Choosing your Ski and Snowboard Goggles – Learn how to pick the right pair for the mountain.
Eyewear is important when snowboarding. As you fly down the hill you can get ice, snow, and other debris, blown into your eyes. Finding a pair of goggles that is stylish and comfortable helps make a perfect day on the hill even better. A good pair of goggles can be as important as boots, bindings, or even the board. Here you can learn how to pick out the best pair for your time out on the runs.
Lenses for goggles have a wide range of features apart from is offered for the goggles. There are all kinds of different lenses for goggles; standard, polarizing, and photochromic lenses offer different options to consider when picking your goggles. If you’re going for the top of the line lenses, consider getting a pair of goggles with photochromic lenses. They change how much light is allowed in depending on how bright it is outside. They’re a great choice if you plan on skiing or boarding all day and late into the evening.
If you want to save a few bucks on a pair, try finding a pair with polarizing or standard lenses. Polarizing lenses do block out a bit of light, but they also provide much better clarity on the slopes than standard lenses. Standard lenses are a basic on the lower end goggles. They provide a protection against glare from the snow and water.
A day on the mountain can be tiring, and all the sweating can cause your goggles to fog up. Since you need good visibility when you’re shredding it up, ventilation is key to seeing everything around you. In addition to this, goggles now come with anti-fog coatings to prevent this. However, finding a pair of goggles with good venting to the sides, top, and bottom, will be the best deterrent against being blinded. If the vents are too big, it may cause too much air to move around your eyes. It may be colder on your face, but your goggles won’t fog up as easy. Finding a good balance will be the most comfortable.
Finally, since they’ll be resting on your face all day, good padding will make them more comfortable. The cheapest pairs you can buy may only have 1 level of padding, but in general, they’ll have two or even three. A good pair will form a seal around your eyes and face, preventing too much air from sneaking in and drying out your eyes. Goggles that have more layers of padding will be more comfortable on your face. Today’s high end pairs may even have 3 layers of padding. This means that no matter where it pushes on your face, you won’t have the pinching and pressure of a cheaper pair.
If you wear prescription glasses, than try searching for an oversized pair that can be worn over your glasses. Some companies sell pairs that are large enough to account for your prescription frames.