Which Goggles......

A snowHead

Looking to buy my husband new goggles. He has a pair but found on the last trip that when skiing in heavy snow they were not very good and he found it hard to make out the piste. Thank you

A snowHead

2waterford,
Try some which have a very yellow tint and are defined as Cat1. Next best is orange, I find, also Cat1. Bolle do a red tint which I find is not so good.

But there's a good test - go into a shop and repeatedly hold the lens in front of your eyes (strap dangling) and then move it away from your eyes, looking at something outside the shop which has both light and shadow on it - like a white wall for example. Some goggles really accentuate the difference between the shadows and the white. The ones that do this best are the ones to go for.

Also go for a double lens of course.

Good makes which I have used:

Smith (the best I think) - yellow tint
Scott (next best) - amplifier lens
CEBE - orange
BLOC - orange

Oakleys are very good although there are loads of different lens and you'll have to do the check above to get the one which suits you best. I don't use them since I need OTG (over the glasses) goggles; the first three above are excellent OTG models. Also, final thing, if your partner is helmet wearing, then worth making sure that the fit of the helmet and the goggles is a good one - some just don't work well together.

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

2waterford, Oakleys -So good I have 4 pairs!

BUT make sure he tries them on with his helmet - potentially an ill fit will render him a gaper (cold-but definitely not cool) and worse a bad fit can be uncomfotable and push goggles down on the bridge of the nose. Cool

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Smith IO Recon wink

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

No matter what people say, there's no lens that will help with flat light. If it's flat light, it's flat light and no matter what you do, you won't be able all of a sudden to see all the bumps and holes in such light. Only thing that helps in such light is to learn how to ski reacting to bumps when you hit them without seeing them Wink

Otherwise lens tint is personal preference. Personally there's no way I would be skiing with blue or yellow lens (I have orange ones for years, even when it's about glacier skiing in bright sunny days), but someone else can't stand orange and won't change his/her blue lens for anything. So it's impossible to tell what will be best option for you or your husband.

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have a look at ZEAL i beleive they are the only polarised and photochromatic goggles around, ive had a pair for a couple of years and they are brilliant, saves worrying about different coloured lenses all the time.

After all it is free

I recently bought some Smith Phenom goggles with sensor mirror lenses and they are really good. The venting is excellent so no steaming and they coped very well in both sun and flat light. They also fit nicely with my Salomon helmet. I found them better than the Oakley persimmon lenses.

Dragon "Mace" goggles Toofy Grin

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Smith Sensor Mirror with a 70% VLT are very good in low light.

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2waterford, If you want to get lucky, Beer Goggles are usually best

bobmcstuff, ...there's a reason hwy yellow lens DO appear to improve visual acuity in low, flat light conditions - it is not a spurious or subjective effect:

see

http://journals.lww.com/optvissci/Fulltext/2000/02000/Contrast_Is_Enhanced_by_Yellow_Lenses_Because_of.11.aspx

and see the para:

'...Despite no increase in contrast sensitivity with the white-on-black grating at the luminance of 20 cd/m2 used in this study, testing with a white-on-blue grating showed a significant increase in contrast sensitivity at mid- to low-range spatial frequencies, with yellow tinted lenses compared with the clear control lenses. This indicates that any subjective improvement in vision with colored lenses may be linked to the well-established detriment in color vision with their use. The lenses absorb blue light, reducing the luminance of a blue background and hence improving the apparent contrast of lighter overlaying objects. At the 450-nm wavelength of light of the blue background, there was < 5% luminous transmission with the tinted lenses compared with nearly 95% with the clear control lenses. Therefore, the reduction in luminous transmission over the visible light range with higher wavelength cut-off lenses, which reduces the contrast of a white-on-black grating, is effectively reversed with a white-on-blue grating. The predicted gain in contrast was 1.1× with the yellow filter, 1.2× with the dark yellow filter, and 5.9× with the orange filter, compared with an overall gain in the six spatial frequencies tested of 1.2×, 1.3×, and 1.4×, respectively.

The changes found in contrast sensitivity function with the use of tinted lenses were approximately 100 units. They may be greater at higher luminance levels, accounting for the benefit found by aviators, skiers, and marksmen in using yellow tinted filters. The diseased or aging retina may also be better able to use residual rods or compensate for blue-yellow system damage, often occurring before red-green damage in diseased eyes, when the contribution of lower wavelengths of light are reduced. It has been noted that the sky appears to be a deeper blue color toward dusk because of the contribution of the atmospheric ozone layer. 35 Thus the yellow filters may be particularly beneficial in these circumstances to enhance contrast against the background of the sky...'

Net effect....you see more shadows in the snow, using yellow lens, and even with this being a subtle effect, it can significantly enhance visual cues in flat light, making skiing a LOT easier.

Hence it is REAL that yellow lens - in many people - do genuinely improve skiing in flat light or cloud.

