Ski goggles are an integral part of enjoying your snow skiing adventure.  Goggles that fog up are an annoying safety hazard, and fogging is the biggest concern we hear from goggle-shoppers.  Other priorities include optical clarity; contrast on flat-light days; and of course, style.

ADS Sports Eyewear staff recently tested dozens of the most popular ski goggles in a variety of ski conditions.  Our most relevant findings are published below.

It didn’t take long for us to recognize that two of these ski goggles were going to be clear favorites.  These were the

Smith Phenom Turbo Fan and anything with the Panoptx Polarized Copper lens in it.

The Smith Phenom Turbo Fan goggles scored well in every category.  Of course the most impressive feature was the tiny 2-speed fan that clears up a fogged lens in just a few seconds.  The Phenom also has a spherical lens that reduces distortion, and the Rose Copper lens tint that is the foundation for most of the Smith ski goggle lenses provided exceptional contrast.  The venting is so well designed in the Phenom that it hardly ever fogged up, even with the fan off most of the time.  When came to a stop in the lift line or when trying to read a trail map was when we really appreciated the ability to keep the lens clear.

The Smith Prodigy Turbo is another of the Smith Ski Goggles that has exceptional anti-fogging characteristics.  It is larger than the Phenom and most people in our group preferred the fit of the

smaller Phenom.  Of course a larger goggle is typically more fog resistant, but the Smith Turbo Fan eliminates the need to wear a high volume goggle unless you have a really big head, or you just like really big goggles.

The Panoptx Ski Goggles are very different than your average ski goggle.  They have a duel-spherical lens and a foam eye seal like many goggles, but the design looks more like a pair of sunglasses than ski goggles.  These goggles were very comfortable, and when we stopped for lunch we could snap out the foam eye cup and wear these as regular sunglasses.  The Polarized Copper lens in the Panoptx Ski Goggles provided the sharpest, clear view of the terrain ahead, regardless of how sunny or cloudy it was.

We still occasionally hear from people who believe that polarized lenses should not be worn on a ski slope because they conceal ice patches.  This is horribly inaccurate.  Relying on glare to identify a dangerous ice patch is a bad idea.  Polarized lenses will not only eliminate the glare and allow you to clearly see icy surfaces, you will also be able to see dirt or rocks hidden in the ice.

The Panoptx frames that performed the best in our tests were the Diablo CV, Churada CV and the Solano CV.  The Churada CV eye cup is the only one that slides in from the bottom of the fame, as opposed to snapping it in from the back.  This Churada design proved to be the most effective at holding the eye cup in place for people who wore the temples outside of a hat.  This was a non-issue for people wearing a helmet.

The Panoptx glasses were a great choice on more mild days.  On extremely cold days it was difficult to fight fog, even with this duel-lens design.  The larger, more traditional goggles also provide more protection from the elements in extreme conditions.  But as soon as the sun came out everyone in our group was switching back to the Panoptx CV Series glasses

Another favorite goggle was the Adidas Yodai Ski Goggle.  These were very comfortable, and the Siliconized Strap version has tacky dots on the strap to keep it from slipping on a helmet.  We recommend that you always order the Siliconized Strap version because the regular strap is too short to be comfortable with a helmet, or even with a thick hat.  (Photos on the web site do not illustrate the difference, but there is a big difference in these straps.)

The Bolle Ski Goggles were also comfortable and relatively fog free.  The Bolle Simmer was the most popular women’s goggle, and this year it is available in even more great colors.  The Bolle Scream has several venting options, but we found that leaving all the vents wide open all the time was necessary to eliminate fog.  This goggle is an excellent choice for very cold temperatures.  The Vermillion lens provided excellent contrast in all lighting conditions.

