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Post by JimRatliff on Mar 16, 2014 11:52:00 GMT -7
A little summary of some Smith lenses. i have used the Blue Sensor Mirror (70% Visual Light Transmission) for low-light and Ignitor Mirror (35% VLT) for several years in OTG goggles, so stayed with these two lenses when I bought new IO/X goggles to better color coordinate with my Scott Rove helmet with MIPS. Last week I added their somewhat new Photochromic Red Sensor Mirror lens (50-20% VLT) to see if it were better than the Ignitor and if it would be better for days of mixed clouds and periods of bright sun. I haven't actually gotten to ski the photochromic, but may try to repeat the test in the brighter light when on the snow. Here are some pictures taken with my cell phone camera from the balcony looking south. I assume that holding the lens in front of the camera probably affected the focus some. 1. No goggle lens in front of the cell phone. 2. Blue Sensor Mirror (70% light transmission). 3. Photochromic red sensor with no time for it to darken (50% light transmission)
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Post by JimRatliff on Mar 16, 2014 11:58:26 GMT -7
(continued) 4. Ignitor Mirror (35% VLT) 5. Reverse side of the photochromic when out of the light. 6. Same lens after being outside a couple of minutes on a somewhat cloudy, 35 degree day. It's interesting that the darkening is not noticeable from the outside.
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Post by JimRatliff on Mar 16, 2014 12:06:50 GMT -7
Lynn skied all of last week with her new photochromic lens with a couple of blue bird bright light days as well as a couple of cloudy days with sporadic near white out snowshowers, and her comment was how bright they are and surprisingly great the visual clarity and acuity was. However, on the bluebird days they were still almost too bright even after darkening. When Smith packages a second lens with the photochromic, it is usually a bright light lens in the 15% VLT range, so they must also feel its a bright goggle even at 20% VLT. She also said that she was never aware of the darkening lens in response to light (which is consistent with what I have heard about photochromic prescription glasses). There are clearly limitations to my picture taking approach to comparing the lenses.
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Post by HighAngles on Mar 17, 2014 4:39:20 GMT -7
I love photochromic polarized lenses. I use Zeal goggles myself and actually had to ski for about a month without those lenses because I had broken them accidentally. I just got a new pair back and oh how I missed them. Weather is a fickle beast and I just never liked fumbling with a lens swap while on mountain.
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Post by JimRatliff on Mar 25, 2014 14:30:11 GMT -7
I got my first day with the Smith photochromic lens last Sunday. A bluebird day with bright spring sun. As Lynn had said, the most amazing feature of these goggles is the amazing clarity of vision. The feeling on the snow was that they were comfortably bright (not painfully bright like some yellow, low-light lenses). I was completely unaware of how much they had darkened until I walked into the lodge and took them off.
I also have their Blue Sensor Mirror for low light and the Ignitor Mirror for regular days and I like the new lens much better than the Ignitor for Sunday's bright conditions, but will apparently have to wait until next year for a flat light comparison.
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Post by livingproof on Dec 2, 2014 10:06:05 GMT -7
Christmas is coming a little early this season as I purchased the Smith IO X goggles yesterday. Went to REI with helmet to assure that the fit worked, much to my delight, they fit so much better than my previous goggles. Dark lens is a green sol X, lighter lens is red sensor mirror. The IO X is larger than the standard IO lens and I like the increased field of vision....need all the peripheral vision we can get on the slopes.
Thanks for all the inputs above.
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Post by dougdeacon on Dec 5, 2014 13:38:19 GMT -7
When it comes to changing goggle lenses, I'm too stupid to remember to pack them, too lazy to dig them out if I remember, and too clumsy to change them if I dig them out. Sorta like General Sherman ("If nominated I will not run, if elected...").
Like HighAngles, I use Zeal goggles: photochromic, polarized, spherical. One lens, imperfect for all conditions!
I like them. Used to have Smiths with 3 lenses... gave them to a friend when I got the Zeals.
YMMV of course. So far as I know, there's no Book1, Book2 and Essentials for goggles!
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Post by JimRatliff on Dec 6, 2014 0:34:54 GMT -7
Doug: Welcome! I largely agree with you. I keep the two lenses in my boot bag and may change as I'm getting ready to go out. But that is it for the day, I ski whichever I have on. I have found that as I get older the search for flat light vision has gotten more challenging.
Tell us about yourself if you like. How did you come across our forum?
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Post by dougdeacon on Dec 6, 2014 12:53:03 GMT -7
Hi Jim. Thanks for the welcome. I found this forum by a mention on the PMTS forum (or maybe in my Googling and reading of all things PMTS). Glad to have found a less... intense... place where some PMTSers hang out. I'm a NE skier, so another good fit. Live in CT, ski mostly in VT. I'm 60yo, skiing for about 30 years. Never did much with PSIA. Self taught following Lito Tejada-Flores' books. Not PMTS but fewer bad movements to unlearn. My partner is a novice but he's attending the Green/Blue camp in Feb, so hopefully a rapidly advancing one. Some NASTAR but not a serious racer. Love skiing all mountain, all conditions, all terrain... with a preference for steeps, bumps, ungroomed, trees, powder, etc. I met HH at a Winter Park alignment clinic, back before he published Book 1. Read his magazine articles but PMTS didn't "click" for me until a Taos instructor got us to initiate turns on steeeeep bump & tee runs with "just a tiny downhill tip of the little toe". Bingo! Then I remembered Harald and found my way to HHS and PMTS. 'nuff about me. Are you by any chance "Skijim13" on the PMTS forum? Doug
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Post by dougdeacon on Dec 6, 2014 13:27:37 GMT -7
I have found that as I get older the search for flat light vision has gotten more challenging. Vision is over-rated... seriously! Scene: an Xtreme Team clinic with the Deslauriers and Egan brothers. Dan was coaching my group down a steepish bump run. It was raining with pea soup fog right down to the ground. You know... typical VT conditions. One student made a grievous error. "I can't seeee...", he whined. Rule #1 when following a world class skier and coach: never, ever whine. Dan stopped, removed his helmet and replaced it... facing BACKWARDS. Now 100% blindfolded, he proceeded to rip off 20 perfect turns straight down the zipper line. You know what came next... we each had to do the same. 1. There was no more whining. 2. We learned to ski by trusting our feet to feel the slope and do the right thing. I've used that lesson a hundred times. Last year I found myself on Chin Clip at Stowe during a sloppy, ewt whiteout that put many skiers in the lodge. My goggle lens didn't matter, I was skiing almost entirely blind and giggling all the way. All I needed was Phantom Turns and the memory of Dan Egan's lesson.
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