It’s about time you learned how to clean snowboard goggles properly. This doesn’t involve a quick spit clean or a hasty rub on your sweaty base layer!
The best way to clean your snowboard goggles is by simply dabbing them gently with a microfiber cloth. Do not use lens cleaner or chemical products on your goggles as these can harm the anti-fog coating. Cleaning your goggles is vital because it helps prevent scratches and fogging.
There’s a little more to it than that though. Poor cleaning leads to poor vision which leads to accidents! Keep reading for more tips on how to clean your snowboard goggles.
What You Need To Clean Your Snowboard Goggles.
Snow gets into every nook and cranny, so it’s best to start with a microfiber cloth. It won’t scratch up your goggles, and ensures that they’re nice and clean!
Do not use an ordinary cloth. The lint from a regular cloth will worsen your goggles because it sticks to the condensation on your lens.
And if you don’t have immediate access to a microfiber cloth, you can also use a microfibre goggle bag like Seapon Ski Goggle Bag (available on Amazon). These bags are designed to keep snowboarding goggles safe, clean and scratch free.
If you do need a microfiber cloth, here are some of the best ones I tested:
- Glasses cleaner - Sourced from the highest quality microfiber that absorbs and removes dust, oil, smudges, fingerprints, dirt, and more. Leaves no scratches, streaks, marks, or lint behind. The perfect eyeglass cleaner stocking stuffers for adults, men, women, him, her, teens, and more.
- Screen cleaner: Our Microfiber cloth accommodates all your screen cleaning needs. It's the perfect eyeglass cleaning cloth, glasses wipes, glass cleaning cloth, lens cleaning cloth, screen cleaning cloth, and even tv cleaning cloth.
- Quality protection: Each MagicFiber lint free cloth comes in its own polybag so that they are always new and ready to use. Includes MagicFiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloth (5 black, 1 grey) 6 x 7 inches (15cm x 18 cm).
- Designed for all products: The delicate craftsmanship of our Microfiber Cleaning Cloth allows for the most versatile use cases. It can be used on any delicate surface such as LCD, OLED, laptop, phone, car, tablet, dvd, mirror, glass, glasses, cameras, lenses, gaming, toys and more!
- MagicFiber: Magical results for the things you care about most
- PREMIUM MATERIALS: Extremely high-quality, soft, microfiber material absorbs and removes dust, oil, smudges, fingerprints, and dirt. Leaves no scratches, streaks, marks, or lint
- SAFE to USE ANYWHERE: Can be used on any delicate surface like LCD TV screens, smart phones and other touch screens, camera lenses and filters, etc. Stores perfectly flat in your tablet case without adding any bulk
- GREAT VALUE PACK: Come with 12 Cleaning Cloths 7x6 inches, portable for travel use or you could share some of them with your family and friends
- ASSORTED COLORS: Black, Grey, Yellow, Pink, Blue, Green, each color 2 pieces
- WASHABLE & REUSABLE: Can be washed repeatedly by hand in warm water to maximizing cleaning performance over 500 times. Moreover, it won't lose any cleaning power after washing. No waste, and environmentally friendly
Why Clean Your Snowboard Goggles?
Goggles get dirty in two ways:
- Debris falling onto/into them.
- Fogging up due to condensation.
It doesn’t matter how good your goggles are – if you don’t properly clean them often, they’ll soon be covered in dirt. This is a recipe for severe fogging issues!
Inside the goggles, this fog or condensation can obscure your vision so much that you can’t see where you’re going, making for some pretty dangerous riding.
Cleaning your goggles is a simple process but should not be overlooked. Here are the most important things to consider.
How To Clean Snowboard Goggles.
1. How To Dry A Wet Lens.
If you find yourself 10 feet deep and need to clean your lens, it’s important not to wipe them straight away.
There may be some grit in the snow and this will lovingly scratch it’s way across your precious snowboard lens!
Here are some steps to help you clean and dry the outside lens of your goggles:
- Gently shake the goggles. This will help remove the snow and ice stuck on your goggles and prevent scratches from any debris. Try shaking the goggles fast to remove stubborn debris stuck around the edges.
- Dab the lens gently with a microfibre cloth. By doing this, you’ll be able to avoid creating marks or streaks on your goggles. When wiping the glasses, it’s best to wipe in one direction only.
- Air dry your goggles. You can avoid damaging your lens by naturally air drying them between uses. Don’t touch them until they’re completely dry! Allowing them to dry off naturally is the best way to prolong their life.