The Basics of Fogging:

In this guide we focus lots of attention on fogging without much explanation as to the causes or cures.  Basically, if it is cold on one side of a lens and hot on the other, it is likely to fog.  The cleaner a lens is, the less it will fog because the fog has less to attach to.  (Fog that cannot attach itself to a lens runs off as condensation.)  The dual-lens design minimizes fog by reducing this temperature difference with an extra layer.   Ski goggles labeled “Large Volume” reduce fog by putting more air between your warm face and the cold lens.  Venting outside air across the lens is another important anti fog feature.  That’s why we are so impressed with the Smith Phenom that clears fog with a built in micro-fan.  This is a medium volume goggle, but the tiny fan keeps it more fog free than any of the large volume goggles. (Excluding the Smith Prodigy Turbo of course.)

IMPORTANT: The best kept secret for reducing fog on a lens is Rain-X.  It works well enough for some optical labs to use it as an anti-fog treatment.  To insure a uniform coating, remove the lens from the goggle and apply as per the instructions.  You should do this before you get to the slopes so the coatings have time to dry.  Clean the lens every day with an AR Safe cleaner that won’t remove the Rain-X.

Why are Spherical lenses so important?

The spherical lens design has been around for a few years, but many people are unaware of how important this is.  The spherical (rounded) lens design allows light to pass in a straighter line though the lens material to your eye.  A prescription lens alters the direction of light using an angled surface.  When a ski goggle lens is not spherical, light at the top or bottom of the lens hits the lens at a much different angle than it does in the middle.  This alters the true position of objects as they move from top to bottom in the lens.

Prescription Ski Goggles

All of these goggles were also tested with prescription lenses.  The Panoptx Ski Goggles/Glasses have a lens that is small enough to accept a prescription lens right in the frame in place of the regular lens.  All of the others utilize an optical insert that fits behind the lens.  It is generally not possible, or not practical, to make a prescription lens larger than 66mm.  Ski goggles, like most sports glasses, have a curved designed to fit around your head and protect your eyes. (This is generally an 8-base curve)  This curve is what limits the size that we can make prescription lenses. 

CAUTION:

Wearing a progressive lens for sports like skiing can be dangerous.  The lower portion of a progressive lens will distort the terrain just in front of you, or under your skies.  A safer alternative is a bifocal lens that occupies very little space on the bottom of the lens.  Our goal when putting a bifocal lens in ski goggles or motorcycle eyewear is to provide just enough reading area to read a trail map or a menu while leaving the largest possible viewing area for distance vision.  You may need to hold your head in exactly the right position to read a map, but skiing down the mountain will be much safer.

Smith Ski Goggles have the largest insert, and the biggest field of corrected vision.  (Making them the best for multi-focal lenses.)  The Smith Ocular Docking System is the only goggle insert they offer, and it comes with adjustable parts so it can be inserted into any Smith Ski Goggle.  We only list the Turbo Series goggles as being Rx-able because of Smith’s concern that the insert might fog up without the turbo fan feature.  In reality, the insert will fit any adult-size Smith goggle.

Smith Ski Goggle lenses provide outstanding contrast in many different lighting conditions, but the names of the lenses can be confusing.  This is a quick summary of their most popular lenses:

The Rose Copper lens is the foundation of most Smith lenses.  It lets in 36% of available light, and is also called RC-36 lens.

The Smith Platinum Mirror lens is the RC-36 lens with a flash mirror coating.  This lens lets 25% of light in. 

The Sensor Mirror lens is a lighter version of the RC-36 lens with a mirror coating.  This lens lets in 70% of light, so it works best in overcast or low-light conditions.

 The newest Smith lens is the Ignitor Mirror lens.  This is also a Rose Copper tint with a flash coating on it.  The Ignitor Mirror lets in 35% of available light, so it is much darker that the Sensor Mirror lens, but not as dark as the Platinum Mirror. 

Smith also has one of the very few polarized, full size, ski goggle lenses.  The Polarized Rose Copper lens lets in 25% of available light.  It wipes out glare and sharpens vision better than any non-polarized lens is capable of.  This premium lens is available on the Smith Phenom, but NOT on the Phenom Turbo.  Since the Smith Phenom Turbo is one of our favorite goggles of all time, we are a little disappointed that we have to purchase the polarized lens as an add-on.

When our only complaint is that we can’t get our favorite goggle together with our favorite lens, life really isn’t too bad after all.