Outdoor Master Eagle Ski Goggles – Test and Review

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Updated April 9th, 2024

Manufacturer and Model: Outdoor Master Eagle Toric + Cylindrical Ski Goggles
List Price: $99

Summary

The Eagle is the latest offering from popular budget ski goggle brand Outdoor Master. The Eagle comes with 2 lenses that are color optimized and set to work for bright conditions and flat light conditions. These goggles are ready to challenge the best out there for flat light and anti-fog performance. If you want to get Smith or Oakley level performance for under $100 then the Outdoor Master Eagle Ski Goggles are for you. They have excellent lenses and a magnetic snap in lens swap system.

Outdoor Master Eagle Ski Goggles Review and Test

The Eagle is the newest ski goggle design from Outdoor Master. I skied with the Outdoor Master Ultra XL most of last winter and was really impressed with it. It has performance that stands up to high end goggles from Smith and Oakley.

It has a few misses. The biggest flaw was the lens combination it came with. You can’t get a goggle that comes with a lens good for bright light and flat light in one package. All the packages include a second lens that is clear or very light blue that is really only good for night skiing or a really dark day. To get a set of lenses that were equivalent to what a set of Smith I/O Mag goggles comes with you had to buy a third lens.

The Eagle comes in and fixes that finally. It comes with 2 color optimized lenses. One is good for bright conditions. The other is good for daytime flat light conditions.

Outdoor Master provided us with the goggles for this review. As with all reviews, we’ll give you all the good and bad points whether we bought the item ourselves or it was given to us.

Features Overview

The Eagle is a large fit goggle that uses the Outdoor Master Super HD color optimized lenses that we first saw in the Ultra goggle last year. The Eagle is only available in 2 colors which is a bit limited.

They include 2 lenses, a cylindrical 17% silver lens good for sunny conditions, and either a 33% or 48% toric lens good for flat light conditions. They also include 2 microfiber bags and a hard case. You will have a hard time fitting the goggles and both lenses in the hard case at the same time.

The Outdoor Master website is a little confusing with the lens options. Both goggle color combinations come with a 17% silver cylindrical lens. The difference in lenses is the toric lens which is either 33% Blue or 48% Red. The website images make it look like the Toric lens is the darker lens and this is not the case.

The Eagle comes with a new lens change system that is different from anything we have seen from Outdoor Master before. It is not the magnet only system seen in the Pro, Utra, Vision, and Horizon goggles.

1 – Style

This goggle comes with both a cylindrical lens and a toric lens. The goggle uses a frameless design with only a couple small plastic accents extending outside the lens. The silver cylindrical frameless lens looks really good when paired with almost any helmet. The toric lens gets the job done as far as flat light conditions go but doesn’t look as sharp. The 2 band options have some color to them but are toned down enough to not look cheap.

2 – Lens Clarity (9.0/10)

The Eagle has similar lenses to what we saw with the Ultra goggles last year. They have lens clarity that matches Smith and Oakley. The color optimized lenses give everything a visual pop that you get from PRIZM and ChromaPop lenses. The Eagle has stepped up lens quality compared to other low cost ski goggles.

3 – Field of View (9.5/10)

The Eagle has a small improvement in field of view over the Outdoor Master Ultra. Side to side peripheral vision is really close to the best out there, the Smith 4D Mag. I have to try hard to see the side edges of the goggles while wearing them. Downward peripheral vision is on par with other large fit goggles. I can still see a small amount of frame looking down. Both lenses are good for distortion with the toric lens having a slight edge.

4 – Flat Light Performance (9.0/10)

Both lenses are color optimized. The 33% toric lens on our sample goggles is the better lens for any conditions once the sun goes away. Both lenses have a pinkish tint as viewed from the inside which is similar to what Smith has on their 30-50% VLT ChromaPop flat light lenses. The lens performs really well in flat conditions and brings out good definition in the snow terrain. This is the best 2 lens goggle set I have seen out there for under $100.