It’s importance to note that you should only ever use this process for the outside lens of your goggles!
The inside lens is highly delicate and fixed with an anti-fog coating. The very last thing you will want to do is rub it off!
It’s best to let the inside lens air-dry, and if you need to, dab it gently with your microfibre cloth a few times when it’s 100% dry.
2. How To Clean Marks Off Your Goggles.
When cleaning finger marks, smudges, and filth stuck to your lens, you’ll find that to clean your goggles properly, you will have to do more than simply dab the lens.
Here is a step-by-step process for you to follow:
- Wet a small part of the microfibre cloth with a little bit of cool water until it feels damp.
- Delicately wipe the outside of the lens of your goggles, anywhere that you can see markings.
- Dry the lens with a dry piece of the microfibre cloth.
If you have markings on the inside lens, it’s essential not to wipe but instead dab – gently dab the lens with the damp cloth, wait a few seconds, and then dab off the markings with a dry cloth.
3. How To Clean The Frames
If you’ve had an absolute nightmare and yard-saled down a muddy spring slope, your goggles may have been coated in mud!
The easiest way to deal with this is to let the whole goggle soak in a bucket of warm water. Add a tiny touch of very mild detergent to shift stubborn stains.
If your goggle lens is easy to remove, I’d take it out before soaking the goggles. This avoids stripping off the anti-fog coating.
Other Tips For Cleaning Snowboard Goggles.
1. Don’t Use Any Chemical Products!
Products such as lens cleaners are designed to be used on regular glasses. They won’t work very well on a snowboarding lens because of the anti-fog coating.
So what should you use?
The truth is that no product is suitable for your anti-fog coating because anti-fog coatings are explicitly designed NOT to react with anything.
Manufacturers coat the interior lens of snow goggles with an anti-fog treatment, so keeping that coating in place is essential. It’s best to leave that part of your goggles well alone if you can.
Over-wiping the interior of the lens will risk fully removing the anti-fog coating. Especially if there is moisture present.
If you think your anti-fog coating has unfortunately already faded or washed away, you can always top it up using my recommended anti-fog sprays.
2. Clean Your Snowboard Goggles Often!
You should really clean your goggles after every use, whether dirty or not!
We both know that you’re not going to do that. But if you at least manage it once every few days then you’ll keep your goggles healthy for longer.
How To Protect Your Snowboard Goggles.
We’ve already discussed the many reasons you need goggles for snowboarding.
Some of the same dangers that snowboarding poses to your eyes will now become dangerous to your shiny new goggles.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for goggles to get beaten up – and once that happens, it’s like wearing goggles full of holes with an internal fog machine.
So whilst your goggles protect your eyes from wind, cold, branches and UV rays… how can you return the favor and protect your goggles?
The best methods are the ones that keep them out of harm’s way in the first place!
Here are four suggestions to achieve this:
- Do not leave your goggles on your head between riding sessions. Although it’s convenient, wearing goggles on your head causes fogging. To prevent your goggles from getting dirty or foggy, it’s best to wear them only when riding.
- Allow your goggles time to dry at the end of every session. Leaving your goggles damp in their casing will degrade your anti-fog coating. To prevent this, simply set them on a clean, dry surface, and let the warmer indoor temperatures do the rest.
- Use protective covering. A soft microfibre bag will ensure your goggles are dirt, smear, and scratch-free when not in use. This will also preserve the anti-fog coating.
- Use goggles only when the need arises. It might be tempting to wear your goggles when doing other non-snowboarding activities, like paintballing or bb gun fights. Doing so is ill-advised, especially if you plan to prolong the life of your snowboard goggles.
- Use a hard case goggle bag. A hard case will provide an extra layer of protection for your goggles. They are fitted with foam, protecting them from damage if you accidentally drop them.
Conclusion
It’s super easy to learn how to clean snowboard goggles properly.
Simply follow the steps above!
When properly maintained, most goggles can last you multiple seasons. When all’s said and done, the best option is to look after your goggles and let the anti-fog coating do it’s job.
- Leave your goggles in the bag when not in use.
- Clean your snowboard goggles as soon as you’re done using them.
- Avoid purposely scraping through tree branches on that next tree run.
- You’re good to go!
Now why not find out whether you need goggles for night-snowboarding or join the goggles vs sunglasses debate!
Update: I have now announced the official list of best budget ski goggles this year. Check it out!