Cat Crap Lens Cleaner & Anti-Fog
This is the time of year to begin thinking of new ways to prevent annoying (and potentially dangerous) faceshield/visor fogging. There are many commercial products and home remedies out there, ranging from a potato rubbed on the visor to fabric breath guards to special anti-fog visors and inserts. The bulk of the anti-fog products on the market are liquids designed to coat the visor's inner surface to prevent fog from adhering to it. I've used a few such anti-fog coatings over the years; some have not worked at all, while others have worked well but only for a very short time. So in my quest to find an effective and long-lasting anti-fog coating, I tried Cat Crap Lens Cleaner & Anti-Fog.This product, and others under the Cat Crap moniker, is well-known to skiers and readily available in the USA -- I bought mine from a local ski shop. Following the directions, I cleaned the inner surface of my visor and then smeared on a thin coating of the green, waxy Cat Crap, followed by a thorough buffing with a lint-free cloth. I plopped my Arai Signet on, closed the visor and vents, and exhaled heavily several times: only very slight fogging around the edges I couldn't coat effectively with the visor installed -- so very good anti-fog properties. However, while commuting to work on a dark, clear, cold Fall morning, I discovered that while Cat Crap was doing a good job of keeping my visor clear, it was causing a rather large "halo" around all street lights and oncoming headlights, the effect of which grew in proportion to the closing distance to the light source. On a few sharp backroad corners, I was essentially blinded for a second or two when the multi-colored halos from oncoming headlights filled large portions of my field of vision. Thus, while it is relatively easy to apply, inexpensive, fairly effective at keeping fog at bay, and small enough to carry along in a tankbag or jacket pocket (and has a cool name!), I must deem Cat Crap unacceptable for motorcycle use. It may work fine for skiiers and such, but motorcyclists can't afford any degree of reduced visual acuity, particularly in the dark. Bottom line: Don't buy this Crap. Hmmmm, now where's that potato?
posted by Doug Just Doug at 7:43 PM
3 Comments:
damn dude, don't tell me you don't remove the visor before you apply this stuff??
I bought some of this this afternoon to use on a 10 mile sub-freezing (~30F) ride tonight and I had no problems with it. I googled it just now to see if other riders used it.
"...so whatever we put on [the visor] we end up looking thru."
I suspect the halos you saw came from not wiping it off thoroughly enough. When I wiped it off I made sure to remove every trace of it, by looking at the reflection of a light bulb in my visor. How does it work, if it's gone? Dunno - maybe electrostatically. I also used it on the eyeglasses I use for riding. Both tend to start fogging in the middle 50s, but there was no fogging tonight and no halos.
Thx for the comments and thx for visiting my site. I hope you'll return and comment whenever the mood strikes.
Anon #1: I didn't remove the visor; I believe a "smear-on/wipe off" product that requires visor removal isn't very practical for daily m/c use. Particularly 'cuz I wear Arai helmets with their #%$&! visor removal system.
Anon #2: Thx for the tip; I'll try buffing "the Crap" off extra-extra well and re-try.
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