I posted my review in the Lens Options Supplement, but not all of us read the reviews, so I felt I had to post this here. I am very critical of lenses in general, and I will pretty much boycott a lens that doesn't do it for me (I'm looking at you, Warm Grey). I had the unique opportunity to wear the Persimmon lenses from my Jawbone last night at a minor league baseball game. After the sun set, the Black Iridium Polarized was too dark, but as anyone who's ever been to a night sporting event can tell you, the lights are damn bright. I have been pretty much against the persimmon lens due it's very nature as a sunglass lens. However, when I swapped out the lens, persimmon made things much clearer. It cut the harshness of the lights (not the brightness, mind you), so when someone hit a fly ball, not only was I able to see the ball against the lights, it didn't really hurt to see the lights, nor did the lights leave temporary spots in your field of vision. Aside from that, persimmon enhanced contrast and it seemed as though there was an increase in depth perception as well. These are a niche lens, and I wouldn't recommend them to someone unless they knew exactly what they were getting. Here's the awesome part: A good portion of the Jawbones come with persimmon in addition to a more desirable lens. Since the Jawbone seems to be available at a cheaper price now (Vaults, eBay, and the like), it's a perfect opportunity to pick up an amazing sunglass and try out a relatively unloved lens. I highly recommend both persimmon and the Jawbone.

Thanks for the info, Ian. Good to see an application/analysis for this lens.

Too bad for the Jawbone, though: just too large. Oakley needs to consider making 'em smaller (and smaller than the Split Jacket, too).

That's a very helpful review Ian. That's the kind of review we can all benefit from.

When I shot in pistol competitions, I used to wear that lens all the time. The shooting I did was speed shooting with steel and pins. With that lens, it makes the red dot in the scope stand out much more.

Excellent review, Ian.

Persimmon, unfortunately, is one of my least favorite lenses. For the applications you're describing, including indoor shooting and outdoor shooting, racing motorcycles at night, etc., I still have to fall back on the HI Yellow /Yellow lens.

Persimmon is just not for me. My Splits came with the persimmon lens. Would love to trade those away for Hi Yellow.

I know several folks that swear by the persimmon lens. Just not for me, a bit too dark. Since colors are subjective, after reading your review, I'm going to have to give this color another shot and see.

D

Last week I purchased two pairs of M Frames that were advertised to come with Clear Vented Heater Lenses. (New from 6pm $40 each) What arrived were two M Frames with vented Persimmon Hybrid lenses. I'm building a couple of M Frame Shooting Arrays for the kids for Christmas. I've got a couple of Sweep Ice Lenses, now I'll find some clears because I guess I'm keeping the persimmons for partly cloudy weather.

Thanks for the review.

special shopping offer for a limited time...
http://www.the-o-shop.de/oakley-m-frame-slash-cobalt-persimmon.html

I really like the persimmon lens for end of the day running sessions. I also use it a lot for nite car rides. It helps not being dazzled by the car lights coming in front after many hours of driving. With persimmon lens, white things appear light orange which is relaxing for the eyes, less aggressive and less tiring. It gives a feeling of brightness and makes things really smooth in general.

There use to be a darker "persimmon" which was in fact called "rust"... which was available with eyeshades, razor blades and also early M Frames. That one is a bit harder to use I feel, it is really quite dark.

Difference between both colors:


./+A

Wow, first time I've seen Rust next to Persimmon. I knew it was the precursor to Persimmon, but I believe they existed at the same time for a while, so it was more than a name change. It's obvious from the pictures now.

Well, maybe they DID exist at the same time for a while... & probably the transition happened at M Frame 1st GEN time... then Rust disappeared I'd say...

I actually also have a Rust & Persimmon Razor Blades lenses... will take a pic...

I don't know of any Eyeshades with Persimmon... only Rust as far as I know... at least as a vintage lens... maybe they could have made some as a reissue...

./+A

its a good comparison, if you look on my recent set up pics, you can see the rust and persimmon differences in the hybrid lenses in the centre...

From the catalogs, I see:

1986 Eyeshade Catalog



1989 Blade Catalog:


1991 M Frame Catalog:


1993 M Frame Catalog (Both Rust and Persimmon):


1995 Zero Catalog (only Persimmon now):


1996 Zero and M Frame Gen 2 catalogs both have Persimmon options with no Rust in site.

All this vintage love is infectious.

I'm going to go stare at my Zeros for a half hour.

Love that '93 M Frame catalog. Thanks for posting!

Yes nice posting this.

I recently managed to complete this 8 different colors for M Frame lenses (but they are not all Hetaer shape though!)!

I didn't know that for a while they DID propose both Rust AND Persimmon which makes sense because these are indeed two very different things, different use and vision... I think after that, from Sub Zero they stopped the Rust to only keep the Persimmon.

./+A

There's also mention of Rust in the 1992 Goggle flyer, along with Orange Iridium, which provides a link between Orange Mirror and Fire.

http://oakley.decemberized.com/Goggles/1992/OakleySkiReport.pdf

Just got a pair of persimmon lenses from eBay for a pair of jawbones for the sole intent of grinding them for my Juliets , now I know some of u might think this a sin but I had to do it !!!! They don't make that lenses for Juliet so being the fabractor I am I just made them my self and let me just say they are BAD TO BONE ........ dremal $150 ...... Persimmons lenses $45 ....... Finaly haveing persimmons lenses for my Juliet's ....PRICELESS

Actually quite a few of us dremel to create lenses for models that don't offer a certain color. Half my splice collection is made up of customs. Check out the projects section in the forum, there are a few there.

i think HI persimmon is badass. also, the black persimmon transition lens is amazing.

Which one is the black persimmon actually? for which model?

how different is it to "classic" persimmon, for which use?

./+A

Normal Black Persimmon is the regular base with Black Iridium on top. HI Persimmon would have the Blue Iridium coating. The transitions are tricky since it's hard to pinpoint what they're actually talking about. I'd figure a persimmon base with some Black-to-Clear coating.

I can clarify, sorry

Half Jackets have this - Black Persimmon transition. Its really amazing. it starts out with a persimmon base with a black iridium coating. with exposure to UV, the Persimmon gets darker, almost to a VR28 black iridium lens.

i absolutely love it, and they look killer too.