Hitting the slopes makes for a beautiful and invigorating vacation in any season. The crisp, cool air passing across your face as you whip down the side of a mountain and the bright sun reflecting up from the snowy slope can take your mind off the worries of everyday life. Without proper gear, however, that lovely crisp, cool air and that bright sunshine can become a real nuisance to the eyes. A good pair of ski goggles will protect your eyes and ensure that your getaway to the snowy slopes will be as wonder-filled as you intended. With so many types of choose from, use these ski goggles reviews to find the best ski goggles. You can be on your way to that frosty resort in no time!
Best Ski Goggles
Ski Goggles Reviews
Ski goggles are one of the most important pieces of gear you’ll have when you hit the slopes. The crisp, cool breeze, the bright sunshine, and the flakes of snow all make for a pleasant experience and an invigorating, fun-filled getaway, but having the wind and sun and snow in your eyes definitely brings the pleasure of the experience down a notch. Good eyewear can make all the difference in your time on the snowy hillsides. There are so many options on the market to choose from, though, so we put together a list of our five favorite goggles to help make your choice easier.
Oakley Splice
This fashionable adult sized style will surely keep your eyes clear and protected while you’re whipping across the snowy terrain. With a snug and comfortable frame and its adjustable strap, Oakley Splice eyewear provides a highly customizable fit. Available in enough designs to suit anyone’s style preference, they are perfect for men and women alike, and with the iconic Oakley name, you know these are well made and perfect for your snow sporting experience. With more than thirty lens color and strap pattern combinations, you can find the lens color and visible light transmission level that is right for the conditions ahead of you. Yellow is available for low-light days, and dark grey for bright and sunny conditions. A mirrored finish is available for those who expect especially sunny days in their future. The field of vision made possible through this premier eyewear is very wide, allowing a clear peripheral view, and many reviewers have found this pair very comfortable to wear even with a helmet. They offer great UV protection and eliminate glare almost entirely. Available at a good price and with so many options, you will be on the slopes in style and comfort!
Smith Optics Scope
Smith Optics Scope eyewear with simple, classic style is available in a black frame and strap or in a crisp white frame and strap with your choice of a mirrored dark grey lens, a mirrored blue to purple lens, or a rose copper lens. The fit is medium sized and with the strap adjustment, it’s perfect for most people and works great with a helmet. Offering great high-tech lens features like the cylindrical carbonic-X lenses with TLT optics, the thermal lens technology, and the fog-X anti-fog inner lens, you know these are of the highest quality and will keep you seeing clearly. This eyewear is extra comfortable, equipped with compression-molded hypoallergenic face foam – even appropriate for sensitive skin – and with the extra wide silicone-backed strap, you will have no trouble with these slipping down at inopportune moments. This pair comes with a protective bag that can also be used to wipe down the lenses if needed, and on top of all of those great features, this eyewear is backed with the manufacturer’s lifetime warranty. With an unbeatable price, and numerous happy customers, you are sure to love these!
Bolle Y6
Bolle Y6 high quality eyewear comes in a sleek, shiny white frame and with a vermillon gun colored lens, which is great for sunny days and differentiating shadows and bumps. This special pair is perfect for those who wear prescription glasses, fitting easily and comfortably over most prescription glasses. With its flow-tech venting frame, this eyewear optimizes airflow over the inside of the lens to keep you comfortable and keep fog to a minimum. The double-vented PC lens is an added feature to keep you cool and comfortable. Made from P80 plus and carbo glas, this pair is sturdy and very well made. Designed to provide a wide range of vision and to reduce snow glare drastically, it will be sure to make your ski runs clear and free. Highly comfortable with the adjustable strap for a perfect fit and with the double padded foam around the frame for good contact with the face, these make great gear for nearly anyone. Priced to fit within even the tightest budget, these are a perfect pair to take along on your fun-filled adventures in the snow.
Oakley Crowbar
This stylish unisex eyewear sized for adults is specifically designed to flatter Asian facial anatomy, providing better fit and comfort with its alternative fit. Though reviewers of all ethnicities have enjoyed this design, those with Asian descent may especially benefit from the slight alterations. The black, white, or silver frame and strap are all classic looks, and the high intensity yellow or pink iridium lens options are two great options for your time in the snow. The lenses are constructed of plutonite material to provide 100% protection from all spectrums of UV light, including A, B, and C, plus it filters out harmful blue light. The triple layer fleece face foam provides maximum comfort around the eyewear and optimizes wicking to reduce fog in the lenses. The Rigid O Matter strap connections evenly distribute pressure around the entirety of the eyewear, providing even more comfort. The lenses are sized larger than normal, translating to a greater visual range in all directions. Though this model is listed as more expensive than some, it can be found at a great price online. It will be with you for many snow-sport seasons to come!
Scott Sports 87
This versatile eyewear will make a great addition to your gear; available with a clear lens supported by a white, black, or carbon colored frame and strap, this style can match any skiing attire and is perfect for nighttime or low-light runs. The clear lens allows maximum amounts of light to enter the eyes, optimizing moonlight or low light conditions, though these can use 80 series lenses and tear off compatible lenses if you desire to change the color for different conditions. This pair fits directly over prescription glasses comfortably and securely, making it a great option for those with everyday glasses. Having a multi-layer face foam that is extra-soft and hypoallergenic makes this eyewear so comfortable while simultaneously keeping out the unwanted wind and precipitation. The strap is silcone-lined to prevent any slipping. The lenses are equipped with an anti-fog coating. Scott Sports 87 is one piece of budget-friendly gear that will offer clarity, protection, and comfort for your time on the slopes.Now that you have some great examples in front of you, you are more than ready to order a great pair of ski goggles of your own. Hitting the slopes, no matter the conditions, will be a breeze for you with one of these great pieces of eyewear. Wishing you a wonderful time on your snow-filled getaway!
