Can £130 for a goggle be justified?

A snowHead

Cheap goggles can be fine, expensive ones should be. Depends what fits your face, what you do, how steamy you get, whether you believe marketing hype or justifiable technical superiority. Seal quality on the lens is the main thing I really give a toss about.

A snowHead

fatbob,
Which is why 2 pairs are required, rather than faffing about trying to chage lenses.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I refuse to spend £75 on a pair of Oakley A Frames, so I'm getting them given to me as a birthday prezzie just before we go away in a fortnight Very Happy

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queen bodecia, By your own admission though you don't ski fast, you don't ski hard and you don't ski in adverse conditions.

Why bother investing in salopettes and ski jacket when you could've just worn your mon-fri jeans & fleece?

holidaylover raises an extremely valid point when he says that it's cost per wear. I trust my Oakleys will last many years... if they don't - I refer you to skisimon - one of the reasons I decided to splash the cash (demand Oakleys a an xmas present) is Oakley's superb customer service reputation.

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fatbob, +1

But there does seem to be a unique degree of brand snobbery around the Oakleys. Well done their marketing department!

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This thread is getting a bit dull now. Sounds to me like a lot of people are trying to justify to themselves spending lots of money on expensive branded gear. Maybe they're worried their spouses are going to read this! Laughing

Alexandra, ever tried tucking skinny jeans into ski boots? Laughing

I do sometimes ski in a fleece though, especially at indoor slopes.

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Alexandra, she wink

queen bodecia, sounds to me like a lot of people are trying to justify to themsleves buying cheap gear wink

off to work now.

After all it is free

My goggles cost me around £70 when I bought them in Banff, £130 is excessive, I'd expect to pay that in overpriced Ski wear shops and expensive resorts!

I'm looking at getting myself another pair though as my Goggles are red tinted, I think a yellow tinted pair will come in handy for foggy conditions, I've heard that Oakleys are good but I'd like to know what would be good foir putting over my glasses. My left eye got irritated by contact lenses so I gave them up.

I bought a cheap pair of Bolle goggles because they were reactolite lenses which sounded like a good solution for varying light conditions, but still took my expensive Oakley ones (that I was assured I needed on my first ski strip!) just in case. I had also just fitted new replacement lenses to these as they scratch so easily! I took both pairs out with me each day - the Bolle ones out-performed the Oakleys every time Shock

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Kel, Do you carry 2 pairs about all the time, or decide which to take in the morning when you see the weather? Or do you never wear sunglasses?

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queen bodecia,
You seem to suggest that buying lower priced "perfectly adequate" stuff is the only sensible route. That's where you come across as condescending toward others who spend more. Just because you can spend less, it doesn't make spending more an obvious stupid thing to do..

I also have a small budget: I replaced my gear 4 years ago after a big break from skiing, and bought it ( and I still do very regularly) from the likes of Lidl, Aldi, Decathlon and TK maxx... This is perfectly adequate gear at a very reasonnable price. And god knows that without those outlets I'd have struggled to get skiing/boarding again.
Since then via birthdays, christmas, treats, I am slowly getting some branded stuff. To use the initial post's example, i.e. goggles, I have last year had some Anon goggles bought for me as a present. They're 2/3 times the price of my previous Decathlon goggles...and they're 2/3 times better in terms of fit and mainly lense quality (and I am a big decathlon fan which I think usually represents great value for money..).
In the summer I bought some foursquare snowboard pants. An ebay bargain at £50 instead of the £150RRP. The attention to detail and material/finish quality compared to my aldi or even Surfanic trousers is very obvious.. I have a couple more items like these.

The bulk of my stuff is still "cheap": Tchibo jacket, cheapest Decathlon snowboard, TK Maxx thermals, Lidl snowboard bag etc... And a perfectly good job it does. But the technical branded few bits I have do a better job than their predecessors. So they're good investments I can see where the extra cost at least partly went. I am also not naive enough to think I don't pay a bit for the name.

