Little known fact: pretty much all goggle lenses in the world are made in one Chinese factory, no matter the brand. All, that is, except Smith Optics’ lenses, made in their own US workshop. Famous for their anti-fog capability, Smith are building one their range once more to produce an impressive line-up of goggles and helmets for 2017/18.
New and of note is their biggest cylindrical lens courtesy of the Squad XL, which comes with a larger-than-normal strap to help keep the whole thing in place. Of course the whole I/O line is still here, the I/O7, I/OS and I/OX are all firm favourites amongst those you’ve tried them out, and their version of the colour enhancement tech sweeping through the market – entitled Chromapop – is amongst the best we’ve tried yet. It works by reducing the blue component of the light spectrum, i.e. the most prevalent colour on the mountain, bringing out more shades and detail in the snow. Take it from us, the difference is incredible.
There’s also two new helmets for 2018: the Quantum and the Code, the latter providing protection with a minimalist skate-style design. We like.
Use the links below to see more 2017-2018 Snowboard Gear previews
Anon | Arbor | Bent Metal | Bonfire | Burton Hardware | Burton Outerwear | CAPiTA | Dainese | Deeluxe | Dragon | Drake | Dupraz | Dinosaurs Will Die | Fix | Flow | Giro | Gnu | Head | Holden | Jones | K2 | Karakoram | Korua | Lib Tech | Melon | Mizu | Neff | Nidecker | Nitro | Northwave | NOW | Oakley | Patagonia | Picture | POW | Protest | Ride | Rome | Roxy | Salomon | Sandbox | Saxx | Sessions | Thirty Two | Union | Vans | Vimana | West | YES
Smith Zoom Youth & Code Snowboard Helmets 2017-2018
