Andy Mink
Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Eyeglasses. They’re the bane and savior of many people, including a large number of skiers. The saving grace of glasses is the ability to see. The bane is trying to find a goggle that fits over them without squashing the earpieces into the side of your head.
Many companies offer OTG (Over the Glasses) goggles and this year I’ve been wearing a pair of Atomic Revent L FDL HD OTG goggles. That’s a lot of letters so let’s break it down:
L–Large Frame
FDL–Fusion Double Lens
HD–High Definition
OTG–Over the Glasses
Atomic Revent L FDL HD OTG goggles
The large frame features what Atomic dubs “live fit” so it molds to the contours of your face. Check mark here, as the frame is comfortably snug without any pressure points.
The Fusion Double Lens indicates the double lens of the Recent are laminated together instead of having a gap between them. This results in no reflections between the lenses.
The notes on the lens tells you what you need to know
The High Definition cylindrical lens makes for superior contrast and, in conjunction with the FDL, offers the wearer excellent visibility. I didn't notice any distortion across the lens.
The Revents I’ve been using have the green stereo lens which has a green tint on the outer lens and a purple inner lens. Together, they work very well in full sun to light clouds. On those days with heavy clouds and flat light they were not as good as a low light specific lens. With ten available lenses there are several options to conquer any light condition, including a clear lens for night skiing. One thing that caught my attention was when I took them off the first time after skiing was the world turned green for a bit. I never noticed that with other goggles so some wavelengths of light are definitely getting filtered out.
On to how the Revents work. In short, quite well with a few caveats. First, the good.
As noted above, the lens is exceptionally clear and bright. Contrast on sunny days is outstanding. It is quite good in light cloud conditions. The lenses are claimed by Atomic to have 8x the market standard for fog resistance. I’ll take their word for that; I never had the goggles fog, even in warmer conditions when I was perspiring. Changing out the lens is straight forward. There are six tabs, five of which fit into slots around the frame. The frame itself has a groove all the way around that secures the lens. While not a quick change system, it is relatively easy to get the lens out and back in.
One of the tabs. This one actually doesn't fit into a slot; other skiers will tell you your lens is coming out. Thank them for noticing.
The overall fit is very comfortable. The frame has enough flex to bend a bit but isn’t whimpy. The silicone on the inside of the strap keeps things in place around the helmet and fit inside the shape of my Pret Cirque X helmet is very good. Ventilation is handled by foam inserts across the top and bottom of the frame. There are three layers of foam, one firmer, one softer, plus a soft layer that touches your face, that make a good fit on your face.
The frame minus the lens shows the structure that supports the ventilation foam.
From the bottom the tri foam fit is visible along with the bottom foam vents.
As good as the goggle is, I did find a few drawbacks. First, though the goggles never fogged, my glasses did. This happened on warmer days or on days when I was working harder but not moving very fast. This included skiing in trees and bumps where I really like to see where I’m going.
Another concern raised its head on windy days with very fine snow. While the gaps that allow the ear pieces of the glasses to pass through the foam are covered with a small flap of elastic it isn't enough to keep the snow out. With snow on the outside and inside of the goggle lenses, plus the inside and outside of the glasses, vision was severely impacted.
This shot shows the gaps in the foam that allow the earpieces of the glasses to fit in the goggle. Even with thicker earpieces the gap would still be overly generous.
The elastic that covers the earpiece gap.
Another view of the earpiece gap.
The gap between the side of my temple and the goggle is seen here. The purple is the inside of the lens. When the strap goes around the helmet it provides a bit more protection but snow still gets in.
The only other item I would change would be a bit longer strap. On my large helmet I had it adjusted to its longest point; an extra large helmet might make it too tight thus making the fit on the face very snug. I’ve noticed this on a few other goggles I’ve tried. An extra inch or so would be good. It would also allow the adjustment pieces to spread out instead of all being close under the helmet's strap keeper.
The adjustment here is at its maximum length.
The Revent OTG goggles fit nicely with my Pret Cirque X helmet.
So, where does this leave us? I’d say for 90% of my skiing this is a great goggle. The other 10% can get a little dicey. I do intend to hunt down a low light lens for those days where I don’t see the sun, which seems to be most of them this year. If you don’t ski in driving snow, I think this goggle will suit you fine. If you’re a storm skier you may want to look elsewhere. If I were to look for a non-OTG goggle I’d definitely check out Atomic’s other offerings as the lens setup is very good, as is the overall construction of the goggle. As with many items, prices seem to be all over ranging from the $120s to over $150. Check out the Revent OTG Google here.
