Goggle design hasn’t changed much over the past 20 years.  Aside from some minor peripheral vision or venting improvements, the basic “mask fitting” concept has remained the same until now.  ZOWA, a family owned US based company, set out to do something completely different with goggles. 

While the ZOWA High Performance Goggles fit around the nose and cheek like conventional goggles, the radical difference comes from the oversized frame which mates the brow of the helmet.  This in effect gives a larger lens, which provides a much better field of view (FOV) and is wonderfully useful not only on trails, but in traffic.

As with any truly new type of product, there’s a process of evolution and bug squashing. The ZOWA’s innovative design covers some forehead air intake ports on helmets and can get warm at low speeds.  Two small vents and a large top vent provide plenty of air in, but dedicated exhaust ports along the very sides of the lens or frame would be a great next-gen feature.  Offering tinted lenses would also likely be a welcome option for many riders out West!

Other testers also reported the nose fit was not consistent, also probably because of the helmet to mask frame system.  This could be easily remedied by making additional stick-on foam pieces available to fill nose gaps. 

Despite the issues mentioned above, the ZOWA’s are a high quality and refreshing take on an old problem. MSRP: $64 to $78 ZOWAOptics.com