Outdoor Master E-QuickHue Photochromic Goggle Lens – Test and Review

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A fast changing photochromic goggle lens with exceptional VLT range

Manufacturer and Model: Outdoor Master Falcon Ski Goggles
List Price: $149.99

Summary

The Outdoor Master E-QuickHue Photochromic Goggle Lens is available with their Falcon snow goggles. It has an LCD overlay that is solar powered and darkens or lights up depending on the amount of light it receives. It has a huge VLT range (15.2% to 54.3%) compared to any other photochromic lens out there. It responds much faster to light condition changes. The only downside is how much field of view the solar cell takes up in your vision.

If you want a wide VLT range lens that is super responsive, the Outdoor Master Falcon E-QuickHue could be the right choice for you.

Outdoor Master E-QuickHue Photochromic Goggle Lens Review and Test

I first saw the Outdoor Master E-QuickHue lens in an Instagram tease. Here comes Outdoor Master, the best budget outdoor equipment brand showing some very new and innovative tech in their gear. They showed someone wearing a set of ski goggles that looked like you could touch a button on the lens and make it instantly go from clear to dark andback again. I’ve wanted to try this goggle since I saw that video. I am a big fan of photochromic ski goggles and I use them most of the time. I was super excited when Outdoor Master offered me an E-QuickHuge Ski Goggle to try.

Photochromic Goggle Lens Limitations

Photochromic lenses have downsides. They have limited VLT range. You get 20% variation at best. You can have a VLT 20%-40% or VLT 30%-50%. You couldn’t get a VLT 10% to 50% lens that really does work for most light conditions all in. See this article on photochromic lenses to learn more about how they work.

With the Outdoor Master E-QuickHuge lens that changes. It has an amazing 15.2% to 54.3% VLT range all in one lens. That is a 39% VLT change which is almost double what any other photochromic lens can do.

Falcon E-QuickHue Features Overview

The biggest stand out feature of the E-QuickHue lens is it’s VLT range (15.2% to 54.3%) and how quick it can change from light to dark. The E-QuickHuge snow goggle lens is available on the Outdoor Master Falcon ski goggles. We previously reviewed the Falcon snow goggles and they are a great goggle and are on a level with anything produced by Smith or Oakley. We aren’t going to talk much about the Falcon goggle here and will just focus on the lens.

You can see our review of the Outdoor Master Falcon Ski Goggles to learn more about them.

How does the E-QuickHue lens work?

How does the magic happen with the E-QuickHue photochromic lens? The goggle lens has a solar cell built into the top front of the lens. This solar cell powers an LCD overlay inside the goggle lens. When light hits the solar cell, it gives power to the LCD overlay, which darkens the lens. The lens can be anywhere between VLT 15% and 54% depending on how bright or dark it is outside.

You can see how fast the lens can change by taking it outside on a bright, sunny day. The lens will go dark as soon as it gets into the light. To see how effective it is, hold your finger over the solar cell and block it from the light. The lens will turn clear almost instantly. When you remove your finger from the solar cell the lens will go back to full darkness just as quickly. A normal photochromic lens can take a minute to change from dark to light. They do not transition anywhere near this fast.

See the video below for a demonstration of the lens changing dark to light.

Skiing with the E-QuickHue Lens

I took my E-QuickHue lens OM Falcon’s out to ski for a day. The day started out very dark with complete overcast and some light snow here and there. By early afternoon, there were very blue skies and no clouds. I used the lens through all of this and never felt like it was too dark or too bright. It seemed to always be just about the right VLT for what was happening at the moment. The photochromic part of the lens worked better than any photochromic lens I have tried in the past.

Flat light performance

The lens doesn’t have much coloring to it. It’s not a Zeiss Vivid lens like the rest of the Falcon lenses are. It’s not quite as good at bringing out the terrain definition as the regular Outdoor Master Falcon lenses are. It works well, but you won’t get any visual pop from it. The good news is that you can get a Zeiss Vivid flat light lens for an Outdoor Master Falcon and it will work with these goggles.

Field of view

The obstruction to field of view is what I would call the biggest downside to the E-QuickHue lens. The solar panel and blacked out square around it are not small. It’s about 1.125 inches wide by 1 inch tall. You will see it when looking through the goggles in the middle of your field of view. I’m left eye dominant, so I see it shifted and covering the middle of my right side vision. I found it very distracting, and I never really got used to it after a day of skiing with it.

Final thoughts

The Outdoor Master E-QuickHue lens is a great step forward for photochromic lenses in terms of VLT range and how fast it can transition from light to dark. The technology works very well and has a lot of promise. The downside is the size of the solar cell and how much it blocks your vision while wearing the ski goggles. I hope Outdoor Master will come out with a second generation of this lens technology with a more low profile solar cell that isn’t as visible from inside the goggle.

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