No one likes to ski looking trying to see through a white wall of fog. Not only can it be annoying, but also incredibly dangerous, especially in already flat light conditions. To keep you seeing clearly, new company Abominable Labs created F-BOM—a pair of snow goggles with lenses that heat up, much like the rear window defroster of a car, to continually eliminate fog on your goggle lenses.
Lens fogging occurs when there is an imbalance between the air temperature and relative humidity inside and outside of your goggles—this can happen on warm days as well as cold days. The imbalance causes water vapor molecules to form on your lenses (possible both inside and outside). When enough of these molecules coalesce together, they form an opaque film over the lenses, causing you to become “blind”. Many companies turn to topical applications or lens coatings to prevent the problem, but these don’t always work.
Abominable Labs founder Dave McCulloch teamed up with IP Attorney Howard Russell and inventor Jack Cornelius, for a better solution. After years of prototyping and testing, Cornelius and his team of engineers designed KLAIR, an ultra-thin, transparent, conductive film sandwiched between the inner and outer lens in the F-BOM goggle. To stop fog, F-BOM sends a current through the lens to heat it up to just above dew point. A small, lightweight, rechargeable lithium-ion battery mounted inside the goggle provides power.
The KLAIR system in the F-BOM features two modes: active and boost. Active mode is always on and eliminates fog all day. Boost mode provides the on-demand elimination of fog with the tap of a button.
The F-BOM features a scratch-resistant, polycarbonate lens from Carl Zeiss to provide the best clarity with zero distortions, as well as 100% protection from UVA, UVB and UVC rays. The lens can be easily interchanged with red, yellow, and dark tints for different light conditions.
For a $195 Kickstarter pledge (retail will be $249), you can be one of the first to own the F-BOM snow goggles. As the Abominable Labs patent is around how to integrate small, lightweight, and powerful batteries into goggles, you can expect we will see more from them in the future.