The Triathlete Sports Great Goggle Guide

At Triathlete Sports we have a mind-boggling selection of goggles. It can be hard to choose the right one for your type of swimming, where you will be swimming, and the amount of coverage you would like on your face. This guide will help you narrow down our selection for your needs. Let us begin with the type of swimming you will be doing. We carry goggles for competition swimming, training, and open water. Each category of goggles will have its own style of fit that matches its use. For instance, a minimalist goggle like the Blue Seventy Nero wouldn’t do very well in big ocean swells but it would be perfect for the pursuit of speed. Conversely, the TYR Magna open water goggle would maintain a great seal in rough water but would not be suitable for competition.

For competition swimming, the first item of importance is the gasket. The gasket of the goggle is the portion that creates the seal around your eye that keeps the water out. There are a few different suitable types. The most streamlined is referred to as “Swedish-style.” These gaskets feature little to no rubber around they eye. Examples include the  Blue Seventy Nero and the TYR Swedish Lo Pro the purpose of this is to allow the eye socket to create its own seal with the plastic of the goggle lens. These types of goggles cause little drag in the water but the fit isn’t for everyone. Some users don’t like the way that the plastic or minimal rubber feels against the eye socket. The next range of goggles for competition features gaskets that will provide a great seal with more comfort for those who don’t like the feel of the Swedish Style while maintaining aggressive hydrodynamics. Examples include the Aqua Sphere  Michael Phelps Xceed, Nike Remora, Speedo Vanquisher 2.0, and TYR Blackhawk. The lenses of these goggles don’t have the peripheral vision allowed by the exposed lens of the Swedish Style but they offer excellent hydrodynamics due to the tapered shape from the face of the lens to the gasket. This range of goggles is the most popular for competition.

If the time you spend in the pool is mostly for general fitness and training, you will want a goggle that prioritizes comfort and durability over of hydrodynamics and minimalism. We have a variety of choices here as well. Goggles like the  TYR Nest Pro, Aqua Sphere Kayenne, Aqua Sphere Kaiman, or the Blue Seventy Hydra-Vision will suit your needs. The gaskets on these models are more generous than any of the competition goggles but not more than necessary for training in the pool. There is also the matter of the color of the lens. If you look at all of our goggles, you will notice words like “metallic”, “mirrored”, “tinted”, ”polarized”, or “blue lens.” All of these lens types have specialized uses. Metallic and mirrored lenses are similar in that the outside of the lens is reflective and serves not only the aesthetic but also reduces the light let through the lens if you are swimming in a brightly lit pool. Tinted lenses also reduce the light level but without the reflective outside. Polarized lenses are recommended for open water swimming because they will reduce glare off of the surface of the water. You definitely don’t want to deal with that level of glare for an extended swim. Blue lenses minimize color distortion in pools both indoors and outdoors.

Lastly, open water swimming is arguably the most demanding type of swimming due to the numerous factors that a swimmer can encounter. When swimming open water, the swimmer will have to learn how to react to currents, swells, and changing weather conditions. With this in mind, a goggle that can withstand the harshness of the conditions is definitely a necessity. When shopping for an open water goggle you will want a wide field of view and a large gasket to create a firm seal. Our selection of open water goggles includes the Aqua Sphere Vista and Seal XP 2, TYR Magna and Flex Frame, and the Speedo Occulus Prime and Caliber. All of these models come in different colors and some have various lens options to suit your needs in the rough seas.