Lightning-Fast Lens Swap: Anon M5 Ski Goggles Review

My touring partners and I crouched at the summit of our planned ski line, engulfed in a cloud of whipping winds and spindrift. It felt like chaos. I carefully donned insulating layers, fighting the wind’s attempt to tear them out of my hands. The anxiety was building. My Anon M5 ski goggles were the last piece.

I hastily swapped the lens to the low-light option and pulled them over my ski helmet. I immediately felt calm thanks to these premium ski goggles, which enhanced visibility and perfectly shielded the wind. The eyepiece kept my oculi from being blasted and allowed me to see clearly again.

In short: Launched in January 2024, the Anon M5 Goggles ($300) stand out from the crowd on a few fronts. They’ve become my go-to ski goggles for skiing at the resort and in the backcountry. When the weather changes and visibility drops, they’ve got the best lens change system I’ve come across, not to mention brilliant optics.

It takes literally seconds to swap out the lenses (the package includes an extra one), even with the goggles on your face. Plus, they’ve got a feature that no other goggle has: a magnetized ski face mask for fog-free warmth. In terms of build, these goggles are sturdy. The catch? This high-end design comes at a premium price.

Read the GearJunkie Best Ski Goggles buyer’s guide.

Anon M5 Ski Goggles Review

While that day’s avalanche conditions carried moderate risk, I needed a clear, focused mind for decision-making in the nasty weather conditions. We skied a more conservative line, and the M5’s low-light lens helped me identify the snow’s subtleties and eke out the best powder turns available.

I skied with the M5s pulled over my face on sunny days and awful days alike. I used them throughout the spring season last winter, testing their mettle against other top competitors. For a few reasons, they came out on top in my collection.

Fit and Size

In my experience, the frame and span of the Anon M5 is pretty big. It’s the first thing I noticed when I strapped them to my ski helmet and pulled on the kit. And that’s a positive in my book: I’m all in on bigger ski goggles that engulf more of my face and, therefore, expand my field of view deep into the periphery. I have a medium-to-large noggin, and they fit me just about perfectly.

But they’ll likely be too large for smaller-faced individuals. Fortunately, the brand has those skiers and riders covered with the Anon M5S, which is an identical design in terms of performance but in a smaller-fitting frame.

Helmet Compatibility

Overall, the M5 fit well with the ski helmet that I trust my brain to: the Sweet Protection Trooper 2VI MIPS. There are very small gaps on the sides between the frame and the helmet’s ear flaps, which are covered by the helmet straps. There’s no gap at the top.

I also tested these goggles with my ski touring helmet, the Petzl Meteor, and the fit was spot on. In my field tests, the POC Nexal ski goggles edge out the M5 for ski helmet fit, thanks to the generous outriggers for the strap. (An outrigger is a piece of plastic that extends from the goggle’s frame, which aids the strap, so that it extends out from the frame.)

Even so, the M5 is a close enough fit and should fit most ski helmets very well. And unlike some ski goggles with dedicated strap outriggers, the M5 fit my face well even without a ski helmet on. That’s key for those occasions when I’m at the trailhead, parking lot, or touring pitstop while wearing a hat or nothing on my head but want the protection of a ski goggle.

Weight and Quality

The other thing I noticed right away was that these ski goggles are relatively heavy. Not in an annoying way that causes neck fatigue but as an indicator of the high quality of the materials. The magnets for the lens swap technology contribute to the weight. On the scale, this ski goggle weighs 172g, and each lens weighs 65g. The POC Nexal isn’t far off at 153g.

Magnetic Lens Swap: Excellent Design

It’s tough to overstate how easy it is to swap the lenses for the Anon M5 ski goggle. Find the corner of the attached lens, lift it with pressure from a finger or nail, and the lens pops off. Hover the swappable lens in front of the frame, and it snaps in without any pressure. That’s it. The magnets do all the work.

Even when I was fumbling around in a bitter storm at the top of a Gore Range peak in Colorado’s backcountry, the swap was a no-brainer. As a result, this is the first ski goggle that I consistently carry an extra lens around for because the exchange is so easy.

Nine interior magnets are embedded around the frame’s perimeter, which firmly hold the lens. In my experience, the lens never fell off by itself. It’s locked in: The magnetic draw can hold nearly 17 pounds, reports Anon. Even when the goggles were in their carry bag, stuffed haphazardly into my gear bag, and handled without care, the lens stayed attached.

Could the lens theoretically dislodge with a major slam? I suppose it’s possible, but I didn’t come anywhere close to losing the lens during months of aggressive skiing. I think that you’d need to hit the ground very, very hard for the lens to pop off.

