Oakley Thump 2 512MB Sunglasses Review

Re-Introducing Thump

Today we take a quick look at Oakley?s Thump 2 wearable electronics. In one of the first of many anticipated new products to hit the market this year utilizing the concept of ?all-in-one wearable electronics?. We have cell phones combined with multi-megapixel cameras, PDAs and cell phones, MP3 players and cell phones. Now for those who love outdoor activities we have an MP3 player built into ?sports performance? sunglasses.

Oakley Thump was introduced a few years back as the world?s first digital music eyewear. The latest version that we get our hands on offers up to one gigabyte of memory for your favorite MP3s. That?s around 240 (or 16 hours) of your favorite tunes in an eyewear frame with a built-in 75MHz DSP. Along with the electronic tech, you get premium Oakley optics and 100% UV filtering.

Oakley has delivered a pretty cool piece of hardware here as they allow you to not only transfer MP3, but other music file-types as well: AAC, WMA, and WAV are all supported. You can even use your Thumps to backup files and transport any digital file from one computer to another.

What?s in the box?

Besides the stylishly polished white frames and black iridium lenses, Oakley includes a cloth case (?software?), and a USB cable for charging the Thumps and file transfer. The set that we are evaluating is the 512 MB version that has a list price of $349.

Thump 2 Features:

Oakley GASCAN? style

• High Definition Optics (HDO) extend clarity to a wide peripheral view and enhance lens coverage to protect the delicate area around the eyes from the sun.
• Pure PLUTONITE lenses filters out 100% of all UV while optimizing impact resistance.
• Patented XYZ OPTICS offer razor sharp clarity at all angles of vision, even at lens periphery.
• Flip-up lenses contour and maximize protection against sun, wind and side impact. Option of the best polarized lenses (256 MB version only).
• Durable O MATTER frame is less than 1.8-ounce total weight for lasting comfort.
• Solid-state NAND flash memory with no moving parts. Supports storage of data files along with song files. Up to 6 hours of playback time on a single charge.
• 75MHz DSP with 18-bit Sigma Delta DAC for state-of-the-art audio fidelity.
• Custom Mylar speakers with three directions of movement for precise positioning.
• Includes High Speed USB cable for transferring song files from Mac or Windows PC.
• Three-color indicator light to show battery level.

Setting Up Oakley Thump to Play Music

Upon removing the Oakleys from the box, we charged up our Thumps for a little over an hour. A full charge takes no more than 3 hours if the battery is completely dead. The supplied USP cable serves not only to transfer data, it draws power from your computer to recharge Thumps internal battery. The USB cable plugs into the bottom of the Thumps behind the ear boom on the right side.

Using a PC or Mac, it was simple to load music files onto the Thump 2s. Just plug the glasses up (did I just say ?plug the glasses up??) via the USB-mini connection and both WinXP and OS X load the Thump as a removable drive. I loaded a few .mp3s that I had on my desktop there and the transfer rate was very good. I even copied a picture or two on to the Thump 2s with no problems at all.