My Favourite Lens Swap: Anon M5 Ski Goggles Evaluation

My touring companions and I crouched on the summit of our deliberate ski line, engulfed in a cloud of whipping winds and spindrift. It felt like chaos. I rigorously donned insulating layers, combating the wind’s try and tear them out of my palms. The anxiousness was constructing. My Anon M5 ski goggles have been the final piece.

I rapidly swapped the lens to the low-light possibility and pulled them over my ski helmet. I instantly felt calm thanks to those premium ski goggles, which enhanced visibility and completely shielded the wind. The eyepiece stored my oculi from being blasted and allowed me to see clearly once more.

In brief: Launched in January 2024, the Anon M5 Goggles ($300) stand out from the group on a number of fronts. They’ve grow to be my go-to ski goggles for snowboarding on the resort and within the backcountry. When the climate adjustments and visibility drops, they’ve bought one of the best lens change system I’ve come throughout, to not point out sensible optics.

It takes actually seconds to swap out the lenses (the bundle contains an additional one), even with the goggles in your face. Plus, they’ve bought a characteristic that no different goggle has: a magnetized ski face masks for fog-free heat. When it comes to construct, these goggles are sturdy. The catch? This high-end design comes at a premium value.

Learn the GearJunkie Greatest Ski Goggles purchaser’s information.

• Greatest for
  Storm days and poor lighting situations
• Lenses
  2
• Body measurement
  Medium/massive
• Lens form
  Flat toric

• 
  Remarkably simple lens swap
• 
  Magnetic face masks included
• 
  Sharp optics for any lighting situations
• 
  Comfy match, provided in smaller body measurement (M5S)

Anon M5 Ski Goggles Evaluation

Whereas that day’s avalanche situations carried average threat, I wanted a transparent, targeted thoughts for decision-making within the nasty climate situations. We skied a extra conservative line, and the M5’s low-light lens helped me determine the snow’s subtleties and eke out one of the best powder turns accessible.

I skied with the M5s pulled over my face on sunny days and terrible days alike. I used them all through the spring season final winter, testing their mettle towards different prime rivals. For a number of causes, they got here out on prime in my assortment.

Match and Dimension

In my expertise, the body and span of the Anon M5 is fairly massive. It’s the very first thing I seen after I strapped them to my ski helmet and pulled on the package. And that’s a constructive in my ebook: I’m all in on greater ski goggles that engulf extra of my face and, subsequently, increase my discipline of view deep into the periphery. I’ve a medium-to-large noggin, and so they match me nearly completely.

However they’ll doubtless be too massive for smaller-faced people. Thankfully, the model has these skiers and riders lined with the Anon M5S, which is a similar design by way of efficiency however in a smaller-fitting body.

Helmet Compatibility

Total, the M5 match nicely with the ski helmet that I belief my mind to: the Candy Safety Trooper 2VI MIPS. There are very small gaps on the edges between the body and the helmet’s ear flaps, that are lined by the helmet straps. There’s no hole on the prime.

I additionally examined these goggles with my ski touring helmet, the Petzl Meteor, and the match was spot on. In my discipline exams, the POC Nexal ski goggles edge out the M5 for ski helmet match, because of the beneficiant outriggers for the strap. (An outrigger is a bit of plastic that extends from the goggle’s body, which aids the strap, in order that it extends out from the body.)

Even so, the M5 is an in depth sufficient match and will match most ski helmets very nicely. And in contrast to some ski goggles with devoted strap outriggers, the M5 match my face nicely even with out a ski helmet on. That’s key for these events after I’m on the trailhead, car parking zone, or touring pitstop whereas carrying a hat or nothing on my head however need the safety of a ski goggle.

Weight and High quality

The opposite factor I seen immediately was that these ski goggles are comparatively heavy. Not in an annoying method that causes neck fatigue however as an indicator of the prime quality of the supplies. The magnets for the lens swap expertise contribute to the load. On the size, this ski goggle weighs 172g, and every lens weighs 65g. The POC Nexal isn’t far off at 153g.

Magnetic Lens Swap: Wonderful Design

It’s powerful to overstate how simple it’s to swap the lenses for the Anon M5 ski goggle. Discover the nook of the connected lens, elevate it with stress from a finger or nail, and the lens pops off. Hover the swappable lens in entrance of the body, and it snaps in with none stress. That’s it. The magnets do all of the work.

Even after I was fumbling round in a bitter storm on the prime of a Gore Vary peak in Colorado’s backcountry, the swap was a no brainer. Consequently, that is the primary ski goggle that I persistently carry an additional lens round for as a result of the change is very easy.

9 inside magnets are embedded across the body’s perimeter, which firmly maintain the lens. In my expertise, the lens by no means fell off by itself. It’s locked in: The magnetic draw can maintain practically 17 kilos, studies Anon. Even when the goggles have been of their carry bag, stuffed haphazardly into my gear bag, and dealt with with out care, the lens stayed connected.

