WHAT IS THE BEST MOTOCROSS GOGGLE?

What Is the Best Motocross Goggle? 

Everybody has an opinion on goggles. Almost nobody has ridden five premium pairs back-to-back, on the same track, in the same helmet, on the same day.

So we sent AMA Motocross and Supercross champion Jeff Emig to Fox Raceway in Southern California with five of the most popular premium goggles on the market and one job: ride them all and tell us what's actually different.

The five, in alphabetical order:

• Alpinestars Supertech Corp
• Fox Racing Vue
• Oakley Airbrake MX
• Scott Prospect
• 100% Armega

Jeff judged them on four things that matter once the gate drops: initial feel on the face, comfort on the bike, whether air (and therefore dust and sand) sneaks in under the foam, and how easy the lens is to swap.

One thing up front, and it's worth saying loudly: optics were not a differentiator. In Jeff's words, the lenses were crystal clear across the board and he never had a problem in that regard. At this price point, every one of these brands has clarity handled. The differences live in fit and in the details.

Alpinestars Supertech Corp

Alpinestars is the newcomer here — only two or three years into the goggle game — but the Supertech has caught on fast with top pros.

The first thing Jeff noticed was the shape. There's a lot of curvature built into the frame, and the foam wraps in a way he hadn't felt before, pushing around the sides of the face and sealing snug around the eyeport. The "wings" at the temples tuck in behind the temples and seal off well.

Paired with an Alpinestars helmet, the fit was exactly what you'd hope — dialed. But on Jeff's face, with the strap at his normal tension, he picked up a bit of airflow low, around the nose. His own read on it: possibly a strap-tension issue, or possibly the aggressive facial curve needing to be pulled out and flattened slightly for his face shape.

Takeaway: excellent temple seal, great clarity, easy lens changes. If you've got a face shape that agrees with a strongly curved frame, this one wraps like nothing else.

Fox Racing Vue

The Vue has been a popular goggle for a long time, and it makes an odd first impression: the outriggers don't even reach the edge of the helmet, and the whole thing feels small in the hand and on the face.

That impression doesn't survive the first lap. Field of view wasn't limited at all, and out on the track the seal held up — Jeff specifically noted he didn't feel the airflow under the foam that he'd picked up on the Alpinestars. Lens clarity, great. Overall fit, really good.

Takeaway: a goggle that measures smaller than it rides. Solid all-around performer with no complaints, and one of the three easiest lenses to change.

Oakley Airbrake MX

If Alpinestars is the newcomer, Oakley is the institution — making moto goggles since the early '80s, back in the Mark Barnett and Jeff Ward era, and still on a huge chunk of the top pros' faces today.

The Airbrake sealed tight around Jeff's face. The surprise was noise: this was the goggle where he picked up the most wind noise, like more air was moving through next to the helmet even though the goggle itself felt locked down. Not a fit failure — the seal was there — just a characteristic he didn't expect and hadn't noticed on the others.

Takeaway: great lens, proven pedigree, tight seal, straightforward lens swaps. Worth noting the noise character if you're sensitive to it.

Scott Prospect

Scott is one of the true originals, making goggles going back to the '70s. The Prospect Amp is also the outlier of this test in two ways.

First, weight. Jeff's immediate reaction picking it up was that it's significantly lighter than everything else in the group — "feather light" were his words. That's a real advantage over a long moto.

Second, the nose piece, which is designed completely differently from the rest and extends further out. It looked genuinely interesting sitting on the bench. On the bike it tickled his nose the entire session, and he didn't feel it sealed as well as the others down low. Field of view was great, overall fit was great — the nose was the sticking point.

Lens changes also took some figuring out. Once it clicked, it made sense, but it isn't as immediately intuitive as the Alpinestars, Fox or Oakley systems.

Takeaway: the lightest goggle here by a clear margin, with a nose design that's going to be love-it-or-hate-it depending entirely on your face. This is the one to try on before you buy.

100% Armega

The Armega has racked up a serious list of championship wins over the last few years, and it earned its reputation on Jeff's face too.

It has the widest foam of the group, it dropped into the helmet perfectly, and once it was on it stayed on — Jeff described it as feeling like it was 100% sealed, form-fitted, "like it was a custom goggle." Of all five, this was the fit that stood out.

It was also the only goggle in the test with a built-in sweat channel above the foam. Jeff isn't a heavy sweater, but he flagged it as a real advantage if you are — instead of sweat running off your forehead and into your eyes, the channel routes it out along the sides of the goggle.

The one knock: the lens locking system isn't obvious. Jeff admitted he had to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to seat the lens the first time. Once you've done it a few times you get the rhythm and it stops being a problem — but expect a learning curve on day one.

Takeaway: the best fit and seal of the test, plus the only sweat management feature in the group. Budget five minutes to learn the lens system.

The Verdict

After five goggles and a full day at Fox Raceway, Jeff gave the nod to the 100% Armega.

It won on the thing he weighted most heavily — the way it sealed to his face — and the built-in sweat channel was a genuine feature advantage nothing else in the test offered. The lens system was the only thing holding it back, and that's a one-time hurdle, not a daily one.

But here's the honest caveat, and Jeff said it himself more than once: every face is shaped differently. The airflow he felt on the Alpinestars and the nose interference he felt on the Scott are fit observations from one rider in a size medium helmet. Your face may read those exact same goggles completely differently — the Scott's nose piece that tickled him all day might disappear on your face, and that Alpinestars curve might be the best seal you've ever had.

Quick summary of who each one is for:

The real advice: try them on if you can, and pay attention to how the foam meets your temples and your nose — that's where these five actually separate.

Already ride one of these? Tell us in the comments on the video which one you'd give the nod to.

Shop the goggles from this test

• 100% Armega
• Oakley Airbrake MX
• Fox Racing Vue
• Alpinestars Supertech Corp
• Scott Prospect

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