visibility options for a skiier with bad eyes

[puma]

hello,

what are the opinions on the best path forward for improving vision on the hill? my wife wears glasses and has never had good luck with visibility on the mountain. she has tried goggles that fit glasses and claims fogging problems. contacts are not comfortable...what are the best options?

[Kopi_Red]

I wear contacts but have family members who wear glasses and they avoid fogging problems by using Smith turbo fan goggles.

[Soups]

they avoid fogging problems by using Smith turbo fan goggles.

These are great...when they work. Which is about 25% of the time. I've had two pair, returned one on warranty due to the wiring and they gave me the newer model, which was a slight improvement. Still frustrating POS's.

Between the plug in popping out and the batteries dying in the cold they barely ever work when actually needed. I've succumbed to just taking off the battery pack and rolling with them as regular goggles.

[KBP]

Smith turbofans goggles will definitely help with the fogging issues. I've also found that yellow lenses helps visibility especially in lowlight conditions.

[Soups]

If she doesn't like contacts the only other option is obviously prescription goggles. OTG goggles really suck.

It's that or Lasik

[skinipenem]

Lasix or ski with her eyes closed.

[johnnyg82]

I've been wanting these for my wife, but we need to get her prescription updated. She's already got Airbrake goggles, so I'll just buy the inserts.

https://www.sportrx.com/shopby/produ...ggles.html?p=2

[Gepeto]

Long sufferer of dealing with glasses and inserts for goggles. Uvex seemed to offer the best options when I was still fumbling around. In the end I gave up.

I do have a good assortment of lenses for my Smith I/OX in order to provide the best contrast for the condition.

If your wif is blind without the script, I would try a Smith I/OX Turbo-fan with a script insert.

https://www.sportrx.com/blog/tag/smith-iox-elite-turbo/


eta: I guess a consensus has been reached

[snoqpass]

https://www.reliableracing.com/detail.cfm?edp=10791804

[TBS]

How blind is she Puma? I'm 20/100 and 20/50, with astigmatism, and get by fine without correction with goggles. I can still see anything that will take me out

[ScrewYou]

Contacts or lasik

[gregL]

Contacts or lasik

Agree, did contacts for years then went with Lasik. Awesome for both cycling and skiing.

[adrenalated]

How long has it been since she tried contacts? Lens technology is constantly improving and newer lenses are MUCH more comfortable... even compared to two or three years ago.
FWIW my eyes are about as bad as they get (-8.50 and -7.50 with severe astigmatism) so my choice of lenses is extremely limited. Yet, I still have options that are comfortable all day. About every other year my optometrist has me try something new and most of the time they get me in a new lens that's even better than the one before.

If contacts and Lasik are just absolutely not an option, it seems that turbo fans are what people have the best luck with.

[Danno]

These are great...when they work. Which is about 25% of the time. I've had two pair, returned one on warranty due to the wiring and they gave me the newer model, which was a slight improvement. Still frustrating POS's.

Between the plug in popping out and the batteries dying in the cold they barely ever work when actually needed. I've succumbed to just taking off the battery pack and rolling with them as regular goggles.

Wow, don't know whether you have just had terrible luck or I had great luck. I got Lasik in 2003 so haven't had this problem for years, but back then I used the Turbos and they worked quite well. While they weren't as durable as I would have liked, I still got a few years out of them.

[wyeaster]

i have the turbo exhaust fan and it works ok but i run hot and am invariably overdressed to compensate for shitty outerwear so it's a struggle. i usually wear contacts but my eyeballs hate them so i only wear them during ski season so my eyes never adjust like they should. it's a constant struggle keeping the contacts moist and not stuck to my eyeballs. i snowboard so my face is not facing completely forward and i get a fair amount of air flow coming through the left side and drying out my left contact (i wear toric, which makes it a big problem). i would do lasik except my astigmatism is too bad. if i had the money i would probably do the prescription goggles and keep a pair of glasses in my pack for lunch or whatever. if you get the turbo fan, remember it is pulling air through and out, not blowing air in. if you wreck in powder, the fan will get packed and will not work until the snow is cleared, which can be a challenge especially if you're trying to keep the snow out of your goggles. the fan motor is very quiet and easy to forget so you can burn through the batteries in a hurry. there must be a way to make something better. that said, my motor died post warranty and i called for advice and they made me an incredible deal on a new pair.