Detachable Ski and Snowboard Face Mask

Speaking of magnets, the M5 integrates with a super-unique accessory: a detachable face mask. I’ll be honest: I left it in the box for the first month I was testing these ski goggles. On paper, it seemed like a gimmick. Only after getting caught in frigid conditions and having my nose brush up against frostbite did I reconsider trying out this mask. Ever since, I’ve tossed the ski and snowboard face mask in my jacket pocket just in case.

Like the lens system, the face mask attaches to the goggle frame via the tiny magnets. But the real benefit over a buff or other face mask is the fog-free fit. Because the face mask attaches to the frame instead of tucking underneath the goggles, your exhalation remains outside the goggles instead of creeping beneath the frame.

Another major benefit of this design is that you can easily detach and pull down the face mask with a single hand without taking your goggles or helmet off. I didn’t realize how annoying retucking a traditional face mask was until I tried the M5 with this add-on accessory. It’s a neat tool that I think a lot of skiers and snowboarders would be pleased to use.

Anti-Fog Lens Design

Speaking of fogging up on the ski hill, the design for the M5 never did during my test laps. As you’d expect from any high-end ski goggle, the lens has an inner coating to prevent fogging. It did a good job of keeping the fog at bay during a ski day.

In the backcountry, these goggles stayed mostly fog-free when I strapped them to my hot face at the top of a ski touring lap. The adequate vents maintained a good airflow. Could I get them to fog when I left them on while skinning uphill? You bet. But that rings true for any goggles, in my experience.

Naively, I assumed that I could pop out the lens to help cool my face down. But it’s not quite that easy to remove the lens when the goggles are on versus off the helmet, in your hands. It’s much easier to shift the goggles up onto your helmet to let perspiration out.

Multiple Lenses

Both lenses that are included in this goggle bundle are optically excellent. The M5 ski goggles are made with flat toric lenses, which combine the field-of-view of a spherical lens (which has a low profile) with a cylindrical lens (which is less scratch-prone).

It feels like the best of both worlds. The lens shape is broad and sweeping. And there’s no color or visual distortion in the periphery.

Between the two lens options, the package covers a very wide spectrum of lighting conditions. The pair that I tested came with the Perceive Sunny Red with 14% Visible Light Transmission (VLT). There was also a spare Perceive Cloudy Burst with 59% VLT.

The Sunny Red lens offered plenty of protection for the brightest spring days in Colorado. That’s when the ski-season solar rays and albedo (the fraction of light that a surface reflects) are at a peak. I wasn’t left wanting more protection, which I did experience with the primary lens of the POC Nexal ski goggle. Beyond super-bright conditions, the Sunny Red lens provided pretty dang good vision when the clouds rolled in.

When conditions were really nasty, the Cloudy Burst lens was a solid complement to the Sunny Red. They dished up clear, crisp vision and enhanced subtleties in the snow’s surface.

That detailed low-light perception was confidence-inspiring when I skied a few unsparing spring backcountry lines. I could easily tell the difference between ice, wind-drifted snow, and powder. Variable snow conditions can act as hazards if they’re unexpectedly encountered.

Perceive Technology: Clarity and Contrast

Anon’s Perceive technology is built into the lenses. The proprietary technology provides contrast enhancement similar to the Oakley Prizm or Smith ChromaPop in-house technologies. Perceive tech adds significantly more contrast and vibrancy than what can be perceived by the naked eye. And frankly, I wouldn’t buy a pair of ski goggles without it anymore.

Though it adds cost, it’s one of the biggest improvements in goggle tech over the past decade — especially when someone enjoys moving fast in changing lighting conditions and they need crisp vision to stay safe. Perceive is included in both of the M5 goggle lenses, which isn’t always the case with the spare lens included in bundles from other brands.

Conclusion

The Anon M5 Goggles are some of the nicest ski and snowboard goggles I’ve ever put on my face. Between the cushy foam, huge field-of-view, excellent optics, and industry-leading lens swap, I was smitten.

They’re pricey, though.

As a $300 pair, they are a premium addition to my kit. There’s no getting around the fact that these goggles are just too dang expensive for a lot of skiers and riders out there. They’re among the most expensive goggles we’ve covered at GearJunkie or that have been included as a top contender in the buyer’s guide.

What do you get for that much cash? A very solid and durable pair of goggles, two lenses, and the included detachable face mask. I won’t call it a bargain. But this top-quality package is what you’d expect for the price.

Skiers and riders willing to shell out a few extra shillings will get what they expect. Most of all, skiers and snowboarders will be relieved to be wearing this big face cocoon when the nasty winter weather rolls in and the light drops.