Julbo Lightyear Ski Goggles Review
The Julbo's photochromatic lenses cover almost every condition
February 28th, 2024
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OUR VERDICT
The Julbo Lightyear goggles offer a photochromic lens for snow play for almost every condition – from low visibility storms to high altitude bluebird days. Unlike most snow goggles, with the Julbo Lightyear, there’s no need to carry extra lenses. Relatively unique among ski goggles, the lens pops away from the frame for mechanical venting.
Though these goggles aren’t a replacement for sunglasses for skinning uphill on backcountry tours, the venting lends the Lightyear’s more versatility over other goggles, and can be left on when skinning on especially cold and windy days.
The Lightyear won the prestigious European IPSO award and they are only recently available in the U.S. They are also winners in our Best Ski Goggles guide. Our tester reaches for them for every ski day no matter what the forecast says.
Here is our review of the Julbo Lightyear based on nearly 40 days of skiing in this new pair of goggles.
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SPECS
Frame size: Large
Frame shape: Spherical
Number of lenses: One
Price: $300-320
Best for: Made for ski touring, but fitting also for resort alpine skiing
What we liked: The transition lens, mechanical venting, and quality optics
What could be better: We wish they were available in more than one frame size
WHAT WE LIKED
There’s no need to carry extra lenses–the Julbo REACTIV photochromic lenses cover almost every condition
The SuperFLow lens venting system allows for mechanical venting in addition a breathable foam
Despite being a backcountry-marketed goggle, they also work well for resort use
They have a modern, frameless look with a wide field of vision and low to no distortion due to the spherical lens
WHAT COULD BE BETTER
On especially windy and cold days, we felt some unwelcome air coming through the goggle foam on slow chair lifts
The size large frame may not perfectly fit people with smaller heads
A low visibility day at Mammoth Mountain ski resort. Clear sunny skies preceded this storm front in the morning. The Julbo photochromic lens and UV shift technology adapted to changing conditions Photo by Sasha Hashemipour
BEST FOR
The Julbo Lightyear goggles shine for people who often find themselves overheating at the resort or who want some airflow without exposing their eyes to UV light in the lift line.
With a VLT range as big as 80-7% for one of the lens VLT options, they’re appropriate for every condition except maybe frequent night skiing by headlamp. (In those situations, a purely clear or a dedicated low light lens with some contrast may be preferable.)
FEATURES
REACTIVE PHOTOCHROMIC LENSES
Reactiv is Julbo’s branded photochromic lens technology. It works like the “transition” sunglasses that we’re more familiar with for everyday wear. Instead of carrying two or more lenses at a time for different conditions, a photochromic lens adjusts with the UV conditions, which roughly equates with the brightness or darkness outside. We tested Julbo’s Reactiv 0-4 lens, which has a range of 80% for low light storms to 7% VLT for high elevation cloudless days.
Somewhat surprisingly, photochromic lenses are not that widespread in outdoor-oriented performance eyewear. We think one reason this may be the case is the cost associated with the technology plus the possibility of lens replacement costs.
MAGNETIC SYSTEM
The Julbo SuperFlow system, which uses hinges with magnets to encourage extra airflow through mechanical venting. - Photo by Trey French
The magnetic system on the Julbo Lightyear isn’t the same magnetic system that many other snow goggles companies use. Those brands allow you to pop one lens off and another on to magnets built into the goggle frame.
Instead, Julbo uses what they call Magnetic SuperFlow to assist the hinges that connect the lens to the goggle frame.
Here's how it works: The hinges are low profile enough that they are aesthetically well-hidden, but big enough that they are easily grasped with a gloved hand.
Opening the lens is a simple operation and involves pulling from the corners of the goggle lens with the thumb and index finger. To close, our tester just pushed on the middle of the lens, and the magnets would do the rest with a satisfying click.
We were concerned that during snow storm days that snow would find a way in between the lens and the frame, and this would happen if the lens was left open, but we kept it closed on those days, and didn’t experience any snow on the inner lens.
ANTI-FOG COATING
Most high quality goggle lenses will come with an anti-fog coating, and Julbo includes it on the inner lens of all of their photochromic lenses. It’s a chemical application that prevents water droplets from snow or your sweat (it happens) from joining up and fogging up the lens. It’s permanent, and Julbo states that you can simply clean your lenses with soap and water without worry of stripping the anti-fog coating. We sweated in these goggle when overlayering on warm days, and did not experience any fogging.