[adrenalated]

it's a constant struggle keeping the contacts moist and not stuck to my eyeballs. i snowboard so my face is not facing completely forward and i get a fair amount of air flow coming through the left side and drying out my left contact (i wear toric, which makes it a big problem).

Though newer torics have mostly made this issue a thing of the past for me, I found it useful in the past to have a few sets of single day, non-toric contacts around for active use. They didn't correct my vision enough to, say, read a menu easily, but they were absolutely fine for skiing or similar high speed/high airflow activities (in my case I had the most issue with driving an open-cockpit racecar, even with a full face helmet and vents closed). Obviously the contact still gets dried out but at least it didn't matter if it spun.

[XXX-er]

turbo fans work pretty well to fight the fog but I have had 2 pair fail so I have given up on them cuz they come under the 3 T rule

if its got tires, transistors or tits ... sooner or later you will have problems

I found the little battery pack would come off the strap and eventualy the wire breaks, putting the elastic band from a bunch of broccoli helped to keep the battery on the strap

I start moving and tilt the goggles up to catch some air which clears the lense

I got some new Oakleys which I think are gona fog less

follow someone with good eyes

[puma]

Thank you to all for the advice. I do not believe her eyes are that bad, but not perfect that's for sure. In my opinion, part of the issue is she is not that aggressive, it's an intermediate skiier, and basically ensures she will never fall. A minor little bump causes her to slow down or avoid. I think if she went a bit faster, let her legs absorb a bit, and go with it she'd be in a better spot. That said, she feels that her vision to see every little contour is critical to her enjoyment on the hill. I cannot argue...thus, I am here!!!

I've passed along your advice, and will let her make the call. If I am solicited for my opinion...I'll probably suggest we investigate the inserts. If we were to go that route, would those goggles fog easier just like trying to wear glasses under goggles? So, need to look towards inserts with the smith fan goggles? Or, are her favorite goggles with the prescription inserts doable?

MAYBE she'll try contacts again, but apparently she has very sensitive eyes, has dry eyes too, and cannot deal with contacts.

Thanks again folks!!!

[puma]

If we were to go that route, would those goggles fog easier just like trying to wear glasses under goggles? So, need to look towards inserts with the smith fan goggles? Or, are her favorite goggles with the prescription inserts doable?

Just a quick search on google found:
https://adseyewear.com/Rx-Ski-Goggles-Buyers-Guide

So, strike my question. Probably best to pair the insert with a:
Rx Smith Phenom Turbo Fan
or
Rx Smith Prophecy Turbo

I think I would favor the latter as they are bigger\more volume so less chance to fog to begin with...

[adrenalated]

Keep in mind they have to fit her face too. Prophecys are way too big for me. Phenoms fit much better.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I use Smith Turbo Phenoms with the Smith rx insert. They work really well, especially with a small visor on the helmet, like the Smith Vantage. The fan can get clogged with snow if it's really puking and the visor helps cover that. They're not great for hiking, they do tend to fog with higher output. Of course that's dependent on humidity and temp too. You can get great battery life out of them if you remember to turn them off at the end of the day and don't use the "high" setting too much.

I think the best price for the insert I could find last year was at Optics Planet.

[skiing-in-jackson]

I, like many others, was sentenced to wearing glacier glasses skiing no mater the conditions. I did it for years, pretty much everybody who wore glasses had Rx sunglasses. It was ok, you just kinda got used to it. I miss it in a nostalgia sort of way.

The #1 reason for me getting lasik in ~2003: skiing

[puma]

I, like many others, was sentenced to wearing glacier glasses skiing no mater the conditions. I did it for years, pretty much everybody who wore glasses had Rx sunglasses. It was ok, you just kinda got used to it. I miss it in a nostalgia sort of way.

The #1 reason for me getting lasik in ~2003: skiing

That is funny. My wife actually would wear her prescription sunglasses in bad conditions. I'd sort of laugh to myself...but know it must be brutal having bad eyes.

[Danno]

The #1 reason for me getting lasik in ~2003: skiing

Hah, same, right down to the year.

[old goat]

I've never used the inserts--do people have fogging problems with them, similar to ordinary glasses, using regular goggles? I had good luck with Smith Turbos OTG for the couple of years I used them. No battery problems or failure to work. But my eyes have improved with age to the point that for the first time since I was about 5 I only wear glasses to read, and then only if the light is bad or the print small. About the only good thing about growing older.