The gist of my post is that just because you can buy something that does a decent job at a good price, there is no reason why you should not spend more on something that does a better job (if you can afford it). Of course there will alway be horrrible examples (high price/terrible quality) but that does not detract from the general rule.
I am sure your €22 googles were adequate for you... maybe if you'd tried them after trying on a more technical/expensive pair you'd have been amazed at the difference ( then it's up to you to decide whether the price differential is worth it in view of what use you have of them)

For years since I was a teenager, I was going through virtually one pair of sunglasses a year. They were always cheapish, I'd always still squint as I have very light sensitive eyes. Then I also spent years licking the windows of almost avery shop (paricularly at airports) selling Oakley Juliets. I loved them but £200 was just a "stupid" price.. My wife got fed-up and pushed me to buy them.. and then one day I did..in a moment of madness. Best buy ever! The lense quality is extremely good, the frame is virtuall unbreakable, the fit great and because of the cost I am very careful with them..so 9 years on I still have them and wear them...overall certainly cheaper that the constant stream of "adequate" pairs I'd bought before..

Guide to me at top of Vallée Blanche: "your goggles are sheet".

You know it makes sense.

I was one of the £25 goggles are fine brigade until a couple of years ago, 7 out of 8 of us counldn't see a damn thing whilstNo 8 was wondering what the problem was, having bought a pair of Hi Yellow Oakleys that morning (coincedentally for £130). I now own a pair (bought at end of season for about £80) and Dr Missus GD will have a pair on the 25th. Dosh well spent IMHO. But I'm quite happy to kit the kids out at Mountain Warehouse. £"" for a jacket! Wow. Even looks ok and will last the 2 weeks he needs it for unless he sprouts again before Ester. Pesky kids!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Kruisler, very well put.

A snowHead

I have Adidas goggles, I bought them after getting fed up with my relatively cheap pair that always fogged up and I felt they restricted my vision, no such problems with my Yodai. I only paid £55 plus postage from the states. £130 does seem a bit steep. Which model are you talking about? Goggles are the one product I won't skimp on again...I wear my goggles all the time when snowboarding as I find sunnies to drafty so they are pretty important.

A snowHead

laundryman,

My wife would disagree and say your guide is more likely to have said "your goggles are sheet hein donc..."

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

...also, just checked on the Snow and Rock website....the goggles in question can be found on Vision3k.com for £99, infact, I'm struggling to find anywhere that isn't cheaper than Snow and Rock.

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joydivision,

You sound surprised?

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Queen B, I have a pair of sun-goggles that I think might have been called "Click", they have a fixed bar round the sides and back (like some sports headphones) and a magnetic binding between lenses, mine have lenes that look like Oakley Fire Iridiums. They make me look like some kind of bug eyed monster and I haven't seen them in the sjhops for a couple of seasons but they might have suited your specification on the hair/strap issue (but they would be hard for you to wear with your helmet Wink

).

Don't think they were £22 tho,

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Would it be fair to say that £130 for goggles is justified if, as well as giving perfect vision (including peripheral) in a range of light conditions and never fogging up, they also give you the body of a god/dess, a perfect smile, awesome snow technique and the sexual capacity of a rutting rhino?

On the other hand, if you can buy the same pair for 2/3 the price off a web site, then you're a pillock who deserves to be exploited at every opportunity. If you disagree, please send £20 to my paypal account and we'll take this discussion off-forum. wink

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Kruisler, I'm not suprised they are more expensive, but I am suprised by how much!

After all it is free

andyph,

queen bodecia,
About goggles vs hair vs hats: same as you loathe goggles I used to hate hats. Never ever did I find one that I liked and/or could wear for more than 5 minutes. They get on my nerves, they'd cause itchiness, goggles straps would not sit right/slip taking the hat with them etc... To the point that even in dire conditions I'd still not wear a hat and would get fairly cold sometimes..
Then I took up snowboarding and consequently bought a helmet...
Problem solved: no itchiness, head stays warm, goggles stay in place, comnfortable....oh and the added bonus that it apparently protects my skull... (and lidl sells them dead cheap!)

