Outdoor Master Ski Googles Review
Type of conditions when it is extremely important to have good googles in order to be safe and enjoy
Yesterday our team got its first Christmas present – a couple of nice pairs of the new Simon Beck Outdoor Master ski googles.
We – me and my colleague Alex, both ski guides – are looking forward for good winter conditions within the next weeks in order to test them thoroughly while skiing and ski touring with clients and share our experience to the developers team. My first impressions so far are 100% positive:
Until now I was always worried about smashing and scratching my googles inside the rucksack while touring. It is always a challenge to fit all your gear nicely in a smaller space, having the most needed items easy to access. These googles come with a protective case which I really liked and I believe I can now smash the googles inside the rucksack without being worried damaging them. Sometimes you get hooked by the smaller accessories more than the item itself.
There is definitely an important safety add with the color optimization technology – one of the biggest risks in poor light condition is to ski over a bump, drop down or another obstacle without seeing it. This is fairly easy to happen as in “flat light” conditions in winter you do not see the contours of the objects and the ground surface is not well visible and distinctable from the misty sky. An optical lens that forces the colors brightness and the objects contours is a big advantage up the mountains.
Some of the biggest issues I had with ski googles are connected to poor ventilation in humid conditions (outside or your own sweat and breath), which leads to a situation when the inside surface of your lens is totally compromised and you see nothing. I had exactly the same problem last year, in 1 meter of new snow and damn fog at -20 Celsius plus wind. The inside of the lens got totally frozen and I could not clean it properly with the gloves on and I did not want to take the gloves off as it was damn cold. The spare pair of googles saved me this time, but with the interchangeable lens system I believe in future I could carry only a couple of lenses and not a second full pair of googles. This seems to be resolved with the new technologies in use – anti fog coating and the lens replacement add-on.
The googles have changeable lens system that works with magnets – a great option if conditions change while touring – you may start uphill in a bright shiny day and end up skiing down in mist. Having a couple of lenses that cover the most of the conditions. The lens swap goes smoothly with the gloves on.
What I`m mostly impressed so far, beside the fair retail price (as a guide I use a lot of equipment and it costs, sometimes painfully), is the 1-year warranty and the free shipping across Europe and US.
More photos and impressions to come, looking forward for the proper conditions!