Many companies offer OTG (Over the Glasses) goggles and this year I’ve been wearing a pair of Atomic Revent L FDL HD OTG goggles. That’s a lot of letters so let’s break it down:
L–Large Frame
FDL–Fusion Double Lens
HD–High Definition
OTG–Over the Glasses
Atomic Revent L FDL HD OTG goggles
The large frame features what Atomic dubs “live fit” so it molds to the contours of your face. Check mark here, as the frame is comfortably snug without any pressure points.
The Fusion Double Lens indicates the double lens of the Recent are laminated together instead of having a gap between them. This results in no reflections between the lenses.
The notes on the lens tells you what you need to know
The High Definition cylindrical lens makes for superior contrast and, in conjunction with the FDL, offers the wearer excellent visibility. I didn't notice any distortion across the lens.
The Revents I’ve been using have the green stereo lens which has a green tint on the outer lens and a purple inner lens. Together, they work very well in full sun to light clouds. On those days with heavy clouds and flat light they were not as good as a low light specific lens. With ten available lenses there are several options to conquer any light condition, including a clear lens for night skiing. One thing that caught my attention was when I took them off the first time after skiing was the world turned green for a bit. I never noticed that with other goggles so some wavelengths of light are definitely getting filtered out.
On to how the Revents work. In short, quite well with a few caveats. First, the good.
As noted above, the lens is exceptionally clear and bright. Contrast on sunny days is outstanding. It is quite good in light cloud conditions. The lenses are claimed by Atomic to have 8x the market standard for fog resistance. I’ll take their word for that; I never had the goggles fog, even in warmer conditions when I was perspiring. Changing out the lens is straight forward. There are six tabs, five of which fit into slots around the frame. The frame itself has a groove all the way around that secures the lens. While not a quick change system, it is relatively easy to get the lens out and back in.
One of the tabs. This one actually doesn't fit into a slot; other skiers will tell you your lens is coming out. Thank them for noticing.
The overall fit is very comfortable. The frame has enough flex to bend a bit but isn’t whimpy. The silicone on the inside of the strap keeps things in place around the helmet and fit inside the shape of my Pret Cirque X helmet is very good. Ventilation is handled by foam inserts across the top and bottom of the frame. There are three layers of foam, one firmer, one softer, plus a soft layer that touches your face, that make a good fit on your face.
The frame minus the lens shows the structure that supports the ventilation foam.
From the bottom the tri foam fit is visible along with the bottom foam vents.
As good as the goggle is, I did find a few drawbacks. First, though the goggles never fogged, my glasses did. This happened on warmer days or on days when I was working harder but not moving very fast. This included skiing in trees and bumps where I really like to see where I’m going.
Another concern raised its head on windy days with very fine snow. While the gaps that allow the ear pieces of the glasses to pass through the foam are covered with a small flap of elastic it isn't enough to keep the snow out. With snow on the outside and inside of the goggle lenses, plus the inside and outside of the glasses, vision was severely impacted.
This shot shows the gaps in the foam that allow the earpieces of the glasses to fit in the goggle. Even with thicker earpieces the gap would still be overly generous.
The elastic that covers the earpiece gap.
Another view of the earpiece gap.
The gap between the side of my temple and the goggle is seen here. The purple is the inside of the lens. When the strap goes around the helmet it provides a bit more protection but snow still gets in.
The only other item I would change would be a bit longer strap. On my large helmet I had it adjusted to its longest point; an extra large helmet might make it too tight thus making the fit on the face very snug. I’ve noticed this on a few other goggles I’ve tried. An extra inch or so would be good. It would also allow the adjustment pieces to spread out instead of all being close under the helmet's strap keeper.
The adjustment here is at its maximum length.
The Revent OTG goggles fit nicely with my Pret Cirque X helmet.
So, where does this leave us? I’d say for 90% of my skiing this is a great goggle. The other 10% can get a little dicey. I do intend to hunt down a low light lens for those days where I don’t see the sun, which seems to be most of them this year. If you don’t ski in driving snow, I think this goggle will suit you fine. If you’re a storm skier you may want to look elsewhere. If I were to look for a non-OTG goggle I’d definitely check out Atomic’s other offerings as the lens setup is very good, as is the overall construction of the goggle. As with many items, prices seem to be all over ranging from the $120s to over $150. Check out the Revent OTG Google here.
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