If you are getting geared up for next season, you might be thinking about adding a new set of goggles to your rotation, or of replacing that crusty old scratched up set that you have been using for years now. This presents you with something of a good news-bad news situation. The good news is that there are more, higher quality ski and snowboard goggles on the market than ever before, ranging from inexpensive to those exclusively for trust fund babies. The bad news is that this makes choosing the best pair of ski and snowboard goggles for you tougher than ever! But don’t worry, we combed through the very best, and gave in depth, side by side reviews to help you choose the best pair of snow goggles for your needs, to get you out from behind the computer and onto the slopes!

How to Choose a Pair of Ski and Snowboard Goggles

There are a few key features that set the best snow goggles apart from the rest, and these are the attributes that we used to judge and rank the ski and snowboard goggles in our roundup.

Lens Shape and Quality

All of the ski and snowboard helmets on our list are ASTM F2040 rated. This just means that they are certified for use on the slopes. The truth is that there currently seems to be less innovation in the snow helmet arena than in others, such as mountain bike helmets, and most are constructed very similarly. Still, we give extra marks to helmets that include features like MIPS, or Smith’s own proprietary Koroyd technology.

Beyond the quality of the lens, lens shape plays a huge role in how things appear through goggles. Historically, lenses were cylindrical. Essentially, they were stamped out flat and then bent in more of a cylindrical shape when they were put into goggle frames. The upside of this type of lens is that it is cheaper to manufacture, but the downside is that it creates a slightly distorted view of the world around you. However, newer, high-end cylindrical lenses are injection molded rather than being stamped and then bent. This makes for a much better lens, if not quite on the level of spherical or toric lenses.

More recently, most companies’ top of the line goggles have shifted to a spherical shaped lens. As the name suggests, these goggles are shaped like a sphere, rather than a cylinder, meaning that they have both a horizontal and vertical curve. Like eyeglasses, this works to mimic the shape of your eye and create the most accurate representation of the world around you. Another, less often noted advantage to spherical lenses is that they have a bit more surface area inside the goggles, which makes them slightly more fog resistant than cylindrical lenses.

Very recently, a third option has come onto the market, and that is the new toric lenses, featured in the Anon M4 Toric and Dragon PXV. Toric lenses are cylindrical in that they have both a vertical and horizontal curve. However, the top to bottom curve is much less pronounced than that found on spherical lenses. This makes them a perfect choice for those who love the aesthetic of cylindrical lenses but want the benefits of spherical lenses.

Finally, goggles that fog up easily are pretty well unusable, regardless of how fancy everything else about them might be. However, the good news on this front is that most modern ski and snowboard helmets and goggles have come a long way from the days of old and work very well together to keep you from fogging up while riding.

Comfort

I don’t think that we have ever done a review where comfort was not a top metric, and the same is true for ski and snowboard goggles. Naturally, finding a goggle that fits your face well will typically result in the most comfortable ski and snowboard goggle for you. To help achieve this, most top of the line ski and snowboard goggles today are offered in standard/XL, and small or “Asian fit” options to help you get the perfect fit in the goggles that you love.

Ventilation and Warmth

We all want to stay warm while riding, but good ventilation is a must to keep your goggles fog free. The best goggles do a great job of balancing ventilation that keeps their lens fog free, while not feeling overly drafty, making your face cold and your eyes water.

Ease of Changing Lenses

While many skiers and snowboarders will ride just about every day of the season with the same pair of lenses, most manufacturers now offer different lenses designed to meet the demands of different light conditions, and many of the ski and snowboard goggles that we reviewed even come with two pair of lenses: one for low light conditions, and one for bluebird days.

The ease with which lenses can be swapped out has come a long way in the past few years, so if you have been reluctant to switch lenses for different riding conditions, then now is a great time to try it.

The Best Ski and Snowboard Goggles of 2021

The Best Of The Rest

Dragon NFX2

Dragon PXV

Electric EG3

Oakley Airbrake XL

Oakley Flight Deck Prizm

Anon M4 Toric

Best Overall Ski and Snowboard Goggle of 2021

The Anon M4 Toric ski and snowboard goggle is just what we have been waiting on from Anon. While Anon has made some of the best cylindrical goggles around for as long as we can remember, their lack of a spherical lens has held them back, but that is no longer the case. The Anon M4 Toric features Zeiss SONAR Toric lenses and Anon’s proprietary, magnetic, Magna-Tech lens change system, which is hands down the easiest lens change system on the market. There is not much bad to say about the Anon M4. It allows you to switch between Toric and cylindrical lenses, features the easiest lens change system available, and performs well in every category.

