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Low Light and Sun Lens Recommendations

Alexzn

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Some tech background (I'm sounding like a broken record on this topic). Your current Smith lenses and all Oakley lenses are made from high quality optical grade polycarbonate material. ChromaPop is actually a different material, Trivex, with higher acuteness (almost 2x higher than Pc, with the value matching the values for glass. I would highly recommend going to ChromaPop. I have a pair of Trivex lenses in mynPOC goggles, and even though they a bit darker than my storm goggles (Oakley hi-yEllow) I noticed that I use them all the time, storm ot not. The gain in acuteness is worth more to me than extra light transmission.
 

AmyPJ

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If only we could demo goggles. I find that in sunglasses, gold or rose colored tints work better than smoke or blue. So, the same is true for goggles. I love my Prizm rose but would like something that lets a little more light in for those truly dreadful days (which are often the days when the snow is falling and the skiing is amazing.)
 

David Matheney

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I love my Oakey Airbrake Prism goggles. Airbrake because the lenses are so easy to change out. Prism is the best tech out there for vision. I have Prism Jade Iridium for Sun, Prism Rose for overcast and the all new for this year and just received last week Prism Hi Pink for whiteout and night riding. The Prism Hi Pink is what I was looking for last season in very low light conditions but didn't exist in the Prism tech.
 

hbear

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Prism hi pink, hadn't heard of it. Going to check it out as I loved the pink iridium before the Prizm tech.
 

David Matheney

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Check them out, they fill in that gap for Prism tech for very low light.

image.png
 

AmyPJ

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I love my Oakey Airbrake Prism goggles. Airbrake because the lenses are so easy to change out. Prism is the best tech out there for vision. I have Prism Jade Iridium for Sun, Prism Rose for overcast and the all new for this year and just received last week Prism Hi Pink for whiteout and night riding. The Prism Hi Pink is what I was looking for last season in very low light conditions but didn't exist in the Prism tech.
Wait, what?! Hi pink?! I was just on Oakleys' website last week and saw no such thing. Where did you find them? I'd love to get some for my Flight Deck goggles.
 

Read Blinn

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Hm. I use the Sensor Mirror all the time — skiing below the tree line, usually overcast. If it's really dark, I switch to the clear lens I use for night skiing. Nothing beats the light transmission of a clear lens.
 

AmyPJ

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Check them out, they fill in that gap for Prism tech for very low light.

View attachment 15637
So, have you had a chance to try them out to compare to the Prizm Rose? Looks like the VLT is similar--21% or so? Lucky me, I can buy mine at Backcountry in person. BUT I'll check my local shop first, because I have a coupon for them and I like to support truly local when I can! I know they carry Oakley.

I love my Prizm Rose, but do want something that gives me a little more light on those truly dreadful days.
 

hbear

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Interested to hear how the Hi-Pink perform over something like the High Yellow that I use on really terrible vis days.
 

David Matheney

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So, have you had a chance to try them out to compare to the Prizm Rose? Looks like the VLT is similar--21% or so? Lucky me, I can buy mine at Backcountry in person. BUT I'll check my local shop first, because I have a coupon for them and I like to support truly local when I can! I know they carry Oakley.

I love my Prizm Rose, but do want something that gives me a little more light on those truly dreadful days.


I put them on the other day, swapped them out side by side with the Rose because I wanted to see the difference and I will tell you they are much brighter. I think they are going to be as good as the Hi Yellow in brightness but with the Prism tech much better detail.

The left is the new Hi Pink Prism and the right is the Rose Prism.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 

Alexzn

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For all the Oakley prism lovefest here, It's ultimately a good polycarbonate lens with a strong red tint that cuts out blue light that decreases contrast. IMO they are significantly overpriced for the benefits they deliver. I would go for any NXT or ChromaPop lenses any day. They start from a plastic with superior material properties.
 

Lorenzzo

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For all the Oakley prism lovefest here, It's ultimately a good polycarbonate lens with a strong red tint that cuts out blue light that decreases contrast. IMO they are significantly overpriced for the benefits they deliver. I would go for any NXT or ChromaPop lenses any day. They start from a plastic with superior material properties.
If the sole criteria was definition in flat light, would you still consider the ChromaPop superior?
 

