Anon Snow Goggle Lens Color Guide: Choosing the Right Color

Anon have a wide variety of snow goggle lenses available in different colors to suit different lighting conditions and weather. Here’s a table summarising the 10 lens options available:

Anon Perceive Lens	Rating	Ideal Conditions
Sunny Onyx	S4/ 6% VLT	Very bright light
Sunny Red	S3/ 14% VLT	Clear skies
Sunny Bronze	S3/ 17% VLT	Clear skies
Variable Blue	S2/ 21% VLT	Mostly sunny
Variable Green	S2/ 22% VLT	Mostly sunny
Variable Violet	S2/ 34% VLT	Partially cloudy
Cloudy Pink	S1/ 53% VLT	Overcast
Cloudy Burst	S1/ 59% VLT	Overcast
Cloudy Night	S1/ 72% VLT	Dusk and sunrise
Clear	S0/ 85% VLT	Night

Images below link to Amazon

Guide to Anon Lenses

To understand what the difference between these lenses are, let’s take a look at the two ratings that Anon uses to classify them:

• VLT
• S

VLT Rating

All good quality snow goggle lenses will have a VLT rating.

VLT = visible light transmission

This rating refers to the amount of light that a goggle lens allows to pass through it. The rating can be between 1% and 100%. The higher the percentage, the more light is allowed to pass through the lens.

• For bright and sunny conditions, a lower VLT percentage is best
• For cloudy and dark conditions, a higher VLT percentage is best

S Rating

Anon goggles also have an S rating as well as a VLT rating. These two ratings are closely related and the different “S” classifications are designed for different lighting and weather conditions. The lower the VLT, the higher the S rating.

Here’s what they mean:

• S0: designed for very low visibility/ light e.g. night skiing
• S1: designed for low visibility/ light conditions e.g. very cloudy or in light-medium snow
• S2: designed for medium visibility/ light conditions e.g. partial clouds
• S3: designed for medium-high visibility/ light conditions e.g. mostly sunny
• S4: designed for high visibility/ light conditions e.g. completely clear skies

S Rating	Light/ Visibility	Example	VLT Rating
S0	Very low	Night time	Over 85%
S1	Low	Clouds/ light snow	50-85%
S2	Medium	Partial clouds	10-20%
S3	High	Mostly sunny	20-50%
S4	Very High	Clear skies	Less than 10%

Anon Perceive Lenses

Anon’s Perceive lenses are designed to provide excellent clarity and enhance contrast, allowing skiers and snowboarders to have the best vision possible on the slopes. Perceive lenses replaced Sonar lenses a couple of years ago.

There are 10 Anon Perceive lenses available and they are categorised into 4 groups:

• Sunny
• Variable
• Cloudy
• Clear

Perceive Lens	VLT Rating	S Rating
Sunny	6-20%	S3/ S4
Variable	22-34%	S2
Cloudy	53-72%	S1
Clear	85%	S0

Within each group (sunny, variable, cloudy), there are different color lenses. These lenses vary in terms of their VLT rating. Here’s a list of the lenses in ascending order of VLT rating.

Perceive Lens	Type	VLT	Ideal Conditions
Sunny Onyx	S4	6%	Very bright light
Sunny Red	S3	14%	Clear skies
Sunny Bronze	S3	17%	Clear skies
Variable Blue	S2	21%	Mostly sunny
Variable Green	S2	22%	Mostly sunny
Variable Violet	S2	34%	Partially cloudy
Cloudy Pink	S1	53%	Overcast
Cloudy Burst	S1	59%	Overcast/ heavy snow
Cloudy Night	S1	72%	Night/ sunrise/ sunset
Clear	S0	85%	Night

Here is a comparison of all the lens colours (all images below link to Amazon).

Perceive Sunny Lenses

If you’re often skiing when the skies are clear, then you’ll need to go with one of the three “sunny lenses”.

• Sunny Onyx: this is a very dark lens which is good for high altitudes and extremely bright conditions
• Sunny Red: this is a dark lens which is designed for clear skies, but isn’t as extreme as the Sunny Onyx lens.
• Sunny Bronze: again, this is a dark lens but it’s not as extreme as the Sunny Red or Sunny Onyx, making it a little bit better when the occasional cloud rolls over.

Perceive Variable Lenses

These are excellent for most conditions so a good option to go for if skiing in mixed lighting conditions.

• Variable Blue: this lens is best for partially cloudy conditions when it is still relatively light
• Variable Green: this is very similar to the blue lens in terms of the VLT and is best for partially cloudy conditions when it is still relatively light
• Variable Violet: this lens is best for when it’s a touch more overcast and will work well in almost all conditions

Perceive Cloudy Lenses

These lenses are lighter and are best for overcast conditions or when it’s snowing heavily.

• Cloudy Pink: this is great for overcast conditions
• Cloudy Burst: this is a touch lighter than the Cloudy Pink lens and provides more contrast so is better for skiing in heavier snow
• Cloudy Night: this works best for night skiing or during sunrise/ sunset when the light is still very low

Perceive Clear Lens

This lens is recommended for skiing at night. It’s not good for skiing during the day as it lets too much light through.

Clear
S0/ 85% VLT

Which Lens Should I Use?

Most Anon goggles come with 2 lenses so you’re equipped for different lighting conditions. So you have the choice of either:

• Variable + sunny
• Variable + cloudy
• Sunny + cloudy

Let’s evaluate each combination.

Variable + Sunny

Going with a variable lens is a good idea as it means you can ski in most conditions. If you go for a variable and sunny lens combo then I’d recommend going for the variable violet (34% VLT) lens and either the sunny red (14% VLT) or sunny onyx (6% VLT) to give you a good range.

Opting for either the variable blue or green lenses doesn’t make too much sense with this combo as the VLT ratings are 21% and 22% respectively, which is pretty similar to the sunny lens range. Equally, the sunny bronze lens has a VLT of 17% which is close to the variable lens range.

Best Combos:

• Variable violet (34%) + sunny onyx (6%)
• Variable violet (34%) + sunny red (14%)

Variable + Cloudy

This is a very popular combination.

If you go for this combo then I’d recommend going for either the variable blue (21% VLT) or variable green (22% VLT lens) as these are better for brighter conditions compared to the variable violet (34%).

The only exception where I think the variable violet lens is a better option is if you are opting for the cloudy night lens, where the variable violet makes more sense as it is a pretty middle of the road lens for daytime.

With the cloudy lens, the cloudy pink and cloudy burst lenses have a similar VLT so you can go with whichever you like the look of the most. I’d only recommend the cloudy night lens for very dark conditions.

Best Combos:

• Variable blue (21%) + cloudy pink (53%)
• Variable green (22%) + cloudy pink (53%)

Sunny + Cloudy

If you go for this combination then I’d advise going with a lighter sunny lens, and darker cloudy lens as otherwise the combo will be too extreme and not ideal for typical daytime skiing conditions.

A good pairing is either the sunny red (14% VLT) or sunny bronze (17% VLT) and cloudy pink (53% VLT) or cloudy burst (59% VLT) which will allow you to ski in most conditions.

Best Combo:

• Sunny bronze (17%) + cloudy burst (59%)
• Sunny red (6%) + cloudy pink (53%)

Check out my in-depth comparison between the Anon M2, M3 and M4 snow goggles.