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Overview
I was supposed to receive those earlier
this year for review, but there where some shipping issues. On the
other hand back then was winter and sunglasses were not that
necessary. I received the 256MB Night Camo / Black Iridium Polarized
model. I am not a camouflage guy and also just wear Oakley glasses
for mountain biking. So I was not falling in love with the looks of
the glasses. They surprisingly look good on our
Gadget Model Christine. I have to say this right now: never ever
wear it with the lenses flipped open. It is dorky to say the least.
That is why you will not see a photo of Christine wearing it flipped
open. Convenient yes, but dorky!
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never ever wear it with the lenses
flipped open - it is dorky! |
The technical design of the Oakley Thump
is actually very nice. The glasses are extremely light with a weight
of 52g. The iPod shuffle weighs 22g and that without polarized
sunglasses. The MP3 Player components are well integrated into the
temples. The casing is held together by little screws. The
integrated headphones are adjustable in three dimensions. For people
with a small head they might still not fit.
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The Thump earphone can be moved
forward and backward, inside and outside and turned up and
down. |
To charge the Thump glasses I connect it
to the USB port. On one temple a USB mini plug is present under a
plastic door. A 3 hour charge gives a 6 hour play-time. Obviously 6
hours is not that great, the
iPod shuffle can do 12 hours. Connected via USB the mp3 player
sunglasses registers as a USB mass storage device and I can copy MP3
and WMA audio files to the glasses.
As with the iPod shuffle the Thump mp3 player has no display. The
glasses have one indicator LED and use audio cues to indicate on/off
state change or low battery indication. The audio cue is not a
little beep its actually sounds like a Thump or heartbeat - nice
touch.
To operate the music player buttons on each temple are available. On
the right temple are the play/stop/on/off button, next button and
previous button. On the left temple are the two volume control
buttons. Although the operation is pretty intuitive the embossed
icons on the inside of the temples are only readable in ideal light
conditions. Coloring the icons would make them much easier to see.
The sound is really good even with not having the ear-buds entirely
inside the ear. They float a bit in front of the ear tunnel. There
are no equalizer settings or other sound options, but I found there
is no need to change anything. The maximum volume level is decent,
but not super loud.
Conclusion
Oakley offers with the Thump an
innovative and well-designed wearable gadget. Oakley sunglasses are
already a matter of taste. The Motorola Oakley Razrwire
Bluetooth headset
sunglasses feature already a more elegant design. Maybe Oakley
will also introduce a metal frame version of the Thump in the
future. The MP3 player is nicely integrated and the weight of the
glasses is still low enough for comfortable wearing them. The sound
is great, the price is not. 500 dollars for a 256MB mp3 player is
hard to stomach, even for hard-core early adopters. The Thump
sunglasses are out now since a couple of month, maybe it is time for
Oakley to reduce the price. Oakley Thumps are traded on
eBay at lower prices.
How to Buy
The Oakley Thump and Thump accessories sell at  Circuit
City. See links below.
The 256MB Thump sells for $499.99. The 128MB
version sells for $399.99.
See also Thump listings on
eBay.
More Photos
Hi-Res Photos in the
Oakley Thump Photo Gallery.
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Oakley Thump Box: Contents: Thump
glasses, USB cable, Software CD and manual. |
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USB mini plug. |
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button Icons hard to read on the
inside of the temples. |
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rubber buttons on the top of the
temples. |
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Specification Oakley Thump
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Lens
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Clarity |
High Definition
Optics® (HDO®); patented Oakley XYZ Optics®
(virtually distortion-free vision at all angles of view) |
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UV blocking |
Oakley Plutonite®
lens material
(blocks 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light) |
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Strength |
Impact resistance
exceeds ANSI Z87.1-2003 requirements |
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Storage
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128 MB NAND flash
memory or 256 MB NAND flash memory |
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Audio
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CPU |
75 MHz DSP with
18-bit sigma Delta DAC |
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SN ratio |
-85.058 dB |
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Filtering |
Dual automatic EQ;
static and noise correction |
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Earphones
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Type |
Mylar speakers
with fore-aft booming and rotational positioning |
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Range |
20 Hz ~ 20,000 Hz |
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Input / Output |
16 Ohm / 20 mW |
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Distortion |
0.91183% |
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SPL |
NA |
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Battery
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Type |
Rechargeable
lithium-ion polymer, charged via USB connection or optional
external charger |
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Full charge |
Up to 6 hours
playback time (3-hour charge) |
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Quick charge |
Up to 4 hours
playback time (1-hour charge) |
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Computer
Interface |
USB 2.0, backward
compatible with USB 1.1 |
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Connection
Protocol |
USB mass storage
class specification |
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Controls
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Right ear stem |
Front: fast
forward/cue;
Middle: play/pause/power;
Rear: rewind/review |
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Left ear stem |
Front: volume up;
Rear: volume down |
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Audio Support
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MP3, WMA, WMA with
DRM, WAV |
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Operational
Modes |
Sequential
playback (in the order songs were loaded) or random play;
Power Save (turns off after 3 minutes of inactivity) |
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Status
Indicators |
LED (1) |
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Supported OS
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Windows XP, 2000,
ME or 98SE (98SE requires additional driver);
Mac OS 9.2.2, OS X 10.1.5, OS X 10.2 or OS X 10.3 |
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Operating
Climate |
-4°F ~ 140°F
(-20°C ~ 60°C) |
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Storage
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Short term |
-4°F ~ 140°F
(-20°C ~ 60°C) |
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Long term |
-32°F ~ 113°F (0°C
~ 45°C) |
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Weight
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52 g (less than
1.8 oz) |
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Size
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6.8" x 6.2" x 2.1"
(172 x 55 x 160 mm) |
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Frame Material
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Durable,
lightweight Oakley O Matter® |
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Included
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Operation Manual,
Quick Start Guide, USB Cable |
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Optional
Accessories |
World Wall Charger
with international adapters (07-860), Car Charger (07-862),
OAKLEY THUMP Soft Vault for storage (07-858), OAKLEY THUMP
Soft Box for storage (07-859), replacement/additional USB
cable (07-861) |
See also the Oakley Thump
site.
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