AmyPJ

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For me, it also comes down to owning the Oakley frames already, and having an easy lens swap vs. carrying two pair of goggles around. I will say my eyes don't lie, I do love the Prizm lens over anything else I've ever used, hands down. That being said, I'll have to ask if they carry the Chromapop when I go look at the Hi Pink in person.

@David Matheney, thanks for those pictures. They are definitely lighter/brighter.
 

AmyPJ

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Interested to hear how the Hi-Pink perform over something like the High Yellow that I use on really terrible vis days.
I have the high yellow, thinking they'd let more light through than the Prizm rose and therefore be better on foggy days, etc. They aren't. The Prizm rose just provide better contrast, by quite a lot.
 

hbear

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I too have the Prizm Rose, but while giving better contrast it does diminish the light transmission a bit more than wanted on those terrible low light vis days. Rose is great for fog or days that are overcast but still have ample "light" available. I'm talking about days where the light is not as present or when in the dark shadow side of the mountain. This is where I prefer the Hi-Yellow over Prizm Rose. This is also the condition that was stretching the coverage of my old VR50 Pink Iridiums...but those still were able to perform....Rose however I find is too dark for that same light condition.

Thankfully it's not often that I see it, but that is also why I have a lens quiver to give me an option should I encounter it.
 

Lorenzzo

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I'm inclined to go big and start a goggles quiver. The only close injury calls I've had thus far have been in low or flat light during fresh snow conditions when I was unable to pick up definition. So unless I get a clearer idea than I currently have I'm getting Smith IOX chroma pop and Oakley Flight Deck Prizm Rose.

With my dividend and member coupons at REI, the two sets of chroma pop lenses that come with the Smiths, and my current IOX frames I can switch to one of the chroma pops, I'd be getting 3 pair of best tech goggles for $300. One of the Chromapop is for storms, hopefully addressing conditions too dim for the prizm rose. I'm out there a lot so I'm down for spending a little to find the best thing for pow/storm days.
 

Alexzn

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If the sole criteria was definition in flat light, would you still consider the ChromaPop superior?
Definitely, especially if the darkness, i.e. VLT (visible light transmission) is similar.

Advanced apologies for the technical explanation: The acuity usually is defined by chromatic aberrations, i.e. how much different colors of light follow slightly divergent paths (visually you perceive it as sight fuzziness in the lines). There are two sources of aberrations: internal stresses in the plastic (if you ever looked at a clear plastic lens through a polarizing filter, this is what you see), and the intrinsic dispersiveness of the material. Trivex (ChromaPop) wins on both counts. It has less internal stress and its intrinsic Abbe number (which measured dispersion) has a value of 44 or 42 if I am not mistaken, almost as high as glass (45). Polycarbonate Abbe number is 21, so those lenses are intrinsically fuzzier than Trivex. As I said, I find the difference significant enough that I prefer my regular-tint Trivex (NXT) lens to my storm-tint polycarbonate Prizm lens.

Also, a quick explanation of why pink tints are better than yellow in the storm. Different color of light scatters differently with blue light scattering way more strongly than the red light (this is why the sky is blue). pink (red) tints cut out the strongly scattered blue light, reducing overall scatter and increasing contrast. This is the whole rationale behind Prizm technology, it is not rocket science, you will notice that all Prizm lenses have a red base.
 
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AmyPJ

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So, I found out that as an employee at Snowbasin, I get the Smith killer discount. I have already bought my Oakley Prizm Hi Pinks for the foggiest of days, but was going to look into the Smith ChromaPop as an option. What I found out is that the Smiths don't come in a low-light lens yet. This is a deal breaker for me.

I have been SO happy with the additional clarity provided by the Oakleys, I'm not too sad. I DID, however, want to be able to compare them side-by-side. I'm thinking I'll take my Prizm Jades in and at least compare them to the Smiths in the shop (provided they have any.)
 

ADKmel

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I also vote for Rose or Vermilion for flat light days..works great.. I've been using Bolle vermilion for years. the "flash mirror' coating on one pair smeared when it sleeted and I wiped off. (bolle replaced them promptly)
 

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