For years, the Anon M3 was Anon’s top of the line ski and snowboard goggle. To its credit, it was and is an amazing goggle in almost every respect. However, it was a goggle with a cylindrical lens going toe to toe with spherical lensed goggles. Now, the Anon M4, which accepts both toric and Cylindrical lenses, sits atop the Anon goggle lineup, but the Anon M3 remains our top pick for the title of best cylindrical ski and snowboard goggle on the market.

Lens Shape and Quality

The Anon M4 uses a top of the line injection molded cylindrical lens, which is a night and day difference from the stamped cylindrical lenses of old, and it really does hold its own when it comes to providing a distortion-free optical experience.

Meanwhile, the cylindrical lens in the Anon M3 MFI uses the same patented SONAR by Zeiss technology found in the Anon M4. This is a top of the line, hi-fi technology that makes the world around you pop, and really brings out each and every contour of the snow. The Anon M3 MFI also features a field of view that Anon describes as “wall to wall,” and it is pretty much just that.

If you are going for an old school, cylindrical shaped look but you want all of the bells and whistles of a premium, ultra-modern ski and snowboard goggle, then the Anon M3 MFI has got you covered.

Finally, like the Anon M4 and most top of the line ski and snowboard goggles, the Anon M3 MFI comes with two lenses, a “bluebird” lens, and a “greybird” lens.

Comfort

Like the Anon M4, the Anon M3 MFI bucks the industry trend of making two of each goggles, with one aimed at riders with smaller faces. Also, like the M4, the Anon M3 MFI fits a wide range of faces, though smaller faced riders might be better served by the Oakley Line Miner Asia Fit or Dragon NFX2, which both skew toward smaller faces.

The Anon M3 MFI uses the same premium triple layer foam found on the M4, and also features the same large nose cutout.

The Anon M3 MFI also comes with an Anon MFI face mask, which uses magnets to seal to the nosepiece of the goggle. Honestly, this is a small quality of life feature, but one that we absolutely love.

Ventilation

The Anon M3 MFI is a well-ventilated goggle, and features the same four-sided  “full channel venting” found on the M4, as well as “integral clarity technology,” which is Anon’s fancy name for their anti-fog coating. While that sounds like a lot of technical mumbo jumbo to us, it results in a well-ventilated goggle that stays fog free in just about any conditions that you can throw at it.

Ease of Changing Lenses

If you have already read our review of the Anon M4, then you can safely skip this section, because the Anon M3 MFI uses the same Magna-Tech lens change technology that helped make the M4 our top pick for the best ski and snowboard goggle of 2021.

Anon’s Magna-Tech lens changing technology uses a very thin frame built onto the lens. Within this frame are nine small but extremely powerful magnets, which latch onto nine magnets in the goggle frame. This literally makes inserting the lens as easy as holding the lens in front of the frame and letting the magnets do the rest. Meanwhile, the lenses are removed in the exact same way. However, a bit of an angled pull makes them release more easily, as they were made to hold in place from head-on impacts, the type that you might experience during a hard landing or crash.

This is the easiest most hassle free lens changing technology on the market, full stop. The Smith I/O Mag and Anon Swiftlock are only just behind it, and some riders will no doubt prefer the security that their locks add to the lens. All of that said, we are yet to have or hear of problems with the lenses being knocked out of Anon Magna-Tech equipped goggles.

Finally, perhaps our favorite thing about Anon’s Magna-Tech system is that its ease combined with the framed lenses mean that you never have to touch the lenses themselves, which should result in a much longer lifespan for these top of the line lenses.

The Bottom Line

Spherical vs cylindrical vs toric goggles often comes down to personal preference in both optical experience and style. With that said, if you are looking for a retro cylindrical look that offers the hi-fi, distortion-free optical quality found in modern spherical lenses, along with the best lens change technology on the market, then you would be hard pressed to find a better option than the Anon M3 MFI, although the Dragon NFX2 gives it a run for its money.

Finally, with an MSRP of $269, and sale prices around $169, the Anon M3 MFI is an expensive cylindrical goggle. For the price difference, we would probably opt for the Anon M4, which gives the option to run toric or cylindrical lenses, or for the Dragon NFX2, which is an amazing goggle in its own right and comes with a lower price tag.

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