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Smith I/O Mag

Best Overall Ski and Snowboard goggle for Riders with Average to Small Faces

The Smith I/O family of ski and snowboard goggles has long been at the forefront of the quick and easy lens change movement, and the Smith I/O Mag is their latest step forward. The magnetic lens change system of the Smith I/O Mag is bettered in ease of changing lenses only by the Anon M4, which does not use any locking mechanism to back up the magnets. Meanwhile, Smith’s Chromapop spherical lenses are among the best available, and my own personal favorite.

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Dragon X2

Dragon might not be quite as well known by the general public as companies like Oakley and Smith, but they make some of the best eyewear on the market, and the Dragon X2 is a perfect example of that. The Dragon X2 features Dragon’s Swiftlock lens change technology, which is the easiest non-magnetic lens change system available. It is also extremely comfortable, has great fog resistance, and features Dragon’s spherical Lumalens lenses, which are some of the best available.

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Smith I/OX Chromapop

The Smith I/OX is one of the best ski and snowboard goggles in just about every category, as well as my personal favorite. The I/OX is extremely well rounded, performing equally well on the resort as in the backcountry, and Smith’s spherical, Chromapop lenses are second to none. Better still, the Smith I/OX has been around for a few seasons now, and can be found as low as $120, making them the no brainer best ski and snowboard goggle for the money, if you can catch them on such a sale.

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Anon M3 MFI

Best Cylindrical Ski and Snowboard Goggle

We could not quite find a niche where we felt the POC Auric Cut Backcountry Spin bested our top picks for their positions. However, it is only a shade away from them and offers great all-around performance. This is backed up by POC’s Spin technology, which seems to offer the protection of MIPS and then some. It is also a helmet that merges premium helmet features with skate helmet style, which will be more than enough to sell plenty of style-conscious riders, not that POC needs anything extra to sell their helmets. Their reputation for quality and safety does that on its own.

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Smith Squad XL

Best Bang For Your Buck Ski and Snowboard Goggles

We often talk about where the best price to performance ratio is for different product categories, and for ski and snowboard goggles, it is the Smith Squad XL.  It comes with two pair of lenses, Smith’s Chromapop technology, and other high-end features for an MSRP of $130 and sale prices below $100. If you want a ski and snowboard goggle that represents the absolute best bang for your buck, then the Smith Squad XL is tough to beat.

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Oakley Line Miner Prizm

Runner Up Best Bang for Your Buck Ski and Snowboard Goggles

While the Smith Squad XL edges it out as our top pick for the best budget ski and snowboard goggle of 2021 thanks to slightly better ventilation and an easier lens change system, the Oakley Line Miner Prizm brings high quality Prizm lenses and top of the line comfort to a mid-tier price range, and is a great choice for riders who want a great price to performance ski and snowboard goggle, but don’t want to pay the premium prices for Oakley’s top of the line goggles.

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Dragon NFX2

The Dragon NFX2 brings an old school vibe with next-generation technology and performance. While a few riders might wish for multiple sizing options, the fit of the Dragon NFX2 will fit just about everyone. If you love the technology and performance of the Dragon X2, but want that same great optical quality and Swiftlock lens change technology with an old school flat goggle aesthetic, then the Dragon NFX2 might just be the best ski and snowboard goggle for you.

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Dragon PXV

In many ways, the Dragon PXV represents a great value for a pair of premium ski and snowboard goggles that boast Dragon’s take on toric lenses, called “Panotech.” There is also the option to get the PXV with Dragon’s Lumalens Photochromatic lenses, although doing so definitely knocks the PXV out of the bang for your buck category. What holds the PXV back is its lens change system, which is a gigantic step down in ease of changing lenses from the Swiftlock lens change system found on the Dragon X2 and NFX2.

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Electric EG3

Electric is a company known for making gear that performs great and has a bold, unique look, and the Electric EG3 ski and snowboard goggle is a perfect example of this combination.  The Electric EG3 is a big and bold spherical lensed ski and snowboard goggle with a field of view to match any goggle on the market. What makes it unique from other goggles that sport those features is that it is aimed squarely at riders with small to average faces, for whom such goggles from other manufacturers are typically too large.

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Oakley Airbrake XL

While we had some issues with seeing a reflection of the frame in the lens, the Oakley Airbrake XL is a great all-around ski and snowboard goggles in just about every way. It features Oakley’s spherical Prizm lens, which is just about the best on the market, and it comes with two pair of lenses, something that not all Oakley goggles do. The difference between premium ski and snowboard goggles really comes down to splitting hairs, and if you are a fan of Oakleys, then you will be hard pressed to go wrong with the Airbrake XL Prizm.

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Oakley Flight Deck Prizm

Don’t let its last-place position on our list fool you. There is a reason that the Oakley Flight Deck Prizm is one of the best selling ski and snowboard goggles in the Oakley lineup. It suffers from stiff competition and the fact that it just doesn’t really jive with some of the criteria that we used to judge the goggles that we reviewed. However, the Flight Deck is still a great goggle with a look that will speak to riders who go in for a bold and unique style.

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