Oakley Snow Goggles Replacement Lenses, Tints, & Goggle Fit Guide

Since Oakley makes so many different types of snow goggles for skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, winter paintball battles, extreme snowball fights and other awesome winter activities, a guide to properly fitting your face and choosing the perfect lens tints seems appropriate. Oakley snow goggles come in two different size groups: Small/Medium or Medium/Large.

Fit Guide

Small/Medium Fit: A-Frame, Ambush, O2 XS, Twisted, Elevate and Stockholm.

Medium/Large Fit: Airbrake, Canopy, Splice, O2 XL and Crowbar.

*Unfortunately, you can’t really just measure the diameter of your face to find the proper fit. As always, do your best to try on gear (or at least a similarly sized model) before purchasing.

Oakley goggles are designed to integrate well with helmets. The ‘Outrigger’ found on many Oakley models brings the strap out and around the helmet without stressing the goggle strap. Silicone beading on Oakley goggle straps keeps them in place by gripping to helmet shells. Oakley goggles are flat on top of the frame so they fit flush with helmets, and vents wrap entirely around their frames (rather than solely on top) so ventilation is never compromised. In fact, the Oakley Airbrake Goggles fit flush with 98% of helmets on the market.

*If you wear optical correction lenses under your goggles, go with models that have greater volume like the Oakley O2 XL OTG Goggles (O.T.G. = Over The Glass).

Lenses:

Oakley uses High Definition Optics and is known world-wide for both Lens Superiority and All Day Comfort. Oakley lenses are tapered; other lenses are curved, which distorts light thus forcing your brain to adapt, eventually giving you a headache after you’ve been out for a while on brighter days. Oakley’s tapered lenses are thicker in front of the eyes and thinner at the edges. Yay! No more headaches when you’re rocking the best optics in the world!

Oakley uses Plutonite, the clearest and strongest polycarbonate in the world. In fact, they own the patent on it. Plutonite protects against U.V. rays and is within the lens, not as a finishing coat. When lenses with a layer of UV protection get scratched, harmful rays break through the scratches. Not with Plutonite!

Speaking of strong, Oakley tests their lenses to meet the Anzi 88.7 standard for eyewear safety, hence their popularity with construction workers, military and other professionals in the line of duty. A 1/4″ steel ball is fired at Oakley lenses from point-blank-range at 101 mph, and a heavy metal spike is dropped from five feet above the lenses. If the lenses don’t absorb the impacts, they don’t leave the factory.

Polarized light occurs on/near water, ice and asphalt. Other goggle companies use a sandwich construction, whereas Oakley infuses polycarbonate around the lens to maintain the clearest lens in the world. Noticing a “worldly” trend here?

Many lenses use Iridium. What’s an Iridium coating, you might ask? It’s bonded on a molecular level so it won’t scratch off and absorbs almost as much glare as a polarized lens. Iridium greatly improves contrast and provides a bit darker shade in bright light.

A few examples: Oakley’s ‘Storm’ lens tint is a ‘High Intensity Yellow’ and the Iridium in this tint is radically different from the yellow lens color, maximizing depth perception on the stormiest days. The ‘Persimmon’ lens tint is slightly darker than the ‘Storm’ lens, but also with incredible depth perception. ‘Blue Iridium’ is ideal for a Tahoe lens tint; it is versatile for mostly sunny yet occasional grey skies.

Here’s an image guide to help you choose the ideal Oakley goggle lenses for any conditions:

Check out our line of 2014 Oakley Goggles:

Oakley Airbrake Goggles
The most technical of all Oakley snow goggles, the Oakley Airbrake has a switchlock that creates the fastest, simplest lens swap in the industry. To change the lens, simply pop them out using the tab behind the ‘Outrigger’, replace the lens with another, and apply pressure to pop it back in. The Airbrake also comes with an extra lens for storm days!

Oakley Canopy Goggles
Oversized for maximum volume, the Oakley Canopy goes O.T.G. – Over The Glass – so you can sport your reading glasses and properly identify hazards, locate trail markings and pinpoint coordinates on a topo-map without removing your goggles and ultimately fogging them up.

Oakley O2 XL Goggles
A price-point entry-level goggle with the same UV protection as all the rest, only lacking the promise of durability against impacts from steel balls and spikes, the Oakley O2 XL provides optimum clarity and comfort similar to that of the Canopy Goggles, except for those who don’t require the durability nor want to spend quite as much.

Oakley Crowbar Goggles
Since 19998, this Medium-Fit goggle comes with all the technical Oakley features you’ve grown to appreciate. The Oakley Crowbar is the most popular, best-selling Oakley snow goggle. The model featured in this image is the Kazu Kokubo pro model.

Oakley Splice Goggles
With an Internal Skeletal Support Structure (I.S.S.S.), a rigid plastic used in the nose piece to prevent it from pressing against your nose (picture breath-enhancing nose strips), the Oakley Splice offers all the characteristics of the Crowbar, and then some.

Oakley Elevate Goggles
These beauties also come equipped with Oakley’s I.S.S.S. to keep you more comfortable, longer, but they’re a smaller fit than the aforementioned Splice Goggles. Ladies love the rose colored frame of the model pictured here, but the Oakley Elevate also comes in universal and more masculine styles for guys with slightly smaller faces.