How to choose your swimming goggles?

File Photo Credit: Andrew Tan/SportSG

By Sophia Seen

Swimming goggles are an essential part of your swimming gear as goggles help you see clearly underwater and prevent materials from entering your eyes. Selecting an appropriate pair of goggles might seem intimidating, as you look at the overwhelming number of varieties offered. 

This step-by-step guide provides you with a systematic approach to choosing the most suitable swimming goggles for yourself.

1. Choosing the shape of your goggles
There are various goggle shapes. The Swedish goggles fit closer to the eye socket and hence reduces drag, so these are often used in competitions such as the FINA Swimming World Cup. 

For practice or recreation, the classic gasket goggles suffice. The gasket could be made of either silicon or foam, so the choice is up to your personal preference. 

2. Choosing the colour of your goggles
The colours of swimming goggles are not merely for aesthetics purposes, they also serve a function. Your choice of colour should depend on the lighting conditions of the pool you swim in. 

General

Amber lenses amplify light in low light conditions and reduce glare in high light conditions. Hence, these provides good vision in all light environments. Blue lenses allow a moderate amount of light while still reducing glare and hence, it is a safe choice regardless of light conditions. 

Low Light / Indoor
Clear lenses provide natural light and would be the preferred choice in low-light conditions and it also provides the most accurate vision. Clear lenses are suitable for swimming indoors. 

High Light / Outdoor
Mirror lenses reflect light away from the eyes and are the best choice in high light conditions i.e. swimming outdoors. Moreover, mirror lenses are often used for competitions as they prevent opponents from being able to see your eyes. 

Swim goggles come in many colours, shapes and sizes.

3. Testing the fit of your Googles
Now that you know the right shape and colour of the googles to choose, it’s time to see if it fits you well.

Testing the fit
Make sure your goggles are a tight fit so water does not enter. To do this, apply the goggles to your face without the strap and check that the goggles stay in place and there is suction for at least 1 second. 

Next, put the goggles on with the strap and ensure that the goggles fit comfortably. Areas to take note of are the nose bridge and the eye area. With the goggles strapped to your face, ensure that the goggles have a tight fit. 

Finally, you can worry about aesthetics of the googles. Most casual swimmers just avoid everything that was previously mentioned and head to this step! Choose a pair of goggles that suit your style that you will feel comfortable wearing. The last thing you want is to be feeling self-conscious about how you look, which will affect your swimming.

Swim goggles come in many colours, shapes and sizes.

Additional Tips
For those who wear glasses, prescription or optical lenses are available to help correct vision. 

Lastly, some lenses have an anti-fog film on the inside of the lenses to prevent decreased visibility due to fog. 

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