You can come up with the most premium airsoft gear and replicas. Yet, if you choose poor safety glasses, you will likely fog up, disabling you from enjoying the game. For this very reason, it’s good to know how fogging works and how to prevent it/fight it when it appears.
😶🌫️ Fogging can ruin your game. That’s why we’ll give you all the tips to fight it!
How do fogging airsoft glasses ‘work’?
Put overly simply, fogging is essentially a water game. The humidity, sweat and other water that is around your eyes in form of vapours, catch on to the lenses of glasses/goggles. When this happens, these might condense into water droplets, causing the fogging effect. This effect is stronger if the lenses experience a large temperature difference (one side is heated by your body, the other cooled by the environment)
💦 The issue is caused by water. No water, no fog.
Okay, let’s cut off this fake physics lesson. What does this mean in real life? If you want to get rid of fog, you should ideally make sure that there is as little water present as possible, as well as that the temperature differences are minimal and also that your glasses ‘don’t like’ water catching onto them. Let’s see how to achieve that.
How to get rid of fogging glasses?
If fogging happens during the game, meaning you can’t change your goggles, there are still a few things you can do:
🔴 Even if you fog mid-game, NEVER take off your glasses. Getting hit when you clean your glasses is a terrible way to lose your eyesight!
- 💨Increase the airflow: the water condensation won’t be as horrific if there is air constantly flowing in between your eyes and lenses. You can even do this mid-game:
- Crouch somewhere in a corner. Make sure you’re not under fire.
- Push your glasses a bit down your nose, and allow more air in.
- Shake your head vigorously.
- Or, you can run a few positions back. Running actually creates a lot of air that can unfog you.
- Or, if you hate the idea of running somewhere fogged, we have a fan system that does the airflow for you. As of now, it’s about the most heavy-duty solution to a fog problem…
Active Antifog Solution
This sits comfortably somewhere on your head and drives air through your goggles, causing you to unfog.
- Magnetic connection
- Long battery life, 10 hours on minimum settings
- USB-C rechargeable
- Lightweight: 0.25kg
- Water-resistant
🏃🏻♂️ If you stay in one place, you are likely to fog more. Move fast to unfog.
- 🧹 Clean the lenses – another way to help you unfog is to have clean lenses. With dust and other stuff on your lenses, you are much more likely to fog. This is especially true if you touch your lenses, leaving grease that catches more water. Only clean your lenses in the off zone. It is dangerous to take off your protective glasses/goggles mid-game.
- 🌁 Try an anti-fog spray – In some cases, you can use an anti-fog spray. These are often sold in your general sports stores and are quite affordable. Alternatively, you can try some DIY tricks like applying shaving foam the day before, etc. All this might help, but it’s not a 100 % fix for all fogging.
Best airsoft glasses and goggles that don’t fog.
Especially if you sweat a lot, choosing proper eye protection from the very beginning can change your experience so much. In regards to fogging protection, you have 4 general choices these days:
💸 Cheap protective glasses: these days, even glasses worth 10 bucks or so come with basic anti-fog protection. This is achieved by adding a thin hydrophobic layer on the top of the lens. However, these wear off quite fast, so you might want to get a new pair every 6 to 12 months.
🤴🏻 Premium protective glasses: Ballistic glasses such as those from ESS have a very solid anti-fog treatment. This makes it very hard to fog up, and you don’t have to change them every now and then. However, because they are super low-profile, they still might suffer from temperature issues. So if you sweat hard, you might want to look for a more heavy-duty solution.
😎 Dual-lens protective glasses: These are a safe bet. While being a bit chunkier, the dual lens are great at breaking up temperature differences. Combined with an anti-fog treatment, this is about as good as it gets with passive anti-fog systems. You can find a dual-lens system with both our goggles and the famous Dye i5 paintball mask.
🥽 Goggles with a fan: these are superb for those who sweat a lot. With an active fan system, you get a constant airflow, allowing you to get rid of most if not all the fogging, regardless of what you do. The issue with these, however, is that they don’t come cheap. ESS offers a solid solution but the cost is almost unjustifiable for airsoft use. You can also find an alternative from FMA but be aware, it won’t likely cut it. The base fan is too weak for consistent results.
