tligman

I don't ride all THAT fast, except down the one big hill, but my eyes get really watery when it's cold and I'm wondering what the general consensus is. I have a pretty large head and I wear glasses, but the glasses don't do much to help. Thoughts?

mistertwo

Squinting and blinking works OK for me unless I'm going really fast or it's really cold. If you're having actual visibility issues you should get a pair of well-vented goggles since they will fit over top of your glasses.

scoatw

Visorgogs. https://vwrlabshop.com/visorgogs-safe...-co/p/0012235/

Lamabb

I use to ride through the winters without any eye wear at all, and only only very fast descents did it bother me. And even then, I would just blink a lot and be fine not even a second later. Now I use glasses and have no problem. On some fast descents I still can get watery eyes, but it's for only a second.

I think it's unnecessary to buy another set of "winter eyewear", my normal pair works fine.

TurbineBlade

It's just like Welding you fool! If sparks start shooting out, just turn your head!

AEO

If it's cold enough for watery eyes, I would want ear, nose and temples shielded from the wind too and goggles do a good job of that

rumrunn6

it's the breeze that's wrapping around the glasses to your eyes. you need better coverage. I'm hard pressed to make any suggestions cuz I don't wear glasses myself. however I believe the resounding consensus last year was for ski goggles. last winter I wound up staying with my racquetball glasses with a head strap over a 3 hole face mask. don't feel bad if you're challenged to get your eye protection hammered out. it's a challenge for every winter rider. here's a pic of me with skydiving goggles which turned out to be a bust due to fogging because they were sealed too tightly. I actually needed some breeze to blow by and across the inside of my glasses to keep them from fogging.

irclean

I use cheap safety glasses from the hardware store. They will ice up in freezing rain, however. I am considering the purchase of some ski goggles this year for really cold days. Any tips on features to look for from ski goggle users out there?

rumrunn6

irclean - I think I remember someone saying some goggles have little fans built in!

tligman

love the pic

cyclokitty 

Goggles. I find them more comfortable and warmer than sunglasses. I have a clear lens and a pair of rose lens.

ghettocruiser

I use snowboard goggles all winter as well, but I can't comment on the issue of having eyeglasses underneath.

Leebo

I use some cheap safety goggles when it gets below say 25 F. Had one of my eyelids freeze shut at 7 F last year. nice.

Allen

ESS goggles are what I use when flying an open cockpit aircraft.
They have operable vents on the sides which are really effective in preventing fogging.
They also have prescription inserts, which is nice.

GriddleCakes

I've never gotten goggles to work with glasses; they always fogged up, even when moving. Until I got contacts, I used to just ski without glasses. I did work with a ski patroller in Tahoe who wore Smith Turbo goggles, which have an internal fan, over his glasses and he said that they worked pretty well. They didn't fog up while he was moving, at least.

When it gets wicked cold, I ride with my ski goggles. Very warm and comfy, and highly recommended. But if you don't wear contacts, it'd probably be best to find goggles that allow for a prescription lens, like the kind that AllenG mentions above.

Captain Blight

I had a pair of UVEX "OTG," or Over-the Glasses, goggles. Rose/brown lens. They really, really work well. I didn't realize just how much my watering eyes were detracting from my enjoyment until the problem went away. Full review of the goggles here.

uncletommy

Absolutely agree, rose colored lens is the way to go - Great definition at low light levels early AM and Late PM. Goggles sometimes touch the edge of my glasses, but fog has never been a problem unless I stop moving. Use a hard hat liner under thinner wool toque and a Bolle' snow board helmet and I'm good to go. Usually good down to -10 C(15F?) without issues. Anti-fog or not, if you stop you get fog.

Hezz

Generally goggles are a lot warmer but are difficult to keep from fogging up when you stop. Glasses stay unfogged the best but don't offer as much wind protection. Some guys have had good success by wearing a large coverage safety glass over their regular glasses. With this you get better wind protection but enough ventilation to keep the glasses mostly fog free.

The only problem that I have with safety glasses is that I can't stand the optical distortion caused from the bent plastic. What works the best for me is just to use a regular pair of old nerd glasses with large frames. They cover the eye better so wind is not so much of a problem than if you are using a small frame pair of glasses.

A good solution is to get a pair of dedicated prescription safety glass frames like these blow. They are designed with side coverage to keep flying objects from hitting your eye from the sides. This should reduce wind in the eye a great deal. You can wear these while riding and then change out to regular glasses at work or when home.