ADJUSTABLE STRAP
The adjustable strap has a lot of range to accommodate different sized helmets. It’s also pretty wide, and has three strips of silicone to help it better adhere to the curves of a helmet. We never had any issue with it slipping around, but we still used the goggle strap on the rear of our helmet just to be sure.
There’s no rear clip on the goggle strap, and we didn’t miss not having one. Once you find the right adjustment for your helmet or head, it’s easy enough just to slide the headband on. Besides, sometimes rear plastic clips can irritate people who prefer to wear their goggle straps inside their helmets.
We forgot our helmet on one ski tour on a backcountry storm day. So we wore the goggles on our head with a headband covering only a portion of our hair, and we didn’t experience any discomfort from hair pulling, which was a concern because of the silicone strips.
DUAL DENSITY FOAM AND VENTILATION
Though many high-quality goggles have three layers of foam to create a blend of breathability and force-dampening, we didn’t find a need for more than the two layers that the Julbo Lightyear has. These goggles sealed around our face with no gaps, and the foam contacting the face on the Lightyear is soft and forgettable after a few minutes of wear.
The foam is highly breathable, almost too breathable when it was far below freezing with a bitter wind chill, but sometimes that’s the price of riding an old chairlift.
FRAMELESS CONSTRUCTION AND FIELD OF VISION
The large lens on the Lightyear is frameless, sort of, which creates a wide, unobstructed view. It does have a plastic rim, but recedes out of view when the goggles are on and houses the double-layered lens when the SuperFlow system is closed.
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOCHROMIC REACTION TIME
We found that the Julbo Lightyear transitions from nearly clear out of its storage bag to fully dark in typical mountain sunny conditions in about 30-45 seconds. It transitions from dark to clear again in similar time while loading a gondola at a resort.
This transition isn’t fast enough for fast skiers skiing from a wide open sunny groomer into dense trees and out again, but this is also not a time when we would typically stop and change lenses on non-photochromic goggles, either. The transition is fast enough to adapt to conditions on the mountain, but not reactive enough to manage changes due to brief terrain choices.
LENS CHANGE SYSTEM
Photochromic lenses aim to replace the need for carrying multiple lenses. There’s no lens change system for the Julbo Lightyears except if you need to perform a full lens replacement due to wear and tear or sudden damage.
Julbo can replace a damaged lens for $160-170 if they have them in stock, which is not guaranteed.
FOG RESISTANCE
We were never able to fully fog up the Julbo Lightyears except when we pulled a buff too far up on our face, forcing hot air from our breath into the goggles. The Julbo is not unique when it comes to fogging in those conditions. You don’t want to do this with any goggle.
Anon, another goggle company, actually makes this a point of their design by making integrated face masks for some of their goggles to achieve full face coverage without fogging.
Four hours into a powder day we still didn’t experience fogging. That day even included a fall, which resulted in snow melting into the goggle foam. That said, with enough snow, rain, sweat, or vapor, any goggle’s foam will eventually become saturated enough to cause some fogging on the lens. Still, in 37 days of skiing with the Lightyears at the resort and in the backcountry, we haven’t had that happen.
No matter how good your goggle optics are, it’s smart to know when to call it a day and seek out your favorite beverage and some dry socks. Our reviewer could see about 2 feet in front of his ski tips on this day. - Photo by Sasha Hashemipour
OPTICAL QUALITY
The Lightyear has a high contrast lens similar to other companies, like Chromapop from Smith or Prizm from Oakley. The technology works by managing colors to highlight small variations in the terrain. This helps boost a skier or snowboarder's confidence and safety. It also becomes critically important when skiing or snowboarding fast in complicated, potentially dangerous terrain with cliffs.
FIT AND COMFORT
The foam is soft, the goggles are on the lighter side at 130 grams, and fit forgettably flush on our face. Our tester has a 23” head circumference and wore the goggles on the outside of a M/L Petzl Meteor helmet.
DURABILITY
So far, the goggle has survived a couple of face-plants in soft snow, getting whacked with a ski in a lift line, and our tester routinely smushing it in his backcountry ski pack (but with it packed away inside the Julbo-provided semi-rigid case). The case uses stiff foam to protect the lens and a soft sleeve for the rest of the goggles, which we find to be a happy medium of being compact and protective.
Even if lenses receive care from the skier or snowboarder, foam on any goggle eventually gets damaged. So far, the Lightyear foam is without any damage.
