I've spent a long time looking for the better goggle system.    Goggles have long been my least favorite aspect of the sport.    Don't get me wrong, I'm the first person to start screaming when it comes to eye safety in the feild.   I've seen a player loose an eye.    It's an image that I will never get out of my head.    And it's not something I'm going to let happen to me or anyone I play with.   But face it, goggles are uncomfortable to wear, they restrict your senses, and generally don't add to the pleasure of the game.   But for all of their ills, goggles are a necessary evil.   In fact, I would not play without full face and ear protection.   I shudder to think back on the old days when a pair of shop goggles was thought to be 'good enough'.   We were just lucky no one ever got hurt.

Because goggles are a needed part of the game, I have long sought a goggle that was better than the rest.    Suffice it to say that when I heard that Raven was producing a set it caught my interest.    Brass Eagle had already released their Xtreme 280's.   And while I like the 280's expanded field of vision, wearing a bubble on my head left considerable to be desired.   For one thing, the 280's are a big, bulky, target.   Shots that would have just whizzed past the edge of my Vents Predators, smacked the 280's with enough authority to leave a king sized, game-ending mark.    The 280's were also a problem in tight bunkers and huts where the extra bulk would prevent me from peeking out through cracks and holes.    But still, there was a definate advantage to be had in the expanded field of view.    With the Predator's I constantly found myself panning my head looking around.    Pan at the wrong moment and the guy in the bunker right in front of you might slip to another bunker or shoot out a team-mate you were suppossed to be covering.   In the woods, all that head movement could easily betray your position.    And I won't go into how this old man's neck protested all the exercise.

Enter Raven's Nuvis-1.   Raven has designed a very slick outfit with the Nuvis-1.    Sleek and stylish without a doubt, not clunky like the 280's.    It's a tight package that hugs the face freeing you up to peek through those nooks and crannies.    Visual area is nearly as good as the 280's with only a tiny bit given way at the periphery.    A bit that many wearers may not notice due to the limitations of their own peripheral vision.

But peripheral vision wasn't the feature that sold me on the Nuvis.   Raven's goggles are the first to feature a self-polarizing lens.   My eyes are extremely sensative to light.  An hour in the sun without sunglasses and I'm headed for Migraineville.   This is something I have long lived with when it comes to paintball.   Basically, a days play meant a nights tossing and turning with a headache.    Sure I could wear sunglasses under my goggles.   Problem there was that in shadowed areas I was effectively blind.   Paintball is a dynamic game, a player is constantly transitioning from sunlight to shadow.    When I saw that the Nuvis goggles were self tinting, I was sold.    As for the performance, they work well.   Transition is not instant but you couldn't expect it to be.    A couple of seconds to go from lightest to darkest. As for performance in the field, they work great. Images are clear over a broad range of lighting conditions.    I was stunned at the visual clarity they provided.

Comfort.   Not enough can be said about this factor.   An uncomfortable pair of goggles distracts and fatiques the wearer hampering both the ability to perform and the enjoyment of the game.   I can't say that the Nuvis-1's are a big winner here.   They are no better, or no worse than any of the other goggles that I have tried.    Uncomfortable on the bridge of the nose like every other goggle I have ever worn.   One finds oneself constantly shifting them about in search of relief.    However, around the ears, and forehead the presence of the goggles was virtually unnoticeable.

Fog Control.   The Nuvis-1's tout 'The most advanced anti-fog protection in the world.'   Well, I wore them under the most appalling conditions in the world at the D-Day Big Game.    It was cold, wet, and nasty out.    Seven inches of rain had fallen in the last three days and three more inches fell during the course of the game.   It sprinkled nearly constantly.   Water dripped down from the trees above with enough force to splash through the upper vents and onto the inner surface of the lens.   It was more than the Nuvis-1's could take.   They were continuously fogged up to the point that water was dripping off of the inner lens.   After a few moments in the field, my vision was nil.    I spent the day firing in the direction my team-mates were firing in just so that I could say I contributed.    Few players didn't experience this same problem.   Conditions could not have been any worse.   Only those players who were wearing thermal lenses could report that they were not 'fogging' but even those players had difficulty with the amount of water that was coming in from their upper vents.    Thermal lenses and a wide brim hat were the only sure cure.   Because these conditions were so extreme I do not consider this to have been a fair test.   Had the Nuvis-1's not fogged, I would have been truely impressed.   The fact that they did fog only says to me that they are not 'bulletproof'.

Protection.   What is a goggle if it doesn't provide protection.   I did not conduct any sort of torture test on the lens.    I'm not qualified to do so and I certainly didn't want to destroy a $100 lens that had come out of my own pocket.   I feel that one can safely assume that the Nuvis-1's would protect against anything one could reasonably expect to encounter in the form of a paintball impact to the lens.   What I can talk about is the protection afforded by the mask itself.   Facial and ear protection provided by the Nuvis-1's is excellent.    A stiff, yet not unyeilding plastic mask protects the nose, mouth, and ears completely.   What isn't protected is the neck and forehead.   A side angle shot finds the neck fully exposed while the top of the head is fully exposed from all angles.   Indeed, the first hit of the day I took was to the exposed neck.   I would recommend to any perspective wearer that they invest in some sort of supplemental neck and head protection.   A cap and a bandana would probably be sufficient.    I prefer to wear a cotton 'Dickie' with my BDU's and a 'Boonie' hat.   This adequately fills the gaps in the Nuvis-1's protected zones without restricting head movement.

Raven's Nuvis 1 Goggle System.  Version 1.0

Overall, I would say that the Nuvis-1's are an excellent choice for a goggle with a wide field of view.    I'm still up in the air about the fog situation.    It's still going to take another days play when one would only expect to see a reasonable chance of fogging before I would give the thumbs up or thumbs down.   A goggle that fogs all of the time is useless.   Better to have a pair with a narrow field of view and that isn't fogging.  In fact, if I had taken my vents to the D-Day game, I certainly would have been wearing them.   As it stands, the verdict is out, until I can say if the Nuvis-1's fog less than or more than Brand X, I will remain undecided.

UPDATE!  11/06/00   Raven has released an upgrade for the Nuvis-1's.   Calling them Nuvis-1 Version 2.0.   There is no image available on their site but they claim, Improved Forehead Protection, a Visor (Maybe?), and '100% Consistant No Fog or Condensation'. The upgrade is also offered free to previous purchasers of the Version 1 goggle.   Needless to say, I tossed mine back in the box and sent them out that day.   I will certainly have a further update when I have gotten mine back.