Jim from Boston

As an eyeglass wearer, I’m one who has had excellent success with safety goggles and never noticed any distortion. Besides the combined wind protection and wide-open ventilation, I like the clear plastic lenses for riding in darkness, and the rigid earpieces which allow me to wear a Take-a-Look rearview mirror on the safety glasses. I virtually never fog, and my worst case, as shown below, was the frosting that occurred from about miles 10 to 14 on my commute starting out at at 0 degrees F and finishing at minus 8. I still had enough clear vision to ride. Note that the frosting happened on the right hand curb side, allowing me to still use the rearview mirror.

A modification that allows the safety glasses to sit comfortably on my face is to wrap Velcro around the nose bridge and attach the Velcro on the glasses to a vertical strip of Velco sewn onto my woolen skull cap. The safety glasses are thus suspended rather than pressing down on my nose. The exhaled warm moist air is directed over my exposed cheeks to keep them warm, but is adequately vented away by the large gap of the open safety goggles. Though the picture shows full face covering, that's only at the beginning of the ride, and I do need to lower the facemask and uncover my nose, but my face is still kept warm by the exhalations. I can easily adjust the position of the mask for various situations to minimize fog and keep warm.

scoatw

I use the Visorgogs down to about 18f-20f. Once they reach their threshold they start to fog. I've tried using dishsoap, spit. To prevent fogging. It worked OK at first but the problem still persisted. So I switched to Uvex flex seal goggles from https://www.labsafety.com/uvex-Flex-S...gles_24537158/ last year. The coldest I rode in was 6f. And with my mouth and nose covered with my balaclava I had no fogging issues. To me, I guess the key is to have a goggle with a tight seal around the face to prevent warm air from rising up into the goggle. This model worked over my eyeglasses, my periphal(?) vision was somewhat limited. But I was still able to use my helmet mounted mirror. So with that problem solved I'm looking forward to season number four of riding in the coldest temps that I've ever ridden in. In '09' I rode in -14 and I had to strip off the Visorgogs because they had frost build-up on both sides. My eyes didn't freeze but I was worried they would. Thank goodness those temps didn't last long. But I feel the Uvex flex seal googles would've handled those temps. Maybe we'll find out this year.

One problem with the Visorgogs are the UV ray damage they suffer after a few years. The first pair I had lasted two seasons. The third year I tried them and the lens were too clouded-up from UV damage. Thank goodness they're cheap. I bought two pair last year that should last awhile. The Uvex's, I only used a few times last year. So the jury is still out on whether they go thru the same thing.

rm -rf

My wrap around sunglasses are much better than my eyeglasses. When it's 50F or below, the tears would interfere with my vision on downhills. I still have to blink some water out of my eyes, but it's much better with wraparounds. These never fog up.

The wrap around sunglasses help a lot on fast downhills in the summer, too.

I have interchangeable lenses over a clip-in prescription, so I can use clear lenses when it's dark.

I don't ride much below 35F, but I suppose goggles would be needed in the 20s.

garethpritchard

It gets very cold where I live, and at minus 30 celsius I feel most comfortable wearing my ski helmet and goggles together with my wind proof balaclava

Seb71

At bicycle speeds, those vents might not be as effective in preventing fogging.

Jim from Boston

“Tastes Great!…Less Filling!; Tastes Great!…Less Filling!” (Miller Light Beer Commercial).

I’ve had this discussion previously about “Tight Seal!…Large Gap!” Whatever works to solve this serious winter cycling problem for eyeglass wearers is good, and I‘ve read a lot of posts on the subject. I think methods really don’t prove themselves until you get down to at least 15-20 degrees F and several miles at least, and the lower the temperature challenge, the more reliable the results. I have tried relatively expensive ski goggles with padding meant to provide a tight seal, and double lenses, but they didn’t really work well, leading me to cheap safety goggles as describe above. I wonder if a tight seal doesn’t become uncomfortable too.

So I maintain my opinion, “Large Gap!” (and “Tastes Great!”).

clasher

I just shelled out 15$ for a flimsy pair of snowboarding/ski goggles. REI has something a bit classier but pretty cheap here. They don't fog up and aren't uncomfortable at all. I wore a toque with ear flaps when it got really cold. I also paired the goggles smashingly well with a scarf on still cold days as I'm pretty exothermic, to put it nicely. They're also nice to have if you do other winter sports too.