Getting close to Father's Day and still stumped? Consider Thumps. The new Split Thumps from Oakley [1] are a combination of sunglasses and an MP3 player. They're a terrific gift for the dad who likes to soak up the sun and get his groove on at the same time.
With traditional MP3 players, outdoor activities such as mowing the lawn or practicing your golf swing often result in a tangle of earphones and equipment. Oakley took care of that problem by building the MP3 player and its controls into the arms of the sunglasses.
I took these shades around Seattle with me, and everyone at the coffee shop (my kind of recreation) was impressed. Surprisingly, they're very light, and the sporty style flattered all who tried them on. The music controls on the arms are discreet and pretty simple to operate.
The shades feature adjustable earphone extenders that are a cinch to clip on and off. And I'm no technophile, but I found that the headphones provided a richness of sound and clarity that blew the standard ear buds to bits. The sunglasses also proved skip-proof when I ran errands around the rough terrain of Queen Anne.
Oakley Split Thumps come with Mac- and PC-friendly software that lets you create playlists and mine tunes from your music library. A high-speed USB cable is also included.
The Split Thumps cost $249, which seems pretty reasonable for a pair of quality sunglasses combined with an MP3 player that can hold nearly 500 songs and lasts for almost 8 hours on a single charge. Locally, you can pick up a pair at Market Optical, REI and Seattle Sunglass Co., or online at the Oakley Web site [2].
A final note about etiquette: There is a certain type of guy-on-the-go who finds it appropriate to wear his shades everywhere, and with an MP3 player attached, he might be even more inclined to leave them on at all times. But since the Oakley Thumps don't come with a warning plastered across the lenses, I'll provide one here: Under no circumstances are you to wear these sunglasses indoors. Not at the gym. Not in the airport. Not at the mall. Not at the convenience store. Just don't.
If you have a shop, sale, event or great product tip you'd like to share, e-mail seattleshopping@nwsource.com.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
