Best flat light lens

[Tom K.]

Reporting in from the Land of Fog here, and I've found nothing better than the Anon Storm lens.

IMO, in truly flat light, I'll take all the light I can, and these have a very low blockage of VLT.

 

[dbostedo]

Reporting in from the Land of Fog here, and I've found nothing better than the Anon Storm lens.

Link?

 

[Tom K.]

Link?

Huh, the one actually called "storm" seems to have been supplanted by the newer "perceive cloudy night".

I think that is what my new, spring bottom-fished, lens is for next year, but now I can't remember with certainty, or where I got it. M2 lenses seem to be out of stock in many cases, probably due to how late it is in the season.

Anon Goggle Lens Color & Tint Guide | evo

anon offers a wide range of goggle lens options for varying light conditions. Check them out here and decide which one is right for you.

www.evo.com

 

[dbostedo]

Huh, the one actually called "storm" seems to have been supplanted by the newer "perceive cloudy night".

I think that is what my new, spring bottom-fished, lens is for next year, but now I can't remember with certainty, or where I got it. M2 lenses seem to be out of stock in many cases, probably due to how late it is in the season.

Anon Goggle Lens Color & Tint Guide | evo

anon offers a wide range of goggle lens options for varying light conditions. Check them out here and decide which one is right for you.

www.evo.com

I have the Sonar Night, which isn't on that list for some reason. It's 77% VLT, and I like it fine but was wondering if there was something better now. I used to use the Blue Lagoon (which is 80% VLT and mine is now scratched to hell), but I think the Sonar Night is better.

 

[Tom K.]

I have the Sonar Night, which isn't on that list for some reason. It's 77% VLT, and I like it fine but was wondering if there was something better now. I used to use the Blue Lagoon (which is 80% VLT and mine is now scratched to hell), but I think the Sonar Night is better.

Anon claims some advantages to their new "perceive" line of lenses.

I wish I could find/remember the details on the low light lens I ordered for next year, but it was perceive something or other with very high VLT.

 

[Quandary]

I see there is also a "yellow" with 80% VLT

 

[Tony Storaro]

Anon claims some advantages to their new "perceive" line of lenses.

I wish I could find/remember the details on the low light lens I ordered for next year, but it was perceive something or other with very high VLT.

The difference between Sonar and Perceive is not huge if any. Both are excellent. I bought that Night this or that Perceive just to see how different it would be from the Sonars. Not very different.
Need to check them these days as I have been using Smith and POC only this season and Anons got no time on snow.

 

[Tom K.]

Night this or that Perceive

That's the one I got. Thx for the memory jog.

 

[jt10000]

Not directly related to the "best" conversation, but to anyone doubting the "new" lenses that filter different amounts of light by frequency, (Chromapop from Smith, Vivid from Giro, Prizm from Oakley, Perceive from Anon, etc) here's an anecdote from last weekend:

Massive fog at the top of the mountain I ski at. I was wearing mixed-conditions lenses (Giro Vivid Emerald) that supposedly let in 22% of VLT. The trail I was on was very slow (follows a ridge), so I could ski with my goggles up no problem. But you know what? Visibility was just as good with through the lenses.

 

[Tom K.]

Massive fog at the top of the mountain I ski at. I was wearing mixed-conditions lenses (Giro Vivid Emerald) that supposedly let in 22% of VLT. The trail I was on was very slow (follows a ridge), so I could ski with my goggles up no problem. But you know what? Visibility was just as good with through the lenses.

I always take these miracle lens claims with a rock-sized grain of salt.

But I'm surprised at you skiing fog with a 22% VLT lens. We get podium-level fog here, and I'm generally looking through a lens with well over 50 or even 70% VLT.

 

[jt10000]

I always take these miracle lens claims with a rock-sized grain of salt.

But I'm surprised at you skiing fog with a 22% VLT lens. We get podium-level fog here, and I'm generally looking through a lens with well over 50 or even 70% VLT.

Oh, I'd have preferred something much lighter in the fog - I have GIro Infrared lenses (50% VLT) for that but did not have them with me. Plus it was pretty bright lower down the hill out of the fog. But the darkish lenses were just as good as bare eyes (100% VLT )

 

[Tom K.]

But the darkish lenses were just as good as bare eyes

Now THESE were not as good as bare eyes!

 

[James]

^ Yeah, eyeballs are self cleaning.

 

[Tony Storaro]

Now THESE were not as good as bare eyes!

View attachment 196708

With these you have to Use The Force…

Not sure if someone already mentioned Scott Illuminator lenses but these are pretty good too…

 

[Tony Storaro]

BTW dunno how many here have tried the Scott LCG/LCG Evo but these are quietly brilliant goggles.

 

[Tominator]

Weird - after 255 posts in this thread, I just got new Giro Method goggles and checked out this thread. They came with two lenses. I immediately popped out the Vivid Ember (35% VLT) and installed the Vivid Infrared (58% VLT). This is the same lens that the OP refers to in post #1. I too had cataract surgery last fall, and so far the results have been great - I can ski without glasses and actually see the texture of the snow ... and it's really white! Anyway, I'm going to ski with the new goggles/lenses on Friday or Monday and will report back here after that.

Edit: Forgot to mention - I doubt I'll ever swap out the lenses again (back to the Vivid Ember/35% VLT), because I've got an old pair of non-prescription Oakley Blades with pretty dark lenses for really sunny days. I hadn't been able to use them since I started to need glasses 20 years ago, but now I can!

 

[Tominator]

Here's a picture of my 40-year-old Oakley's:

 

[Andy Mink]

One thing I've settled on is flat light doesn't necessarily mean low light. There have been plenty of days where it was flat light so I popped the low light lenses in and...wished I left the darker lenses in. Plenty bright in the ping pong ball, just difficult to see the textures of the snow. Dark clouds are a different thing; for those the low light lenses work well.

 

[Tominator]

The new goggles performed very well at Berkshire East today. It was a classic Bluebird day - the 1st I've encountered this season - so I can't speak to flat light performance. But the Vivid Infrared (58% VLT) lens was just dark enough to make skiing in bright sunshine non-problematic, so I'll leave it in as my all-purpose lens. I switched to the old Oakley sunglasses at noon, and they were great - will definitely keep them in my bag.

 

[x10003q]

One thing I've settled on is flat light doesn't necessarily mean low light. There have been plenty of days where it was flat light so I popped the low light lenses in and...wished I left the darker lenses in. Plenty bright in the ping pong ball, just difficult to see the textures of the snow. Dark clouds are a different thing; for those the low light lenses work well.

This.
After much lens swaping, I have landed on a POC Spektris Gold 13% vlt (?!?) for cloudy flat light to bright flat light to full sun. The tint is coral. Crazy.