Best Bang For Your Buck Ski and Snowboard Goggles

The Smith Squad XL is Smith’s mid-tier ski and snowboard goggle. We often talk about where you begin to see diminishing returns in different product categories, and we would say that the Smith Squad XL marks that point for ski and snowboard goggles. It comes with the same great Chromapop lens that we loved in the top of the line Smith I/O series, although in a high-quality cylindrical lens rather than a spherical lens.

The Smith Squad XL is also available in the Smith Squad variant, which is the exact same, except for being aimed at those with smaller faces, as well as having two layers of foam rather than three.

Lens Shape and Quality

The carbon cylindrical lens in the Smith Squad XL is not the flat stamped cylindrical lens of old. While it might not offer the top of the line distortion-free clarity of premium toric and spherical lenses, most of us would be hard pressed to tell a practical difference. The Smith Squad XL’s lens uses the same Fog-X lens treatment as more expensive Smith Goggles, and it is also quite scratch resistant.

But, the best feature to trickle down to the Smith Squad XL from Smith’s premium ski and snowboard goggles is the Chromapop lenses. Chromapop is Smith’s take on matching a lens to the light conditions, and help to maximize the clarity and contrast of your surroundings, helping you recognize each and every contour in the snow, as well as just making the scenery a bit more pleasant to look at. Better yet, each Smith Squad XL ships with two lenses, one for bluebird days and another for cloudy days and night riding.

Comfort

If your face fits in the Squad XL well, then you would be hard pressed to tell that it is half the price of the most expensive ski and snowboard goggles on our list. This is also where the Smith Squad XL outshines the smaller Smith Squad, which has only two layers of foam, and feels a bit more like a mid-tier goggle than the Smith Squad XL.

As to whether or not the Smith Squad XL will fit you or not, it is hardly an XL goggle by today’s standards, so riders with average and above heads should find the XL variant to be a good fit.

Ventilation

The Smith Squad XL is a fairly warm goggle, though this is generally considered a good thing in snow sports. It becomes a bad thing if it causes the goggles to fog up due to insufficient airflow and moisture buildup. Fortunately, this is not much of an issue with the Smith Squad XL. If we were planning on wearing a goggle for aggressive uphill skinning or climbing in the backcountry, then the Smith I/O Mag remains a better choice, but for resort use and light backcountry use, the open cell foam and AirEvac system of the Smith Squad XL should provide more than adequate ventilation.

Ease of Changing Lenses

The Smith Squad XL features a fairly standard, if old school, lens retention system. The lens pops into notches along the top and bottom while remaining basically frameless on the sides. This is fairly standard among most ski and snowboard goggles. It is not terribly difficult, and not something that you would mind doing at a picnic table on the side of a run. On the other hand, it is not the seamless lens change experience that can be found on the Anon M4 Toric or Smith I/O Mag.

The Bottom Line

If you want a ski and snowboard goggle that represents the absolute best bang for your buck, then the Smith Squad XL is tough to beat. It comes with two pair of lenses, Smith’s Chromapop technology, and all of that for an MSRP of $130, and sale prices as low as $97. Now, if you have a bit more to spend, and you can find the Smith I/O X on a good sale, we might lean that way, but they are truly a premium goggle that happens to have ridiculous sale prices. The Smith Squad XL meanwhile is a true mid-tier goggle that features premium performance.

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