Kit Up! received a note on our tip line the other day that brought up an interesting question to the team: are ballistic goggles really worth their weight in plastic?
0311 USMC writes:
ESS and other ballistic goggles. I have yet to use an issued pair of goggles that does not fog up within minutes of use. (When sweating) Any purpose the goggles might serve is completely undermined when I have to take them off every few minutes to de-fog them.
I'm with 0311USMC on this one...Goggles always seem like overkill to me except in the most henious of dust storms and even then, you can't see anything anyway. Ballistic shades have gotten so good these days that coupled with changeable lenses, all you need are your glasses.
But I'm sure there are some readers who would say that goggles are the only option for some military/LE applications, but it's worth discussing I think because as long as the services still issue them and troopers are forced by gunny to put those confounded bug eyes on their Kevlar, there's going to still be a lot of grumbling.
Just for argument's sake -- a pair of ESS Land Ops goggles cost about $70; Wiley X Spears cost $94; Revision Desert Locusts cost $169 and Blackhawk ACE googles come in at $100.
What do you think?
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