Ever since that video of Stale Sandbech playing around with them hit the internet, the Oakley PRIZM Reacts have been top of the Whitelines hit list for testing. Due to there only being two test models in the whole of Europe (expect similarly limited supplies once they’re released as well) it took us until July to get them in my hands, but once so I headed out to Tignes for a week of summer shredding to test all aspects of this crazy new tech out.

The sample pair we got didn’t come with any instructions, but in the end they proved so simple it took less than ten minutes to figure them out. A small button under the strap on one side turns them on, taping the right side of the frame makes them darker and the left makes them brighter. There’s three levels to toggle through, and the vibrating feedback handily lets you know which level you’re at, as well as if you’re powering them on or off, very useful as it’d be a pain to constantly have to take them off to check a light.

“This was undeniably the quickest way to swap tints, and the most secure”

After realising you have to charge them, the main fear I had was that they’d run out of battery, but after (predictably) completely failing to remember to charge them at any point over six days they were still going strong by the end. Good, as I was on a glacier and didn’t fancy having my retinas seared out. I’d mostly had them cranked all the way to the darkest setting (I don’t know if that affects battery life at all) but had given plenty of demos to anyone who was intrigued by them.

The surprising thing was, I could actually see these being useful rather than a novelty. Compared to other lens changing systems, this was undeniably the quickest way to swap tints, and the most secure as the lens just can’t be removed. You’d be rightly concerned about the risk of them fogging, but after hiking the park for a week in summer I didn’t notice them steaming up once.

In terms of comfort, they ticked the box labeled ‘barely noticed they were there’ – they certainly weren’t noticeably heavier on the face for the added battery power – and the vision and clarity were superb. Oakley’s PRIZM is rightly one of the most lauded lens techs out there.

Detractors will inevitably latch onto the price when finding fault, but yeah, it’s Oakley we’re talking about. They’ve already found a way to flog plastic sunnies for over €100, so no surprises here.

It’s best to look at them as a decent alternative to what’s already out there, but if the price is out of your range then just ignore them – most other things work almost as well in practice.