May the lens theoretically dislodge with a serious slam? I suppose it’s potential, however I didn’t come wherever near shedding the lens throughout months of aggressive snowboarding. I believe that you just’d have to hit the bottom very, very laborious for the lens to pop off.

Removable Ski and Snowboard Face Masks

Talking of magnets, the M5 integrates with a super-unique accent: a removable face masks. I’ll be sincere: I left it within the field for the primary month I used to be testing these ski goggles. On paper, it appeared like a gimmick. Solely after getting caught in frigid situations and having my nostril brush up towards frostbite did I rethink attempting out this masks. Ever since, I’ve tossed the ski and snowboard face masks in my jacket pocket simply in case.

Just like the lens system, the face masks attaches to the goggle body through the tiny magnets. However the actual profit over a buff or different face masks is the fog-free match. As a result of the face masks attaches to the body as a substitute of tucking beneath the goggles, your exhalation stays outdoors the goggles as a substitute of creeping beneath the body.

One other main good thing about this design is that you would be able to simply detach and pull down the face masks with a single hand with out taking your goggles or helmet off. I didn’t understand how annoying retucking a standard face masks was till I attempted the M5 with this add-on accent. It’s a neat software that I believe quite a lot of skiers and snowboarders could be happy to make use of.

Anti-Fog Lens Design

Talking of fogging up on the ski hill, the design for the M5 by no means did throughout my take a look at laps. As you’d count on from any high-end ski goggle, the lens has an interior coating to forestall fogging. It did job of protecting the fog at bay throughout a ski day.

Within the backcountry, these goggles stayed largely fog-free after I strapped them to my sizzling face on the prime of a ski touring lap. The satisfactory vents maintained airflow. May I get them to fog after I left them on whereas skinning uphill? You guess. However that rings true for any goggles, in my expertise.

Naively, I assumed that I might come out the lens to assist cool my face down. Nevertheless it’s not fairly that simple to take away the lens when the goggles are on versus off the helmet, in your palms. It’s a lot simpler to shift the goggles up onto your helmet to let perspiration out.

A number of Lenses

Each lenses which might be included on this goggle bundle are optically wonderful. The M5 ski goggles are made with flat toric lenses, which mix the field-of-view of a spherical lens (which has a low profile) with a cylindrical lens (which is much less scratch-prone).

It appears like one of the best of each worlds. The lens form is broad and sweeping. And there’s no shade or visible distortion within the periphery.

Between the 2 lens choices, the bundle covers a really broad spectrum of lighting situations. The pair that I examined got here with the Understand Sunny Pink with 14% Seen Gentle Transmission (VLT). There was additionally a spare Understand Cloudy Burst with 59% VLT.

The Sunny Pink lens provided loads of safety for the brightest spring days in Colorado. That’s when the ski-season photo voltaic rays and albedo (the fraction of sunshine {that a} floor displays) are at a peak. I wasn’t left wanting extra safety, which I did expertise with the first lens of the POC Nexal ski goggle. Past super-bright situations, the Sunny Pink lens supplied fairly dang good imaginative and prescient when the clouds rolled in.

When situations have been actually nasty, the Cloudy Burst lens was a strong complement to the Sunny Pink. They dished up clear, crisp imaginative and prescient and enhanced subtleties within the snow’s floor.

That detailed low-light notion was confidence-inspiring after I skied a number of unsparing spring backcountry strains. I might simply inform the distinction between ice, wind-drifted snow, and powder. Variable snow situations can act as hazards in the event that they’re unexpectedly encountered.

Understand Know-how: Readability and Distinction

Anon’s Understand expertise is constructed into the lenses. The proprietary expertise offers distinction enhancement much like the Oakley Prizm or Smith ChromaPop in-house applied sciences. Understand tech provides considerably extra distinction and vibrancy than what could be perceived by the bare eye. And albeit, I wouldn’t purchase a pair of ski goggles with out it anymore.

Although it provides price, it’s one of many largest enhancements in goggle tech over the previous decade — particularly when somebody enjoys shifting quick in altering lighting situations and so they want crisp imaginative and prescient to remain protected. Understand is included in each of the M5 goggle lenses, which isn’t at all times the case with the spare lens included in bundles from different manufacturers.

Conclusion

The Anon M5 Goggles are a few of the nicest ski and snowboard goggles I’ve ever placed on my face. Between the soft foam, big field-of-view, wonderful optics, and industry-leading lens swap, I used to be smitten.

They’re dear, although.

As a $300 pair, they’re a premium addition to my package. There’s no getting round the truth that these goggles are simply too dang costly for lots of skiers and riders on the market. They’re among the many costliest goggles we’ve lined at GearJunkie or which were included as a prime contender within the purchaser’s information.

What do you get for that a lot money? A really strong and sturdy pair of goggles, two lenses, and the included removable face masks. I received’t name it a discount. However this top-quality bundle is what you’d count on for the worth.

Skiers and riders keen to shell out a number of further shillings will get what they count on. Most of all, skiers and snowboarders can be relieved to be carrying this massive face cocoon when the nasty winter climate rolls in and the sunshine drops.