These goggles are definitely unique…

Product: Brown Washed id2
Supplied by: Moscon Optics

We brought you a preview quite a few posts back of the id2 goggle and now we have the review. Winner of the coveted Red Dot design award in 2008 the id2’s are definitely taking goggles in a new direction. Looking over the goggle there are many trademarks, patents and designs that have gone into it so Adidas are serious about this product.

Out of the box along with the goggles you get some manuals and instructions and a bag to keep the id2’s safe in. The printed stuff covers specifications, various lenses ratings for lighting conditions and instructions of how to disassemble the goggles. The goggle bag is handy in 2 ways in that is stashes your goggles and can also double as a lens cleaner.

Something that differs with these goggles is the convex lens. Most goggles use flat ones so in the looks department these look unique right away. One thing that always determines if I use a goggle or not is how badly the foam pinches your nose restricting some airflow. Everyones facial structure is different but on mine there was no pinching at all with the strongest foam contact on the extreme left and right hand side of the foam. This could be the Auto-Fit Nose Area doing its thing: the foam and frame around the bridge of the nose are designed to have some flex in them.

The strap has the pretty much standard 3 goo lines around the inside to stop slipping on a helmet. The colourway reviewed here had white straps which is a bad formula when mixed with dust, mud and downhill. Most colour options in the id2 range contain large amounts of white in fact which could be their one design flaw since they will age faster. None white options (although the colour is still present on the inside of the strap) are Shiny Black and Osyter/Matt Bronze which would be better suited. No doubt all the white comes from the goggles use in snowboarding and other sports.

Similar to those Nokia cellphones that had interchangeable face plates a few years ago, the same can be done with the id2 as the frame complete with lens can unclip off the frame complete with strap. This would be useful to change frame colours or a damaged one. Along with all this other good stuff the goggles are tear off compatible and feel really light. Those riders who do not like bulky goggles will like the small form factor as they fit into a Troy Lee Designs D2 helmet with no problem at all. Fogging did not seem to be a problem either.

The high price tag is the most negative thing about the id2’s retailing at around the R1600 mark locally. This will make folks think twice when deciding on buying a pair no doubt. It is definitely a high quality product and could be worth that price but is a hard sell against other brands offering cheaper alternatives. A simpler entry level version of the id2 might go down well if Adidas ever makes one.

The pair of goggles on review here today will be given away in our next competition along with a T-shirt so check back next week for details.

Tags: adidas, goggle, id2

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 12:58 pm and is filed under News, Products, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.