I am extremely happy with my Oakley Crowbars, I had a pair of £40.00 ish Bolle's for years and can certainly confirm you only get what you pay for. I also have a pair of Bolle Fire Iridiums for bright sunlight and they were approx £100.00 they are also the Muts Nuts although not as comfortable as the Oakleys.

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Kruisler, thread drift to helmets? Tsk tsk. You should know better wink

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andyph, I agree, at this point I feel compelled to add that before spending £130 on anything, I'll shop round and see if I can get the same model cheaper elsewhere if that's the product I want to buy - I'm not stoopid wink

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never confuse quality with price, from both ends of the argument Very Happy

Buy cheap, buy twice.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Lets not forget that we are talking about a product which your life may depend on. Anyone who has skied/boarded in a blizzard with goggles that are steaming up will appreciate just how dangerous this situation can be.

I scared myself witless (sounds like) in my cheap ones. Never again.

I also rather resent being called foolish or stupid for buying the best of something, especially from someone who is the first to say they will never use goggles in a way that could involve them steaming up.

I also don't need to justify the cost to my wife. In the last year my wife has spent approx £3000 on her skis (Rossi), boots (Nordica), jackets (2x E+O, 1x HH), pants (1x E+O, 1x AK), helmet, sundry gear and... two pairs of Oakleys... all paid for with her own money. I am sure she could have saved a few quid, but she bought what she wanted, mostly based on tech spec and styling. I spent around the same on my boarding gear and chose my kit for the same reasons. In all these purchases, product performance was more important than price. We'll use this kit until it breaks or until something technically better (for our abilities) comes out.

Should we be ridiculed because our kit includes what is widely regarded as the best goggles?

A snowHead

Jeez, I'm not ridiculing anyone. My point, my only point, is that a lot (maybe not all) 'branded' gear is overpriced. It is overpriced because they charge what they think they can get away with knowing that there are people out there for whom budget isn't an issue, who will buy the most expensive items simply because they believe them to be superior.

In some cases, they are either not superior, or they may be slightly superior but in my opinion do not justify a five or ten-fold price differential.

That's my point. Are £130 goggles really £110 better than £20 goggles? Is a £1000 off-the-peg motorcycle leather suit really £800 better than a £200 one? My answer to that would be no. I strongly feel that the prices of these products are set by what people are prepared to pay but the true value is very much lower.

After having said essentially the same thing several times, I am retiring from this thread. I hope you all enjoy your expensive gear. Very Happy

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Lidl £5. Job done. I can see through them; they don't steam up. Money saved for more interesting expenditure.

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Why buy Louboutins when you can buy £25 New Look rip offs? because sometimes it's nice to have nice things.

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I think that wealth should be re-distributed, all ski outlets/retail/on-line shops be closed in favour of Millets where we can only buy one style of everything in a uniform colour. Moving on, all resort accommodation for UK skiers should be homogenized, along with the food served to us in hotels, catered chalets (probably an improvement) and restaurants.......

Either there is some very inverted snobbery here or a genuine disdain for people who believe, as I do, that more often than not, quality costs more and generally lasts longer.

Never ceases to amaze me that the Woolies £1 brigade incessantly pat each other on the back for their frugality and accuse anyone who doesn't indulge in such a frugal love in as a braying, money wasting idiot.....

Whether you pay x or y for something, by all means tell us how fantastically it performed/worked, but keep your personal views on other's freedom to chose whatever they may want to your self.

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Chasseur, yet again someone who has missed my point.

After all it is free

queen bodecia, perhaps you haven't made your point as well as you think Puzzled

(or you've forgotten the content of your earlier posts)

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queen bodecia, if it's any consolation, I have understood your point and the only argument that still exists between you and holidayloverxx - who also understood your point - seems to be this:

Help!!

Can £130 for a goggle be justified?

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