OTHER LIGHTYEAR VERSIONS
Julbo Lightyear OTG
Frame size: Large
Frame shape: Spherical
Number of lenses: One
Price: $320
Best for: Made for ski touring, but fitting also for resort alpine skiing
Julbo offers the Lightyear in an OTG (Over the Glasses) model, too, which is the same goggle with a cutout in the goggle foam to help accommodate some prescription glasses lenses. This isn’t exclusive to Julbo.
The OTG foam style increases comfort for glasses wearers by reducing pressure from the goggle foam pushing the glasses into the wearer’s face. That said, this works better for lower profile glasses frames, and some prescriptions and eye needs better than others.
If you’re a glasses wearer who can’t use contacts for skiing or snowboarding, consider prescription inserts instead of OTG models if you encounter problems with goggles putting pressure on your glasses.
Frame size: XXL
Frame shape: cylindrical shape
Number of lenses:
1 fixed lens (REACTIV Photochromic Cylindrical Double Lens range from cat. 1 to cat. 4.
Price: $260-280
Best for: Made for ski touring and resort alpine skiing
The Julbo Razor Edge uses the same Reactiv lens as the Lightyear, but it excludes the mechanical venting of the SuperFlow system. It trades the Lightyear’s spherical lens for a cylindrical shape, too, which combined with the fixed lens, drops the price and makes photochromic technology more approachable.
Sasha at Red Cone Bowl in the Mammoth Lakes backcountry wearing the Julbo Razor Edge goggles. They use the same photochromic lens tech as the Lightyear goggles, but use a cylindrical lens with no SuperFlow venting. - Photo by Trey French
Even though the Razor Edge goggles are cylindrical, we’ve found in general that the highest quality cylindrical and spherical lenses have similar optics, and many goggle wearers may not be able to tell the differences immediately.
Julbo calls these goggles, somewhat confusingly, an XXL and a Large goggle, but does mention that they are their largest offering when it comes to lens and goggle frame size. We confirm that they are indeed pretty big, but didn’t fit much differently than the Lightyear.
COMPARISON TABLE
| SKI GOGGLES | HELMET COMPATIBLE? | FRAME SIZES | LENS TYPE | QUICK LENS CHANGE SYSTEM? | LENS TECH | FACE FOAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julbo Lightyear | Y | L | Spherical | N | REACTIV Photochromic Spherical Double Lens | Double layer |
| Julbo Range | Y | L | Cylindrical | N | REACTIV Photochromic Spherical Double Lens | Double layer |
| Julbo Cyrius | Y | M | Cylindrical | N | Reactive photochromic lens | Double layer |
| Smith I/O Mag | Y | S - XL, Asian Fit | Spherical | Y | ChromaPop TLT | Triple layer |
| Oakley Flight Deck | Y | M, L, Asian Fit | Spherical | N | Plutonite | Triple layer |
WHEN TO USE SUNGLASSES INSTEAD OF GOGGLES
No goggle will vent better than your sunglasses. For uphill skiing, we recommend continuing to bring your preferred pair. Our tester likes the Oakley Sutro’s (winners for best multi-sport sunglasses in our best running glasses guide) for their wide field of vision and Prizm lens technology. He even skis down many backcountry ski lines with them on fair weather days that are also not too cold.
HOW WE TESTED
Since the Julbo Lightyear goggles are aimed at backcountry skiers and snowboarders, we tested them a lot in those conditions. Given that there are more resort skiers than backcountry tourers, we used them as our daily goggle there, too.
We are based out of the Bishop, CA area and tested the goggles on 1-6 hour ski tours in the Mammoth Lakes, June Lakes, and Rock Creek drainage areas along the Eastern Sierra corridor. The lightest, deepest snow rested in the Mammoth Lakes basin under the Mammoth Crest, known for harboring the deepest snowpack in the region for single day tours.
All of our resort skiing was at Mammoth Mountain ski resort where high winds and temperatures ranging from 10-40°F on the mountain are normal. These winds are usually coming from the southwest, which is the direction many of the chairlifts face on the way up the mountain.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR / WHY YOU SHOULD TRUST US
Trey’s a trail runner and backpacker who tends to use trail breaks for imagining summer slopes with snow on them. He’s drawn to backcountry skiing for the sound absorption quality of snow in the winter, carving endless hippy turns down long Eastern Sierra snow faces in the spring, and the camaraderie between backcountry skiing partners. Coming from a long distance backpacking background where efficiency is second only to fun (they’re the same thing), faulty gear distractions aren’t allowed. He values the right tool for the task, and knows the best gear is the forgettable one. You can read all of Trey's articles on his author page.
