Whether you’re planning to spend your winter vacation skiing or snowboarding, investing in a good pair of sports goggles is the first step toward preparing yourself for a good time on the slopes. These one-of-a-kind sports goggles may protect your eyes from the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays as well as snow blindness. However, if you already wear prescription glasses, keep those contacts aside and get yourself a ski goggles prescription instead.
Ski Goggles Prescription – What You Need to Know
With the market flooded with various sports eyewear brands, finding the right pair of ski goggles may be just as challenging as climbing a mountain with a black diamond slope. This article will help you sort through all the noise by answering some questions about ski goggles, so that you can cruise down the mountain or ski resort with clarity and comfort.
Which Ski Prescription Goggles Are the Best?
When buying ski prescription goggles, ski goggles with two magnetized spherical lenses are your best bet. These lenses are curved in horizontal and vertical axes, giving the appearance of being cut out of a sphere. Unlike classic cylindrical lenses that are only curved on the horizontal axis, spherical lenses work both ways by lowering the glare. In addition, they have a bigger surface area due to the outward curve, which results in more inner volume, reducing the odds of fogging.
Should You Wear Your Prescription Glasses under Your Ski Goggles?
Even though you’ll find sports goggles intended to be worn over a pair of prescription eyeglasses, mostly known as over-the-glasses goggles, OTG, for short—they’re not the best option. No matter how the goggles are designed, your glasses will always rest closer to the heat of your face than an insert would, significantly increasing the risk of fogging. Instead, you should use a ski prescription goggle insert specifically designed to fit in the natural venting channel of your goggles.
What Makes Spherical Lenses So Unique?
Even though the design of the spherical lens has been around in the eyewear industry for quite some time, many individuals are still unaware of how beneficial these types of lenses are. Due to how the spherical (rounded) lens is designed, light can directly travel to the eye through the lens material. On the other hand, a custom-cut magnetized spherical lens insert fits comfortably against the lens shield of the ski prescription goggle while boosting clarity, reducing fog, and improving the skier’s safety.
Does the Color of the Lens Matter?
Since snow is both white and vividly bright, it might not be easy to notice differences in its texture with the naked eye. Therefore, choosing a base lens color that offers contrast is your best bet. Amber lenses are often recommended when the sky is overcast or if the path is not very well illuminated.
On the other hand, brown lenses are the most flexible in various lighting and environmental settings. Finally, red-colored lenses are the most effective when used in overcast and misty environments.
What Do the Numbers On Your Prescription Mean?
Corrections of nearsightedness (myopia, -) or farsightedness (hyperopia, +) and astigmatism are the primary values on your prescription (or some combination of these). Your prescription will be of a higher strength depending on how far the number is from zero, either above or below (excluding the axis measurement). The axis is a measurement that ranges from 0 to 180 degrees, while the pupil distance, or PD for short, is used to align your pupils with the optical center of your lenses.
What Color Lens is Best for Bright Days?
Brown-like gold prescription lenses for goggles are ideal for skiing or snowboarding when the sun is very bright. This is because they often have high VLT ratings and a tendency to cast a considerable quantity of shadow. Not only are brown ski goggle lenses noted for their ability to handle intense sunlight effectively, but they may also improve depth perception when skiing.
Can You Get Prescription Ski Goggles Without An Insert?
Two unique lens blanks are used to produce each prescription ski goggles lens. Since the shield of a goggle is a single piece, it is not feasible to have a prescription in a ski goggle without the use of an insert. During the manufacturing process, an insert will be placed behind the lens of every single pair of prescription goggles that have a single-piece lens. In addition, if you ever decide to change or update your ski prescription goggles, you can transfer your insert to the new pair without effort.
A ski goggles prescription is necessary if you wear prescription glasses and can’t take them off because it will cause blurry vision. In such cases, you will need to wear them under your ski goggles.
However, as discussed above, that isn’t always the best course of action, and contacts aren’t a safe option either. In this case, you need a ski goggles prescription and lenses that can fit comfortably into your goggles.
The right pair of goggles will ensure that you’re able to see clearly with little to no fogging.
