Now I’m in the market for a new pair of goggles I’ve decided to have a think about what works and what doesn’t.
The pair that have just broken (Speedo Aquapure) have been very good from a comfort point of view and haven’t ever leaked, but the straps do tend to slip. The spare pair I wore today (Speedo Aquapulse) were larger and less comfortable as a result, and in fact the straps on those also slipped, though probably not as much. My first couple of pairs had (different) locking mechanisms and didn’t slip at all. That seems like a good idea. One of those was a pair of Speedo Biofuse goggles. I can’t recall what the others were.
Goggles with larger lenses and those with large seals don’t actually seem to seal very well and eventually leak. I’ve had one pair where the seals turned almost inside out in places because they didn’t fit my face well enough. I think my preference is probably for ones that just fit into the eye sockets and don’t extend too far to the side or below the eye onto the cheek where movement of the face can dislodge the seal.
The positive side of the larger lenses is that they do let in a lot more light. They also appear to place the lens further from the eyeball. I suspect from the vertical streaks that appear on the inside of some pairs of my goggles the first time I wear them after cleaning them that my eyelashes can touch the inner face of the lens, depositing small amounts of the natural oils around the eyes onto the lens causing them to fog up more readily. If the lenses are further away from the eyeball that tends not to happen.
For indoor use I prefer clear lenses, but it would be nice to find a model that also come with tinted or mirrored lenses for use outdoors when we’re on holiday.
So overall I think I’m looking for goggles with some sort of locking adjustment on the strap and smaller size seals that fit into the eye socket and as I’m not into the idea of trimming my eyelashes I’ll probably just have to live with them fogging up.
Speedo’s website recommends the three pairs I’ve already owned, but none are perfect (the Biofuse pair had seals that were too large) so it may be time to start looking elsewhere. The TYR Velocitys look like they might be worth a try, or the FINIS Bolts. The former do seem to come with mirrored and smoked lenses as well as clear. Not sure about the FINIS ones yet.