 Poster: A snowHead
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After skiing in Ischgl the other week i found that my pair of Ski Goggles were no good in flat light and ruined my skiing.  I was wearing a pair of Smith's Classic.
I was wondering which goggles and lens colour are best for those conditions.
I heard that Oakleys were very good. What about Smith or any others?
Looking for a pair between £50-80.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yellow or Persimmon are the one's to go for, for flat light.
As long as it's a good quality lens, it does'nt much matter what make, as long as it fits well.
I've got Oakley, Mrs. has Adidas, Jnr has Scott.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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surfski, I highly recommend the Oakley HI Blue lens - excellent in low light.
Also Smith Blue Sensor Mirror lens is good (not quite as good as the HI Blue though).
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| stephen bleakley wrote: |
surfski, I highly recommend the Oakley HI Blue lens - excellent in low light.
Also Smith Blue Sensor Mirror lens is good (not quite as good as the HI Blue though). |
Yes ok can you tell me which model?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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surfski, I have the Oakley Wisdoms and the Smith Anthem.
I expect that they do other models with the same lens types.
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stephen bleakley, Is the Hi Blue lens actually blue in colour ? Im know that sounds daft but I read somewhere that blue was the worst colour lens for flat light as it remove contrast.
Does anyone recommend polarised lenses ?
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| mike.healy wrote: |
| stephen bleakley, Is the Hi Blue lens actually blue in colour ? |
Nope, they're yellow.
they also renamed them because it was confusing.
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I've been pleased with my Bolle Vermillion lenses, good for poor to mid-light conditions.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I use Bolle screams with the vermillion lense and they are fatstic in low/flat light.
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marc gledhill, "they also renamed them because it was confusing" - so what are they called now please ?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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mike.healy, Hi Intensity Yellow 
Loads of thought went into that!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Oakley G30 lenses are also brilliant - good for low light but sufficiently versatile to cope with a bit more sun. They're a kind of pinky/orange colour. I've got A frames, but they do the lens in all their goggles.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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surfski, I can't answer your question, but am adding another. I'm wondering about goggles too - preferably not super expensive. I wear OTG goggles at the moment, an ancient but expensive pair I bought half price in a sale during the Cold War. They do fog a bit sometimes, but on the whole not a huge problem. But the goggles are now a bit scratched and worn. The prescription packages are confusing, some have optical inserts you can take out of the goggles, others replace the goggle lens with a prescription lens. The former are cheaper - but I am wondering whether, as there are still two lots of glass, they are any less prone to fogging than having specs and OTG goggles. In other words, would I be as well off with new OTG goggles and my existing specs. I'm interested in the flat light answer too - the other threads shed some light on the subject - but the lenses available in the Bolle goggles you can do the inserts with are "vermilion gun". Are they OK in flat light?
Some of the special ski/wrap round prescription sunglasses look good - but very expensive.
Does anyone know whether this sort of thing is cheaper in France? There's a place near the Geant supermarket in Albertville, I could try there.
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Poster: A snowHead
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surfski, Can you not just get new lenses for your Smiths? I have Smith Fuse Regulators and got some different lenses - blue sensor mirror and found them pretty good in flat light. Think they were around 20-30 quid for the lens.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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IMT, I'm afraid my Smith goggles are getting a bit old and knackered and the foam around the frame is wearing out. I don't think they would fit better lenses for them anyway as they were only cheap ones.
Someone must now if these Bolle lenses are good in flat light?
Modulator Citrus, Modulator Vermillon and Vermilion gun? 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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TK Maxx have some North Face Yellow lense goggles from last season for £19.99, mirrored as you look at them from the front, but yellow as you look out, wearing them - not tried them yet but bought as a back up pair because of the price and North Face usually good quality, have seen same model in 2 different stores, so there's a budget option 
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Hey, I've got a pair of Electric goggles. The lenses on them are interchangeable and you usually get a free spare with them. I have 1 lens that's a kinda reflective looking thing that's great in sun, and a pink lens that's awesome in flat light. I know, I know, pink sounded offputting when I first saw them but as soon as I tried them, I've not taken them out. If it's a really sunny day, it makes you squint a little bit occasionally, but blocks all the UV anyway. See if you can get a different lens for yours first, but if not I'd highly recommend the Electrics.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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just to weigh in, my preference is oakley, I have the fire iridium and High Intensity persimmon, fire for bright days, persimmon for flat light. The frame Im using is the Wisdom, discontinued a few years ago, but it doesn't matter, most of oakleys goggle range (possibly all) can replace the lenses. takes a while so I am looking at fleabay for a spare frame. Kids have the XS O frame with persimmon and black iridium lenses, the Mrs has the A frame with emerald iridium and persimmon.
