COLD TESTED

Various attempts at designing heated , fog-free snowmobile goggles have been made in recent years . From plug-in units with dangling cords – akin to heated face shields – to goggles with a battery pack built into the strap , there have been many iterations .

Members of our expanded test team have pretty much tried them all in an effort to find fogless nirvana , and personal experience has taught us that each option offered a partial solution but each also had drawbacks .

After spending last season with the latest Tempest Optics goggle , though , we can clearly see ( pun intended ) that a new highmark has been set .

Tempest is a relatively new company that formed out of the ashes of the befallen Abom , which brought its own high-tech heated goggles to the market about eight years ago . But since their time with Abom , the folks who started Tempest have taken several important steps forward related to battery life , frame size , lens quality and customization to the snowmobiling experience , and the results were very evident .

Most notable , though , is that the new Tempest design is automated . There is no on / off switch to worry about or decisions to be made once you ’ ve strapped a charged set to your helmet and face .

Instead , sensors within the goggles can detect when temperatures and humidity are such that condensation could start happening on the inner lens . The goggle then sends an electrical charge through a transparent layer on the inner lens that heats it to either prevent the fog or wipes out any fog that had started to build .

When we first unboxed the goggles , they felt a bit heavy compared to “ regular ” goggles , but very light compared to other heated or fanned solutions .

Compared to the Abom goggles in particular , we were glad to see that the snowmobile version ( but not the ski / snowboard version ) of the Tempest goggles included a built-in nose piece and slightly thicker foam – proof that they ’ re more carefully listening to the needs of snowmobilers and not just the ski / snowboard crowd .

Using the provided power cord and a mini USB port , the goggles ’ internal battery ( which is hidden within the frame ) fully charged off of our laptop computer in about an hour . A push on

the only button on the goggle frame illuminated the four LED lights on the right side , indicating the battery was fully charged .

An inner lens ( the heated one ) is hard-mounted within the goggle ’ s black injection-molded frame , while the user ’ s choice of tinted outer lens firmly snaps into place using a series of rare earth magnets .

Going down the trail , everything felt normal . Optics were good and we felt like we were wearing any other set of high-end goggles . But then we went off-trail boondocking , where we worked up a sweat with strenuous riding and a few unplanned stucks . The goggles automatically stayed fog free – we never knew when the heating element was coming on or off , they just worked .

On a couple of really tough days of mountain riding in falling snow , we literally went out of our way to try to fog the goggles by breaking all of the rules related to moisture control , breathing and moving air . And we succeeded in creating some

46 / JANUARY 2025 / SNOWGOER . COM