OAKLEY CANOPY GOGGLE REVIEW

Price: £180
Colour: Mint leaf
Lens: Bronze

Oakley is one of the biggest players in eyewear, not just in snowboarding, but across all sports. I mean how many other companies can boast having both Bradley Wiggins and Torstein Horgmo on their team? In fact, their range extends even further than that – look closely at most pictures of American troops serving in Afghanistan and you’ll notice that their sand goggles and sunglasses have the ‘O’ logo on the side.

The Canopy is a fairly new frame from the California-based company, designed to combine the large field of vision offered by frames like the crowbar and the airbrake with the lower profile, more fitted shape of the A-Frame. The idea is that not only will these goggles be less bulky on the face, they’ll also fit helmets more easily. Like all Oakley goggles the lenses in this are made of something they call ‘Plutonite’ which not only blocks all harmful radiation but is also impact resistant – it’s apparently tested by firing “a quarter-inch steel shot from a pneumatic canon at 102mph!” The nose-piece on the goggles is Oakley’s patented ‘O arch’ a rigid bit of plastic that won’t crunch your nose or impede your breathing. The test model we tried felt comfortable and lightweight  – it sat easily on the face. The bronze mid-light lens shown here is pretty versatile too, designed to handle most conditions.

oakley.com