We know that the descent is often the best part of a trail. But keeping your eyes protected from darting debris is very—very!—important, too. Indeed, dust, mud, small branches, and all kinds of flying objects can get into your eyes as you descend that steep terrain on your mountain bike.
Naturally, this can, at best, ruin your ride, or, at worst, get you into a horrible accident.
In other words, what you need is a good pair of goggles, one with the right field of view that will prevent your peepers from the unruliest of debris. And, in that regard, we’ve scoured the internet for the best mountain bike goggles available on the market today, discussed their pros and cons, and gave our opinion of each one below. So read on!
4 Best Mountain Bike Goggles
Smith Squad MTB ChromaPop
If you don’t mind spending a bit more for a quality product, then we can recommend the Smith Squad MTB ChromaPop. The fit is very comfortable since it’s made from soft and flexible plastic. The foamy layer around the lens area is comfortable and breathy, too, thanks to the stripped away portion around the lens area that is no doubt a design feature added to provide ventilation and stop the lens from fogging up. In fact, this was the one pair on this list that handled fog the best.
The goggles also have an excellent field of view—indeed, they are massive! And the lens… man, they are glorious, providing HD-like clarity. This pair of goggles truly provides its wearer a better view of the terrain; there’s an overall improvement in clarity, and the profile of each rock and branch simply becomes crisper.
Overall, these mountain bike goggles are fantastic. And you should definitely consider getting one if you don’t mind paying a bit more for a quality product.
Scott Prospect
This is another pair of mountain bike goggles that are on the pricey side, but it’s totally worth it. We are sticklers for comfort—in fact, comfort is one of the things that we look for when considering a pair of goggles. And in that regard, the Scott Prospect does not disappoint! In fact, we would rank this highest in terms of comfort alone.
The foam that surrounds the lens feels… kinda luxurious, to be honest. It’s definitely been made from some kind of plush material. The field of view is also fantastic and is one of the best in this bunch. It’s so massive that some might worry about fitting it under a helmet. Trust us, we had the same reservations too, but surprisingly, it did fit our array of helmets with no problem.
One problem one of our squadmates found with the pair is that it rode a bit too low on the nose, and had to be tightened a bit more than usual for it to ride higher. Honestly, I didn’t have the same issue, but I guess not all faces are made the same.
In terms of keeping the lens fog-free, the Scott Prospect did relatively well in this regard. Not as good as the Smith Squad MTB ChromaPop, to be sure, but one will generally remain fog-free with this pair of bike goggles.
Leatt Velocity 6.5
The quality of these bike goggles has been hyped all over the internet, so, naturally, this made us curious. The manufacturer claims they are “bulletproof” and are certified to military ballistic standards, after all. And, after a little bit of internet sleuthing, yes, we can confirm that they were not kidding. In fact, we’ve seen Youtube videos where the lens was shown to have dutifully stopped a .22 caliber round.
When we finally got our hands on the Leatt Velocity 6.5, we held it and can report that the manufacturer wasn’t kidding. These things are built like a tank. To be sure, we didn’t test it on the firing range, but the important thing is that something made this robustly will have absolutely no trouble protecting you on a bike trail.
It looks aggressive—really aggressive. Which might not be to everyone’s taste, but we kind of dig it. In terms of comfort: again, no problem; the dual foam lining is soft and very comfortable. There was no tension around the nose area, and overall we’re glad to report that it’s a beautiful and comfortable fit.
The field of view is excellent—Leatt advertises it as providing 170 degrees of vision. While we didn’t go through the trouble of actually measuring it, we can confirm that you won’t be having an issue with the field of view whatsoever.
The lens is also dual-pane, with an anti-fog coating in between, which means you won’t be having any fogging issues with this one.
All-in-all, this is a great pair of mountain bike goggles, and you are definitely getting a lot of features for the price.
100% Racecraft
This is perhaps the most affordable of the bunch, but trust us, it can more than fulfill your eye-protection needs. They also offer 20 color variations, which is downright awesome if you ask us. It has an anti-fog lens and has good ventilation, which we found to work well in reducing fog, but not really as well as the other brands on this list.
The field of view is ok. It’s not the best on this list—in fact, it’s the worst on this list—but it will generally be fine for most people.
As for comfort, it is comfortable. Again, not as comfortable as the others on this list, but it won’t be too much of an issue, to be sure. I’m a stickler for comfort (like I mentioned above), and I didn’t find anything in this pair to complain about. But, yes, the other brands on this list are simply, noticeably, more comfortable.
Some of my squadmates mentioned it’s a bit pinchy on the nose, however, and while I found that it was, too, I didn’t think it was too much of an issue.
Overall, it’s very affordable. Couple that with the fact that replacement lenses are only (about) $10 bucks a pop, and you can be certain that you’re getting good value here.
