MXA PRODUCT TEST: HABER ELIMINATOR NO-FOG GOGGLE FAN: Better Living Through Electricity, But Only if You Start Before The Problem Starts

MXA PRODUCT TEST:
HABER ELIMINATOR NO-FOG GOGGLE FAN

WHAT IS IT? A self-contained goggle fan module that can be retrofit to almost any goggle. It not only vents fog out of your goggles, but has a humidity sensor that turns the fan on and off automatically.

WHAT’S IT COST? $60.00.

CONTACT? www.habervision.com or (800) 621-4381.

WHAT’S IT DO? It is possible to banish fog problems forever with the Haber Eliminator No-Fog Fan. Once you install it in your goggles and turn the selector switch on, you can forget all about fogged-up lenses. When the humidity rises inside your goggle, a sensor activates a fan and the warm, moist air is evacuated. When humidity returns to acceptable levels, the fan turns off. It’s completely automatic. It is also removable and transferable, so you’re free to move it from goggle to goggle.

This is not new technology. Smith has been making its Turbo Fan goggle for over 20 years. Where the Haber Eliminator differs is that it isn’t built into the design of the goggle frame, but instead can be slipped into any goggle in a few minutes. With the Haber Eliminator, you can turn an Oakley, Scott, Utopia, Pro Grip, Xtreme, EKS Brand, Spy, Thor, Smith or Fox into a turbo fan goggle.

WHAT STANDS OUT? Here’s a list of things that stand out with the Haber Eliminator No-Fog Fan.

(1) Installation. It will fit in almost any goggle, but not in every goggle. We couldn’t fit in an old-school Oakley because there wasn’t enough room in the upper portion of the frame for the module to slip into place. But, it slipped into an Oakley O Frame and a Crowbar without any hassles. Two threaded studs have to stick up through the foam vents on the top of the goggles. In most cases, it is just a matter of poking them through the foam and putting the locking plate on top, but sometimes the reinforcing ribs of the goggle frame are in the way. In these cases, we fudged the Haber Eliminator over or we poked holes in the ribs with an ice pick.

(2) Three-way switch. The switch has “off,” “auto” and “on” detents. In the “on” position, the fan runs all the time. In the “auto” mode, the fan only runs when the humidity sensor detects fog (you can check this by breathing on the sensor). The “off” position produced no fan noise, blowing air or ventilation?it was as though the system was turned off! Every MXA test rider used the “on” position all the time. When questioned as to why they didn’t use the auto switch they said, “Why wait for it to start fogging?” Battery life on the AAA battery is reported to be 15 hours, but even if it’s only seven hours, that would be 14 half-hour motos or 28 15-minute motos.

(3) Air flow. When you are moving, air enters the top of the goggle and vents out the bottom. This might lead you to question how the Haber Eliminator works, since it exhausts air out of the top. The answer is that when you are moving, the air flows from top to bottom. But when you are sitting still, as on the starting line, the air flow from your hot little face rises upwards to the vents on top. Since fogging is never an issue at speed, the Haber Eliminator is designed to exhaust the hot rising air out of the goggles when you are sitting still.

(4) Performance. It works. However, that judgment is based on the fact that test riders reported that something, fogging, didn’t happen. The only true way to test was to let the goggles fog up and then turn the fan on manually. Unfortunately, the Haber isn’t good at defeating lots of humidity. It is designed to catch fogging as it forms. In the end, we know the Haber Eliminator did a good job of venting out the hot air, because the test riders with the Eliminators were the only riders on the starting line who weren’t tugging on their goggle straps to let air in.

WHAT’S THE SQUAWK? There are three things to consider:

(1) The price. At $60.00 suggested retail, you can go through a lot of fog cloths. This makes the fan as expensive as the goggles.

(2) Strap tension. Some riders forgot to tighten up their goggle straps to compensate for the added weight of the Eliminator and later complained that their goggles bounced down.

(3) Purpose. This is a ski product that is doing double-duty as a motocross device.

If could beat fogging at all times and made you faster, we could justify four stars, but it does the same thing as hooking your thumb in your goggle strap. If goggle fogging is a big issue with you, by all means consider the Haber Eliminator.ÿ

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