bright summer days (to me, it can almost be too dark if it is cloudy or the sun is low at dawn or dusk). Contrast lenses like VR28 and G30 work well for almost any other condition down to light overcast. I like the way they make colors (especially green) brighter and "warmer", but they may not be dark enough for the brightest days.

Originally all swichlock styles did come with a "bright" light lens and a "low" light lens. In selling them that way what was found out was most people couldn't care less about the low light lens and it was costing sales of those models. Now instead you will see a neutral lens and a contrast lens which is more compelling to most customers.

So it appears now that Oakley has only one model of the Fast Jacket left on Oakley.com and isn't selling the Split Jacket at all anymore. I thought the switchlock idea was a good one, but it would appear it hasn't worked out very well.

I think Switchlock, as a concept, is a work in progress. The upcoming Jawbreaker solved the issue of a having a full frame that doesn't have to split apart (New Racing Jacket/Split Jacket) or just drop the lens out (Radar/Fast Jacket). Goggles have also been having it in various designs. I think they may be working the bugs out and then pursuing enhanced designs that will implement the technology better. Oakley has a history of looking down on it's earlier creations as inferior while pushing ones that will surpass them. (We'll ignore Frogs for the sake of argument)

any info on that Jawbreaker, I saw a picture and it looks like would cause problems with peripheral vision.

Dann, I was just kind of surprised because their sport models have typically had some very long lifespans.

Bruce, I don't do a ton of cycling, but I would not consider peripheral vision to be a problem simply because the faster you travel, the more pronounced your tunnel vision usually becomes.

They do if they're a success, but I started seeing certain colorways of the Fast Jacket on DE sale within the same year of its release. Unlike the Half Jacket and Flak Jacket, they apparently didn't rocket to the top of the chart. Plus we're due for the next gen this year, so they may be putting more stock in that. Also the price point was fairly high and being forced to pay for the second lens put them out of the range of the others.