You know it makes sense.

Oakleys have always served me well - I have 2 pairs with 3 lenses - Persimmon (orange) for the cloudy days, pink Iridium for the mixed cloud/sun days and Fire Iridium for the bluebird days!

If I could, I would get a hi-intensity yellow lens for the cloudy days but Oakley have discontinued my model of goggle (Wisdom) so replacement lenses are getting harder to find - Oddly enough, the reason I went with Oakleys in the first place is because they're so ubiquitous that replacement lenses are always easy to come by - this is most certainly not the case for most other manufacturers. If one of the more popular models that have been around for years (e.g. A Frames) fit his face/helmet then they're probably the best to go for.

All models have double lenses so it's a really a case of (in this order) 1. Helmet compatibility 2. fit to face 3. styling preference.

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

The Oakley Persimmon (Orange tint) is a good all-round lens, but there are dozens of specific lenses for different light conditions if you really want to optimise. Spy Optics make some good goggles too, again with loads of lens tint choices.

A snowHead

I've got a set of Oakleys fitted with the 2nd most expensive set of yellow persimmon lenses - their really spendiferous low light yellow lens costs a small fortune, I've also got a pair of rose coloured lenses that came with them. I've also got a spare set which are Scotts fitted with grey amplifier lenses. As mentioned above nothing I've tried will cut through really flat light (which I find is the most scarey stuff to ski in - reduces me to tears and collywobbles at times - esp. when you are on a strange piste next to an edge and you don't know how wide it is Skullie

)

A snowHead

Oakley HI Yellow = the absolute bomb for flat light but not really wearable if the sun peaks out a little. Or at least not for me, but I do have sensitive eyes.
Oakley HI Persimmon = not quite as good for flat light as the HI Yellow but still very good and are suitable to wear in mid light conditions as well.

The 'HI' bit is important, HI persimmon better than plain old persimmon.

Check out the oakley website, you can play with different tints and see what conditions they are suitable for.

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

Careful with Oakley if you ever head plant and need to get the snow off the inside lenses!

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IMV, it's all smoke and mirrors Wink

Even the World Cup skiers can't agree on what's best. Just pick what suits.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

The world cup guys have a goggle sponsor so their choice is driven by the cash.

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After all it is free

Bad light/heavy snow - ski in the trees. Simples.

If it's truly a white out you are skiping with your feet end of (and I am usually skiing my feet straight into the nearest bar).

My vague recolection is that there are different reflections and absorptions of blue light from snow in different conditions so yellow-ish filters help.

We acquired Smith IOs earlier in the season with dual lenses for sunshine and fat light. They work very well. Except that my helmet goggle combination lets in a little snow when the helicopter comes in for pickup. No biggy...

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under a new name, surely your valet sees to that as well as clearing the ice from your bindings?

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Anon are good and VFM

kat.ryb, you are not going fast enough

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Kel, Try some Vuarnet sun glasses in yellow three band, better than Oakley for keeping away pink eye and fabulous in flat light.

You know it makes sense.

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

fatbob, Sorry, I wasn't clear - it happened once, but was then dealt with by my skier's gentleman. Sorted!

Primoz, kel, sorry guys, physics says you are wrong.

A snowHead

under a new name, What I can't see tells ME I'm right wink

A snowHead

under a new name, physics might be right on paper. In reality you don't see a sh** in flat light, no matter what lens tint you have. In all these years I tried pretty much every possible combination, and neither works. There are combinations that are a little bit better or worse, but you still don't see anything. As I wrote, only way to ski in flat light is to learn to ski reacting when you hit bump, and not reacting before, when you see bump, like you do in normal light conditions.

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

Kel, primoz, depends on just how bad it is. Sure, if you are in a heavy snow storm/in thick cloud/fog, then you'll be picking your way from piste marker to piste marker and see absolutely nothing, no matter what your lenses. Fair point.

But if we're just talking more ordinary and common flat light, then a lightly tinted yellow/orange lens will enhance what contrast is available.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

under a new name, I'm not talking about those extremes... normal flat light when it's cloudy, or even just when you are in shadow early on morning. I agree there's slight difference with orange (in my case) lens, then with no lens, but it's still nowhere near enough to ski normal. So on the end you still have only 3 chances... learn to ski the way I wrote (it's not impossible, and it's actually a must for all racers), ski slower (which is not fun), or steer to nearest pub (which is also not fun... at least when other option is skiing Smile

)

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2waterford, I've always had problems with flat light and have tried the various lenses suggested but never found they suited me. Last year I got some Scott Jewel and I found them better than anything else I have tried, the lens is a light grey and the box says they are light sensitive, they were suggested to me by another person who has a problem with flat light.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Rather than buying new goggles, you could always buy new lenses for your existing goggles. Would work out a lot cheaper for you...?

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Which Goggles......

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