FOX RACING PUREVUE GOGGLE REVIEW

Words by Drew Rohde  |  Photos by Staff

New to the highly ventilated MTB eyewear market is Fox Racing’s Purevue Goggle. We got a couple sets of the Fox Purevue eyewear at the Sea Otter Classic back in April and have put a fair amount of time in them for this review. Fox isn’t the first brand to strive for a pedal-friendly goggle that places airflow on-par with enhancing visual performance. With some unique features and options for modularity, our crew was excited to review the Fox Purevue eyewear, or “Gloggles” as we now refer to them. While the ventilation is certainly something worth talking about, it’s the VIVID lens technology that’s really blown us away.

ABOUT THE FOX PUREVUE GOGGLES

Starting at $129.95, the Fox Purevue Trail Goggles come in a protective carrying case with two premium injected polycarbonate lenses. Fox will also sell the VIVID Woods lens – which we love – separately for $49.95. The case and kit also includes multiple optional nose pads, which can be used to deliver your preference for just how much airflow you desire. We typically ran the goggles without any of the nose pieces installed. It made for the “lightest” or most airy feeling, which did have some drawbacks, but more on that below.

WHAT IS VIVID LENS TECHNOLOGY?

Developed in partnership with Zeiss Optics, VIVID was first used by Fox’s recent sibling-company – Giro – and employed in snow lenses. Call it sibling rivalry or family perks, but Fox Racing has now taken VIVID Lens tech to a new level with the Woods lens. According to the somewhat vague information we’ve prodded out, it seems that VIVID lenses are able to block out certain spectrums of lights that cause flat light conditions, or other less-than-desirable visual effects, while still allowing the blue light spectrum to pass through. According to Zeiss, Fox, and us, the blue spectrum enhances contrast and allows for great transmission in spotty, dappled or quickly-changing light conditions.

Fox claims this lens will excel in early morning fog, high-contrast environments, valleys or spotty woods where you quickly go from bright to dark aspects of trail.

WHAT DOES THE PUREVUE FEEL LIKE?

Well, for the most part they feel like a slightly smaller, lighter goggle with a portion of the lower frame cut out. We’ve ridden these Trail Goggles with a full face, but spent most of our testing time in open-face helmets since that was the intended application. We’ve found that they do great in pedal-friendly full faces on eMTB rides.

Once on, you can feel the foam pad touching over the brows and then wrapping around the outer part of the eye and down to the edge of the cheek bones. If you’re not running a nose piece then that’s it – the entire bottom portion of the Purevue is floating off your face and leaves plenty of room for air, bugs, mud or anything else to fly in. What? You didn’t expect any downsides from all that open ventilation? Nothing’s free, remember? If you’re riding in the heat of summer however, we suspect there won’t be too much mud flying around.

REVIEWING THE FOX PUREVUE TRAIL GOGGLES

How do they perform? Well, impressively well for the most part. Especially with the VIVID Woods lens installed. It almost sucks how well they perform, because we’re not exactly a fan of how they look, or more specifically how we look with them on our face. Vanity is a struggle, isn’t it?

Looks and fashion aside, the Fox Purevue trail/enduro goggles do a really good job of keeping riders comfortable and focusing on the task at hand. According to Fox, these were designed by DH-focused employees who wanted to take the added security, confidence, comfort and field of view that goggles offer, but tailor performance to satisfy trail riders. That means you don’t have to stop and take them off at the bottom of each descent. We tested this quite often and did plenty of climbs, traverses and pedaling with these goggles on. While they’re undoubtedly warmer than nothing or some thin performance glasses, they’re surprisingly good at slow speeds. Most of the heat build up is not from a lack of airflow, but is from the larger contact area. The padding touching your face and forehead, more specifically.

Once you’re over about 10MPH, air is moving very well, which could even lead to some undesirable effects in colder temps. I noticed that on colder mornings with high speed descents, my eyes were watering quite a lot – maybe even more than if I had glasses on. I think this is because the lenses sit further off the face than glasses and aren’t as tight on the cheeks. This means air can vortex itself right up into your eyeballs. Depending on your location and temperatures, this may not ever be an issue. In reality, if it’s that cold out, then we’re probably ok wearing full goggles as heat management is unlikely to be a concern.

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

We reviewed the Leatt 4.0 X-Flow Goggle a few months ago, and had plenty of good things to say and equally important caveats for their use. While I like their perforated strap better than Fox’s from an airflow perspective, I believe the Fox Purevue’s fit better with open face helmets and smaller faces. Fox’s Trail Goggle offering has a slightly smaller, more trail-friendly feel. The Leatt 4.0 X-Flows are great, but I’d say they’re more geared towards full face enduro riders. They feel more like modified DH goggles than purpose built trail eyewear. While they are very good in dry conditions and I still wear them, I believe the Purevue will be the choice for open face-wearing trail riders looking to pedal in the goggles more. The VIVID Woods lens exceeds the performance of any of the Leatt goggle lenses I’ve tried, too.

The Wolf’s Last Word

Fox isn’t the first brand to offer highly breathable goggles. However, they have certainly done things a little bit differently with the Purevue. We think these goggles are better suited for trail riders and open face riders than the others we’ve ridden. The fit and performance are certainly delivered at a cost premium, but they deliver the performance to back it up. If you’re going to make the investment in the Fox Purevue goggles, we would highly recommend also treating yourself to the VIVID Woods lens, as it’s really going to make you that much more stoked. There’s not much better than being able to feel like you’ve got superhuman vision as you look down the trail at Mach speed.

Price: $129.95
Website: Foxracing.com