Advantages of Good Eyewear
Goggles are an infinitely better choice than going without eyewear or than wearing typical sunglasses while enjoying snow sports. The protection they offer from everything from the sunshine, to the bright reflection of the sun off the snow, to precipitation, to accidental projectiles, to wind, and beyond, is absolutely essential. Without proper eyewear, a skier becomes subject to all the forces of nature, but, with proper eyewear, a day on the slopes can be painless.While some snow sport junkies wear only sunglasses to shield their eyes, the protection offered with this sort of eyewear is truly less than par. Good, fitted eyewear, with proper lenses and a seal around the face, provides much better care for your eyes. They offer better UV protection than sunglasses, better security on the head, a better fit, and better light filtration with the colored lenses.
What Options Are Available?
Good snow sport eyewear comes with an overwhelming – but wonderful – array of options. Here is a breakdown of the numerous variations and what you should know before you buy.
Lenses
Lenses are the most important part of your eyewear. Anything else is secondary, mainly focusing on how well they fit, which is still important, or earning style points, which is much less important. Lenses come in a variety of shapes, colors, and lens finishes.
Lens Shape
Lenses can be flat or spherical. Flat lenses still curve left to right to fit the eyes and face, but they are vertically flat. Flat lenses work well and are the cost-effective choice, but they may produce a little more glare and may reduce the clarity of your peripheral vision. Spherical glasses curve left to right also to fit the face, but they have an additional curve vertically to add clarity to the periphery and to reduce glare, but their cost is higher.
Lens Color
It’s tempting to pick a lens color just for the sake of looking good, but the colored lenses have real significance in your ability to see well in your conditions. Check the manufacturers’ listed VLT (visible light transmission) figures on the eyewear to find out how much light is let in by the lens; the higher the number, the more light comes in to your eye, meaning a high number would be best for nighttime skiing. A following section details the colors and their optimum performance circumstances.
Lens Finish
Some lenses have additional features that could be appropriate for your conditions. Photochromic lenses adjust to different light conditions, getting darker as the sun gets brighter. Some lenses offer an anti-fog and scratch resistant layer. Polarizing lenses reduce the glare from reflecting snow or water and from direct sunlight. Mirrored lenses reflect more light than they let into your eyes, admitting 10% to 50% less light than non-mirrored lenses.
Fit
Frame
Standard frames are usually made from polyurethane, due to its slight flexibility. Flexibility is a plus for colder temperatures.
Comfort
Padding is important to keep your face comfortable; it should be thick enough to prevent pinching and pressure, but thin enough that it doesn’t encourage fogging. Straps are an advantage in making your goggles fit properly and comfortably.
Compatibility
Your eyewear should be compatible with your helmet, as virtually all styles are, but be aware that the two should be comfortable together. If you wear prescription glasses, OTG (over the glass) styles will be an appropriate fit for you to wear your glasses and maintain comfort and protection.
How Do I Choose My Ski Goggles?
With all the variations on lenses and fit, it can be tough to make a decision. Based on your destination and your plans, you can make a choice that will have you happy with your purchase for many ski runs to come. Here are some tips to help you on your way.
Lenses
When it comes to making your final decision, the lenses are the most important piece of the puzzle. Since they are so important, some ski goggles even come with a set of interchangeable lenses to optimize the features of each. We’ve already looked at some of the available lens finishes, and choosing from those options is all based on personal preference, but lens color can also make a world of difference in your snow sport experience.
Clear (84-99% VLT) allows the most light in, making it optimal for snowy or dark days or nights.
Yellow (68% VLT), yellow-orange (68-90% VLT), or amber (68-90% VLT) emphasizes shadows, allowing bumps to be visible, and yellow especially can provide better depth perception; these colors work well in overcast, foggy or stormy conditions.
Gold (20-55% VLT) also emphasizes shadows, so it is good for foggy, overcast, or stormy days, but it lets in a little less light, making it a proper choice for a universal lens.
Rose (23-59% VLT) increases depth perception on the course and lets in a moderate amount of light, making it good for flat conditions.
Green (30-40% VLT) and rose copper (36% VLT) both increase contrast while rose copper also benefits depth perception, making each of them a good choice for foggy, stormy, or overcast days.
Grey (15% VLT), which helps maintain true color, and dark brown (10-18% VLT), which increases contrast, are good lenses for bright days since they let in the least light.
Conditions
The weather and terrain you expect on your ski or snowboard runs will help you determine which eyewear is best for you. Referencing the list above for lens colors and the previous section for other lens and fit options, you’ll find all you need to know about how to choose lenses for a cloudy day or to choose thinner padding or special features for those hotter, humid days to prevent fogging. If you expect to encounter lots of moguls, a lens to emphasize shadows may help you make the most of your course, while if you expect a flat range, rose may be your color of choice to optimize your depth perception. A good universal lens like gold or a set of interchangeable lenses are each a good choice when your schedule will include many different terrains and weather conditions.
Price Range
Your budget may dictate what special features your ski goggles have, but the good news is that even the simplest pair will leave you happy on the slopes. Pairs of all price ranges offer 100% UV protection and are helmet compatible, but some of the pricier options offer features like spherical lenses to optimize peripheral vision and reduce glare, special lens finishes like polarization, mirrored, or the photochromic option. The more expensive styles are more likely to offer interchangeable lenses, good ventilation, and extra secure straps for a snug fit.
You’re a Step Closer to the Slopes!
Now that you’ve got all the information you need to choose your best ski goggles, it is almost time to get on the snow. Your invigorating vacation awaits you! Order up some snow sport eyewear today, and you’ll be ready to go before you know it. Wishing you all the snow-filled fun in the world!