100 Plus Dayz

I first heard about N3L Optics from a friend roaming Cherry Creek Mall.  At first I thought a legit shop in Cherry Creek Mall, No Way! I went to see for myself. I was in the market for new goggles, so why not. I decided to shoot some video because he said they have all kinds of cool gadgets to test out goggles and sunglasses in different conditions. I was pleasantly greeted by the guy working in there (Chris as well). He was a real CO snowboarder, he knew what he was talking about. I told him although I thought the selection of sunglasses was amazing I was in the market for goggles. We headed over to the first piece of technology. It was an interactive touch screen to simulate different conditions. They had everything from water, to trails, to snow, and driving down the road. I opted for the snow option.  Before I had even taken a look at some goggles I was able to choose the snow scene, choose a few different goggles (Oakely, Smith, VZ..etc..) and see how the lens would react to different terrain and lighting conditions. I tested all the goggles in flat light, bright light, in the trees, and in a steep bowl. It was amazing to see the difference between different goggles in different conditions. You may think, “hey that’s sort of gimmicky but it really wasn’t. It was a true to life representation of how the goggles react to different light.” Skiing CO as long as I have I encountered every single possible snow condition, it was nice to see the performance of the goggle before purchasing it and being disappointed in the performance when you maybe in adverse conditions that require a completely different goggle and now you are stuck!

We then grabbed a bunch of goggs off the wall to try on after looking at them on the touchscreen simulator. I like all the goggles I tried on but the Smith I/O’s were my favorite and the Oakley Splice came in a close second. I loved the view on the Smith’s and the lenses on the Oakley’s were Sick along with the splice technology around your nose. I ended up picking up both pairs. The great thing about these two is they also come with flat light lens I can change quickly. The Oakley’s don’t change quite as fast as the Smith’s but I fell in love with the Iridium lenses on the Oakley’s.

From here we checked out the Explorer Chamber. This “thing” was SICK! Similar to the touchscreen simulator it gave you multiple scenes to look at with goggles and sunglasses. I decided I couldn’t leave without trying on some sunglasses, I thought why not try them with the Explorer Chamber. It was cool to test out the goggles and see how they react to different landscapes but really the sunglasses ruled the Explorer Chamber. It allows you to test the sunglasses to see how they perform with polarized lenses. For me personally, this is a great test for backcountry touring where you are usually way too hot to wear goggles, mountain biking, and fly fishing. Seeing into the water with the polarized lenses is Huge! One last thing for cycling and or spring skiing at an area is the ability to simulate wind up to 30 mph to see how the sunglasses block the wind or not. I found this very helpful with cycling either road or mountain when you are either raging down a trail at Winter Park or down Lefthand Canyon from Ward you need to know how your eyes will be protected from the intense CO wind!

For the “Fashionistas” out there, N3L has an online photo both to try on multiple pairs of lifestyle sunglasses or performance and email a photo the computer takes of you to yourself or friends. This is great feature for anyone who can’t really decide what sunglasses to buy. I know I never buy sunglasses alone, but if I was alone I would shoot a friend whose opinion I trust a quick picture to get their feedback and instant opinion. If you have a smart phone on you, you can quick check your email and they can tell you look “Fly” or you look like the idiot in the corner of the bar with his sunglasses still on at 1:30am! For those of you Mac Addicts like me it’s basically like Photo Booth on your Mac.

Finally, N3L is all about making sure through great customer service and all their cool technology you walk out of there with exactly the right pair of sunglasses or goggles. They also do custom fitting and repair after the sale. I know I have broken my fair share of sunglasses, this is huge for me. One other great thing about this for performance sunglasses is they can heat up the glasses to adjust them to fit just right around your ears. Sometimes after a few months on the mountain bike my glasses get a little loose, it’s nice to know I can go back in and get them re-fitted at no extra charge. I have to say this store is top notch despite it’s fancy pants location, it’s legit! If you are looking for sunglasses or goggles and you really want a good fit and knowledgeable staff check out N3L Optics this holiday season! Below I have a video of some of my pics of the shop set to Pretty Lights, my Flickr album with all my pics, and two videos of my in store experience. Check them out. They really help to show how all the technology I mentioned above really works!

One last thing I have to give MAD PROPS to my roommate and long time friend Brett Rindt. He shot all the HD video and took all of the photos. He is very talented and you will be seeing more of Brett’s work this season. I also just picked up a Canon G12 (Merry Christmas to Me!) I’m heading up to Aspen this weekend to test out the goods back in my old stomping grounds of Highland Bowl. We’ll be shooting tons of photos and HD videos so be on the lookout for that. I hope everyone has a great holiday season and gets in some SICK POW wherever you live. Think Snow!