5 – Anti-Fog Performance (9.0/10)

The Eagle has a similar improved 3x anti-fog coating found on the Outdoor Master Ultra. They have a lot of ventilation. The frame structure has very thin supports across the vent areas to help maximize the vent area. The frame is large enough profile to have a good air space between the lens and your face.

We have found the Eagle to be excellent at staying fog free. We have found that the 3X coating they use works really well and stood up to 4 days of heavy fog and rain at Whitefish, Montana last year.

6 – Lens Swapping (8.5/10)

The Eagle takes a different direction with lens swapping than what we have seen in the past from Outdoor Master. It uses a combination of latches and snapping the lens into the frame. It is kind of a hybrid of the magnetic system and something like Oakley’s Ridgelock. It has 2 magnets along each outside edge and then a ridge that snaps into a groove in the frame.

This system has a very positive engagement of the lens into the frame. There is no way it’s going to accidentally pop out when pulling the goggles up onto your helmet. The downside is that it takes some effort to change lenses.

I find that the lens is difficult to pull off. You have to get a fingernail under the outboard edge of the lens to get it to peel off. Pulling the lens by the tabs on the top and bottom of the lens will not get the lens to come loose.

To get the lens back on you have to get the ridge on the lens to snap into the groove on the frame. There are several snaps around the frame. You can get the lens snapped on while wearing the goggles but it is difficult to get all the snaps engaged.

If you liked the pure magnet system like the Outdoor Master Pro, Ultra, Vision, and Horizon have then you will hate the lens change system on the Eagle. If you didn’t like the pure magnet system and like some kind of mechanical retention then you’ll like the Eagle lens swap system.

7 – Comfort (9.0/10)

The Eagle goggles use a soft moisture wicking foam similar to what you would find on a high end set of Smith ski goggles. They have a very soft and comfortable feel to them. The goggle frame is on the stiff side with little to no flex. The triple layer foam does a good job of conforming to different face shapes.

They use a similar design in the nose area where the foam is cinched up. This works great for most nose shapes. If you have a smaller nose profile you will not get a good seal and get air leak up above your nose. There is no low bridge fit or Asian fit version of this goggle where the cinch is removed.

8 – Helmet compatibility

We tried out the Eagle goggles with the Outdoor Master Emerald and a Smith Vantage MIPS helmet. The Eagles have a good gap free fit with both helmets. They look right at home being worn with a high end freeride helmet such as the Vantage. The strap is long enough to work well with XL size ski helmets.

9 – OTG Compatible

The Eagle is OTG compatible with both lens shapes. There is a lot of air gap space and ventilation with the toric lens. It works as well as any large fit toric lens goggle at staying fog free when worn with glasses.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

If you want goggles that perform with the best but don’t want to spend $200-$400 then I would have a look at the Outdoor Master Eagle. They have the best lens combination I have seen for under $100. They come with a lens set for bright conditions and a lens for flat light in the box. The lens swap system is either something you will like or hate. Hopefully, they will bring out more lens and strap colors in the future.

Other goggles to consider

Outdoor Master Ultra – The Ultra from Outdoor Master has a large toric lens and easy to swap magnetic lenses. They include a second lens that is good for night skiing or dark days.There is no Ultra goggle that comes with a lens combination good for bright days and flat light days. Their field of view is slightly less than the Eagle. They are priced the same as the Eagle right around $100 before coupon codes.

I prefer the magnetic lens swap system of the Ultra over the Eagle. I like everything else about the Eagle better. The silver cylindrical lens just looks more sharp. The bright light and flat light lens combination is a big step up from what the Ultra’s come with.

Smith I/O Mag – The I/O goggles from Smith have been a long time favorite of many skiers. They have a toric shaped lens and use ChromaPop color filtering. Their flat light and anti-fog performance is excellent. They include 2 lenses that set you up for bright light and flat light. They have a really awkward lens change system that can’t be changed while wearing them. They cost almost 3 times as much as an OM Eagle.

Oakley Flight Deck – The Flight deck has cylindrical lenses and uses PRIZM color filtering. They have a more stiff aggressive feel while wearing them. They only come with 1 lens. Their Ridgelock system works but you have to take the goggles off your helmet to switch lenses and it takes a couple minutes.

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