Cant recommend the Oakley range more, yes they can be expensive but they don't have to be, just seen some a frames on a site for £65 - search for oakley outlet. choice of frames and lens colours, just save up for the second lens.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Holy thread bump Batman!! 7 Years is pretty good!
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Megamum, Kapow 
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Same initials. Mmmm.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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For prescription lenses the best website I found is www.rxsports.co.uk
As for me I own a pair of Anon M2, with magnetic interchange lenses.. Couldn't be easier to change lenses on the go, even with your gloves on! For this goggles the best graybird lenses are the blue lagoon and red ice.. I had Oakley goggles, POC goggles and I wouldn't go back!
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Any more info as this is over 7 years old now so just looking to see what is out there now and what you guys can recommend.
Flat light is a killer for me too.
I have Alpina which I got in Garmisch a few years ago on the Zugspitze for Bright light conditions (Expensive then at €100)
and some Wredze from Decathlon for flat light, they are OK but could be better, at £20 in the sale.
More thoughts gratefully received
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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AJQ,
I bought a pair of Smith Phenoms with the Sensor Mirror lens; they are exceptional in bad light, but I only used them twice in 2 years. Then because I needed another pair anyway, I bought a pair of the Bolle Nova with vermillion modulating lens - they are the canine's gonads!
Not as good as the Smiths in very low admittedly, but not far off, and brill in direct sun.
Unless of course you fancy buying a pair of Smith Phenoms..... 
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Oakley Persimmon or hi yellow
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You know it makes sense.
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I've been using Oakley A-frame Hi-Yellow this week in poor vis in Meribel, fantastic!
Got them through Eyewear outlet for £69 instead of £135.......
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Thanks guys will check them out 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mozworld, where did you get your Nova modulators in Vermillion blue. From what I can tell Bolle only make the Citrus gun modulators on the Nova frame for this country. The only website selling the vermillion modulators in a Nova has dispatch of 5-11 working days (imported?) which is too late for my ski trip.
The modulators are generally quite confusing. Citrus gun modulators according to the UK Bolle site have a maximum visible light of 45% but the citrus dark modulators on the US website go up to 66%, the same as the Vermillion Blue.
Would be interested to know if anyone has used the Nova citrus gun modulators in poor conditions / flat light and how well they performed.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Another vote for Oakley Hi-Yellow
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Another Oakley wearer here - have the Canopy goggles with fire iridium for the bluebird days and Hi-Yellow for really dull days. The fire iridium are pretty good even in poor light and it has to be really bad for me to dig out the hi-yellow
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Sorry but you are going to have to try different goggles yourself - there is lots of good ideas in the above. But different peoples eyes see things differently - not just focus range and age its also to do with colour temperature (nothing to do with actual temperature). Goggles that work for me don't work for all my regular ski friends and vice versa.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hmmmm...... That will open up the debate further.........
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My 7 year old persimmon lenses have got too scratched to be of much use, but can I find some nice hi yellow? Can I hell. Ended up going for clear for under 25 quid from https://www.freezeproshop.com They will actually be better for night skiing which I do a bit of coming down from touring.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Julbo all the way. Their Zebra Light lens goes from cat 1-3 No need to switch and change lenses.
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For flat light you really want a category 2 lens in your googles IMHO.
Colour isn't nearly as important. The Category relates ~ to how much of the light is filtered out by the lens. The lower the category the more light they let through. You could of course get cat 1 or 0 lenses but I found these give huge glare in sunshine. So I would recommend cat 2 lenses for best vision performance.
After deciding on which catergory of lens you want, then getting polarised lenses also helps as it 'cleans up' the reflected incoherent light, of which you get a lot in a white out, and makes it easier to decipher vision in a whiteout. Finally things like fit, aperature, lens colour, flexibility and other factors come into play.
FWIW I bought a pair of Alpina, 'Fight', goggles in a white out in St Anton a few years back and I absolutely love them. They have a cat 2, polarised lens and are totally flexible which can be handy in a wipe out or when you sit on them or whatever. They have a red hue and are branded 'fight', neither of which I'm keen on tbh, but since these don't affect their excellent performance one iota I don't give a tossers. I think they cost me circa 80 yoyos on the mountain and are top class!
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