Review: Smith IO/X Photochromic

So before I purchased these goggles, I saw a lot of people wondering about the Photochromic lens with the Smith I/O series, so I figure Id write a short little review on them.

Days Skied: 5
Conditions: Everything from whiteout to bluebird


So I was pretty hesitant on buying this lens at first. I have been hearing very good things about Oakley's Prizm lenses, but didnt really like how they distorted colors so much and I am not a huge fan of the Oakley goggles' fit on my face.

Anyways, the lens looks very similar to their Red Sol lens except the edges have a little blue. The first day I skied these lenses it was fairly sunny down at the base for a couple hours, then started snowing, raining, and hailing from mid-mountain to the summit. These lenses excel on days like these. I previously had pink iridium crowbars, and I can say that the Photochromic lens is much better in low light than the pink iridiums. When the sun peaked through, the lenses darkened and were perfect. 0 eye strain, even when hiking above tree line. In terms of low light, I think these lenses are perfect for variable conditions. The weather was reporting for partly cloudy, but ended up getting not a cloud in the ski at Alta last week. I wore these lenses all day and at no point did I wish that I needed to bring my black outs. Would they obviously be better? Yes, but you're not gonna have eye strain with these lenses regardless of conditions.

Id say the only time you'd need to switch to the black out lens is a sun beaming bluebird day. I wanted a lens that I didn't need to switch throughout the day. I must say, I am very impressed with this lens (even when comparing it to Jade Iridium Prizm). Colors arent distorted and the tint of the lens really does change with the light outside. If you have the money for this lens, Id definitely invest in it.