A question we hear increasingly more is, "What are the best snow goggle lenses for night skiing?" Optician “Eyeglass” Tyler shares his take on the best options for your snow goggles for night conditions. Snow goggles are a great choice for night skiing and snowboarding because the protection the snow goggle provides keeps you safe and warm. Lens color is a big safety factor for night skiing. The wrong color lens severely impacts your sight in a dark environment. Most snow goggle lenses are for daytime conditions, so it’s important to get a lens that doesn’t cut too much light, but also helps you read the snow as well as possible. Check out the video and/or keep reading to hear about your best options!
Night Skiing Lenses, What You Need to Know
1. What Makes a Good Lens for Night Skiing?
2. Lens Tint Technologies
3. Best Snow Goggle Lenses for Night Skiing
3.1. Oakley PRIZM™ Snow Clear
3.2. Zeal Persimmon Sky Blue Mirror
3.3. SMITH Chromapop Storm Yellow Flash
3.4. ANON PERCEIVE Cloudy Night
3.5. Spy Happy™ LL Yellow
What Makes a Good Night Skiing Lens?
It’s primarily about VLT (visible light transmission) because night skiing is when you’re likely to experience the lowest light conditions possible. Read here to learn what you need to know about VLT. You’ll see a good range in VLT among our top picks because not every mountain is the same for night skiing. If your mountain is extremely well-lit, you can get away with a lower VLT percentage, which may mean better/bolder color and contrast enhancement. If you’re looking for the clearest lens possible and don’t care about color or contrast enhancement, there are a few options from the brands in a simple clear lens with no tint tech. We get excited about color-boosting lens techs, so we typically spend more time talking about those.
Lens Tint Technologies
The lens tint techs we talk about here are Oakley’s PRIZM™, SMITH’s ChromaPop, Anon’s PERCEIVE, Spy’s Happy™, and Zeal’s lens tech. What does this all mean, though? We talk about branded lens techs a lot because they can make a big improvement in your ability to read the ins and outs of the snow and allow you to better scope your line. It can also help you to better navigate the trails and reduce accidents, meaning you can ski more confidently. The technical bit about these lens techs comes down to controlling the wavelengths of light. These tint techs fine-tune the specific wavelengths of light that make it through the lens. This gives brands the ability to hone in on specific colors. Depending on the tint formulation, they can boost or ‘turn down’ specific colors to be the most ideal for different snow conditions. You can read here to learn more about the top snow lens techs.
Best Snow Goggle Lenses for Night Skiing
Oakley PRIZM™ Snow Clear
Oakley PRIZM™ Snow Clear Replacement Lens
Shop Oakley Snow Goggles
PRIZM™ Snow Clear is not actually ‘clear’, despite its name. It is the darkest lens on this list, coming in at a VLT of 64%. This is because of the density of the PRIZM™ tech. This is the lightest tint possible that still benefits from the impressive color-enhancing tech with a bubblegum pink-like base color. If you’re a die-hard Oakley fan, this is the night skiing lens for you! Oakley also offers a simple clear lens with the highest VLT of anything else on this list at 90%. This is a great option if you don’t mind skipping out on any color-enhancing tint techs to optimize your optics in the snow.
Zeal Optics Persimmon Sky Blue Mirror
Zeal Optics Persimmon Sky Blue Mirror Replacement Lens
Shop Zeal Optics Snow Goggles
Zeal Optics is a brand that doesn’t get the kind of love and attention we think they should. They make top-quality goggles with a unique selection of lenses. They specialize in polarized lenses and, more surprisingly, photochromic polarized lenses. The Persimmon Sky Blue Mirror comes in at a VLT of 65% with a persimmon base tint. If you are looking for the clearest Zeal option and don’t care about having any tint tech, they also offer a clear option at a VLT of 80%, again -- if you don’t mind missing out on any color-enhancing tint tech.
SMITH ChromaPop Storm Yellow Flash
SMITH ChromaPop Storm Yellow Flash Replacement Lens
Shop SMITH Snow Goggles
SMITH’s lowest light lens is the ChromaPop Storm Yellow Flash. This has been tested by Rob and Tyler in some serious whiteout conditions and happens to be Rob’s favorite in the world of low-light lenses. With a VLT of 65%, it makes for a great night-riding lens. The ChromaPop Storm Yellow Flash has a yellow base color and a subtle yellow flash mirror on the front of the lens.
Anon PERCEIVE Cloudy Night
Anon PERCEIVE Cloudy Night Replacement Lens
Shop Anon Snow Goggles
Tyler’s favored pick, the PERCEIVE Cloudy Night, is designed specifically with night skiing in mind. This lens is Anon’s lightest tint and with a VLT of 72%, you’re getting a lot of light to your eyes while still benefiting from the PERCEIVE tint tech. Anon’s goal with the PERCEIVE tint tech was to enhance the visibility of the snow without overwhelming your color receptors in the way that so many other snow goggle tint techs do.
Spy Happy™ LL Yellow
Spy Happy™ LL Yellow Replacement Lens
Shop Spy Snow Goggles
Last and lightest comes Spy’s Happy™ LL Yellow. Spy’s LL (low light) category of lenses offers a great night skiing lens if you’re looking to get the most possible light to your eyes while still benefiting from a contrast-enhancing and color-enhancing lens tech. Spy’s Happy™ tech focuses on blue light control to allow as much beneficial blue light as possible. In their snow goggles, this tech is fine-tuned for color control, specifically for the snow.
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