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Most versatile goggle lens?

25K views 82 replies 54 participants last post by  Lamps 
#1 ·
Hi guys,
I am somehow new to the sport, and dont snowboard as often as I wish.
On the slopes I see people talking about how many lens they have, and how they swap them.
Until they bring the yellow lens and the sun comes out and they curse. They change lens the day after, and in 2 hours it becomes a bit darker and foggy, and they wish they had the other lens...
I am always with my cheap goggles with orange lens I bought some years ago.
Thinking of buying a better quality goggle, but dont want to be caught in the swapping lens dilemma and lens carrying trouble.
What should I get? is there a goggle which is more versatile? should I get polarized lens? or what?

thanks in advance
 
#34 ·
popping up this old thread I had started, as I still didnt buy the new goggles...
just wondering if things have dramatically changed since last time I checked in or not.
For example, I saw Giro is also making goggles these days.
Should I still stick to most popular brand and models like Oakley? consider I am in Italy, so not all brands you have are available here
Also, I am still torn between "just one pair of lens" or two, but you have to carry one...
 
#38 ·
popping up this old thread I had started, as I still didnt buy the new goggles...
I'm cheap, and I break things, so I don't have goggles with easily swappable lenses. Instead I have a pair of Smith goggles with the "gold lite" lens (which is orange) for low light days, and Smith with RC36 Polarized lenses for days I'm 100% sure will be bright.

So far since I bought the orange ones I've probably used them 90% of the time. When it's blue bird you shouldn't have trouble seeing anything, so lens colour doesn't make much difference to me, it's low light where the orange really shines and that's when I have the hardest time reading the snow.

So with all the fancy goggles out there, I ride with a $40 pair of goggles with plain orange lenses. And I'm not shy about spending money on gear, that's just what works for me! :yahoo:
 
#52 ·
I rock Oakley A-Frames with fire lenses from about 8 years ago on sunny days and on cloudy days (which we get lots of in VT) I just roll with Splices and high intensity yellow.

Honestly I love the HI Yellow lens. It's great for lighting up flat light and even if the sun comes out later on I can still wear them without being blinded by glare. They're awesome.
 
#58 ·
Ive got a pair of Quiksilver Hubbles & Oakley Crowbars...I love the Hubbles. I think the peripheral vision is wider in the Hubbles verses my Crowbars and the foam isn't as thick, so to me they feel like they fit closer to your face and are less noticeable. Oakleys do have a wider variety of lens choices which is a plus.
 
#62 ·
I've been wearing Oakley Airbrakes this year. Fire Iridium for most conditions but when the light gets really flat or it's night, I switch to High Pesimmon. This covers more of the spectrum adequately without having to fumble with multiple lenses to match constantly changing light conditions.

I've found the speed of weather changing in Colorado to be much more significant than out East. In the east, I could typically pick one lens and it worked for the day; either bluebird or mostly sunny or cloudy and flat.
 
#66 ·
How do you guys/girls board with pink goggles in the fog and piss poor days? I tried them a while ago and it seems dark to me. Is it just me or do other people who dont use pink goggles have the same issue?




Off Topic...rough terrain during piss poor days. Do you guys avoid them days, or just go slow and steady?
 
#67 ·
How is this thread 7pgs long? lol...I'm gonna go with amber/persimmon or bronze (either one without mirror finish and even better if they're polarized) as the 2 most versatile lenses. They'll work best between low/flat light and sunny days, and still be just fine for night riding and on those blazing bright Spring days. I'm no engineer, so feel free to disagree, I'm just speaking from experience.
 
#72 ·
Smith IO/X are the shit. Used mine over 30 days this year and not once did they fog. I have three lenses.

The red sensor mirror which I use most. If it's bluebird forecast where I know the suns shining all day I pop in my red-sol-x. If its white light I pop in the blue sensor mirror.

It's pretty easy to stick to one lens a day if you're not night riding.
 
#76 ·
No they are recommended for everyone,a few don't, but they are few and far between, and they are always squinting, which is not ideal, and if it happens to snow, you cannot see anything.

The lens of choice is you are only going to have one, in my opinion is the VR50 Pink Iridium, which is versatile in pretty much every condition if you only want one pair, quickly followed by the Hi-Yellow...

The problem is that light that is different to the designed use makes it difficult to see the terrain, or what is known as "flat light", this essentially means that everything is seen as 1 flat level, yo cannot see piles of snow cambers, etc, and can catch you off guard pretty badly...

I am a bit of a goggle fanatic, and never change my lens, i just buy more goggles with a different lens...!!! Until i bought the Airwaves though, as they are much like the Airbrake from Oakley, and very very easy to change with minimal effort, so if i am using the Airwaves i change lens, and have Red Iridium, Dark Grey, Persiommon, Balck Iridium, Hi-Yellow.

If i am not using the Airwaves and am using my crowbars, i have Clear, Hi-Yellow, Red Iridium, Black Iridium, and my gf uses the VR50 Pink Iridium... All Crowbars...

In Norway, the ligth can be extremely changeable, and with the short days, long nights, we go from day at 2pm to night at 3pm, so i found it easier to just change goggles initially as i was doing this every day it was easier and reduces the potential to scratch while fitting, the other thing is, is that i could buy the complete goggle for about £30 more than just the lens, so it made more sense, as you only needed to scratch or drop a lens once and that was the difference in cost for 2 or 3 frames... So cost wise it was beneficial as well...
 
#78 ·
I should have known better because even on a cloudy day I squint because I have sensitive eyes so if I'm on a mountain with snow I'll be blind without them, especially if it's not sunny. For now I'm only going to have one pair, down the road I'll likely have more but for now I just need the best pair in the day which you're saying is the Oakley Canopy Snow Goggle Digi-Camo Black VR50 Pink Iridium? Those look decent.

What are the benefits/disadvantages of the different colors? Hi-Yellow, Red Iridium etc.
 
#79 · (Edited)
What are the benefits/disadvantages of the different colors? Hi-Yellow, Red Iridium etc.
Do you use an iPhone...??? There is an app called OakleyView

https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/oakleyview-for-ipad/id389732071?mt=8

There may be others on websites that do similar, but you choose lens, light type of activity and you can actually see the difference... ;)

Oakley Sunglass Lens Tint | Oakley.com

Or you could try actually searching for it on your friend GOOGLE... :yahoo:

 
#82 ·
so fantastic thread
It seems the best are:
Vr50 Pink Iridium
Persimmon
HI Persimmon

but the CANOPY are not with vr50 Ping Iridium, but VR 28

Oakley Canopy da neve | Store ufficiale Oakley | Italia

is HI Persimmon better than Persimmon?

Which CAnopy would you get with just one lens? I read someone saying he uses Fire Iridium only, but I fear it will be not good enough in low light or late afternoon/foggy days
 
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