The Anon M4 is right up there in the very expensive end of snowboarding and skiing goggles. It is the top of the line for Anon, and comes in a confusing combination of options.
Trying to simplify it a little, the full sized M4 comes with two lens styles, Cyclindrical and Toric.
There is a smaller version called the M4s, which also comes in Cylindrical and Toric. On top of that, both sizes and lens types also come in a Low Bridge, or Asian fit option with thicker foam on the nose bridge.
The Anon M4 comes with two different lenses, which are held on to the frame with magnets. They also come with a facemask or necktube, that magnetically connects to the bottom of the goggle frame.
See the Anon goggles on Burton.com
Features of the Anon M4
Large Fit
Larger fitting goggles do fit people with larger faces better, and also give a wide field of view.
OTG (over the glass/glasses)
It is never guaranteed, but the large size of the M4 gives it a really good chance at fitting over glasses.
Helmet Compatible
Nothing fancy about this, almost all modern goggles and helmets from brands can be mixed an matched and still have a nice fit. No need to stick to the same brand helmet and goggles if you don’t want to.
If you do stick to the same brand helmet and goggles, you might get slightly better vent alignment on the top fo the frame to the brim of the helmet, but that is hardly a priority for me.
Perceive Lens Technology
All the big goggle brands have their name for the lens technology, but the roughly do the same thing. They are designed to increase the contrast, especially on grey and white snow.
Toric or Cyclindrical Lens
Both the Toric (round or bug eye look) and Cylindrical lenses are injection molded. If you buy a cylindrical goggle, both lenses with be cylindrical. If for some reason you wanted to buy another lens, you could get a Toric version, it will still fit on the same frame.
MFI Compatible
This means that running along the bottom of the goggles are magnets similar to the ones that hold the lens on. These are used to connect the magnets in the facemask, so that it can make a nice seal from the mask to the goggles, while it still lets the vents work.
Second Lens
I think that Anon actually do a good job at simplifying the names and colours of their different lens options. The spare lens with the M4 comes in a nice case, so at least it is easy to keep it protected.
Silicone Backed Strap
Nothing special with this, all goggles have it. The couple of lines of silicone help the stop the strap from moving on your helmet or beanie, keeping everything in place.
Quick Anon Lens Guide
The have three basic groups – where the name of the lens tells you the conditions they should be used in:
Sunny lenses – that block a lot of light
Variable lenses – good for variable conditions, some sun and clouds
Cloudy lenses – good for overcast and snowy conditions.
Separate from the colour combinations and lenses that you like the look of, the goggles will come with the main lens, and one extra that will handle lower light conditions.
For example, if you have get a goggle with a variable as the main lens, it will come with a cloudy lens as the second.
If you get a sunny lens as the main lens, most of the time it will come with a variable as the second.
There are a few combinations that come with a sunny lens as the main, and a cloudy as the second.
Although the sunny lenses are going to do a good job on full sunny days when there aren’t any clouds, I think that the variable lenses are much more useful in the long run. You can’t count on the weather staying the same for very long in the mountains. Even if you got a sunny/variable lens combination, I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up using the variable lens most of the time.
Because of that, I think that the most useful combination is to get a variable lens as the main, with a cloudy second lens as the backup when it is foggy, snowing or just overcast.
Differences between the Anon M4 and M4s
If you like the look of the M4, but don’t have a big face, then you could look at the M4s (small version). It does all the same things as the M4, but is scaled down a little.
The M4s is still advertised as an OTG (over the glass) goggle, but because it has a smaller frame getting your glasses in the goggles might be a little bit of a tighter fit.
Goggles aren’t a super hard thing to get right, and these have all the features that I would want in a goggle. Large field of view, nice and clear and comfy on my face.
Like any goggles, if you are riding hard in more humid conditions, you will still be able to make them fog up. None are invincible, but the Anon M4 does a good job at clearing the fog pretty fast.
The perceive lenses are nice, though not as initially impressive as Oakley Prizm, they still highlight the texture and bumps of the snow, making everything clear to see.
Will the magnetic lenses fall off?
I think that most people are a little surprised by how strongly the lenses connect/snap into place on the frame. I find that the easiest way to get them on and off is to actually bend the corner of the frame away from the lens. Once there is room to get your finger underneath, then you can break the connection to the rest of the magnets.
I don’t have any worries that the lenses would every come off in normal riding. I am sure that it is possible to smash them off if you have a really big crash, but in that case I would be more worried about damage to your head rather than what the goggles are doing.
Pros
- Easy lens changes
- OTG if you do wear glasses while riding
- Magnetic facemask
Cons
- Expensive
- The facemask that it comes with is strange and has all these weird flaps, I would swap it to the simple lightweight one.
Conclusion
The Anon M4 does all the things that you need goggles to do. Good field of vision, and comfortable on your face. I never struggled with making out contrast in the snow, even in very foggy conditions.
Changing the lens with the magnets is quick and easy, and a nice feature to have, but is hardly a need. I don’t think I have ever changed lenses more than one time in a day anyway.
I acutally rate the magnetic facemask as being a much more useful feature. It is super handy to be able to lightly pull the facemask up and have it automatically snap into place. It might have been luck, but a few times I was able to get it to connect just by bending my head down, and the mask just jumps up into place.
For most people, the M4 goggles are probably overkill. Nice to have, if you can justify the price.
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