I purchased a pair of the new K180 goggles. I love the fit but after 2 uses they started fogging up. The brief instructions that came with the goggles say" don’t spit or rub the goggles with your fingers. Avoid solvents, detergents, alcohol, and fog proof liquids other than recommended ones" of which none are recommended. Aqua Spere has been non responsive to my inquiry.
Anyone have a suggestion?
I spit on my Kayennes, no problems with fogging.
Every google I’ve ever used fogged up.
Use the anti fog stuff.
works for me too. Only for a certain period though, after a while they’ll start to fog up. Having them tighter seems to help as well.
In my experience all goggles fog up, especially when you swim in the summer in Mississippi like I do. If someone could actually make a legit no fog spray or goggle I would pay a hefty price for them.
I have went through 10 pairs of Aquasopheres. Generally I get 2-3 good no fog sessions out of them. By the 10th use it is all but gone. Now my new Sables are freikin’ brilliant in this regard. 5000 hard yards without clearing them and zero fogging. This has not diminished in 10 uses.
A drop of baby shampoo in each lens then rinse (but not too thoroughly) right before the race does the trick every time for me…
YMMV
My latest pair of Aquaspheres seem worse than the older ones, too. I ignored the warnings and spit in them and then rubbed it around. No fogging.
Our anti fog (Aqua Sphere) is what is recommended use for our goggles. The special plastic we use to produce our lenses requires different properties to stick.
The anti fog coating will not endure the life of the goggle unfortunately, but you should get extensive use prior to needing to reapply it. This is not just with our goggles. There is not a full proof anti fog coating available.
The recommendation to basically not touch the lenses is to avoid the degradation of the anti fog due to external sources (ie fingers). Avoid touching the lenses with your fingers at all cost. Even with the reapplication of anti fog.
Unofficially I lick my goggles prior to every swim. I have no issues with fogging, nor do I require reapplication of anti fog. (unofficial).
I can help you get a response to your inquiry. I have contacted you by PM.
jake
Thanks Jake. I got your PM but I am not set up to send PM. I sent my inquiry on the ASUSA Customer Service/Sales.
All goggles fog, at least a bit. I’ve been swimming for 35 years and my goggles all fogged. However, all those goggles over all those years never fogged much more than just a very little bit. Use the advice from other contributors, and you’ll be okay.
The problem is really expecting too much from goggles, especially if too much is spent on goggles. I’m a long-time swimmer, for many years at high levels (college, OWS, IM), and I was a college coach and now I’m a masters coach. I’d say I’ve got some expertise. I’m constantly surprised that so many triathletes and newer masters swimmers spend so much money on the latest goggles and are so ready to ditch them when they fog even a bit. I’ve written this before on these threads, and I’ll say it again: if the world’s top pool and OWS swimmers, who train up to 100k per week, can wear goggles, comfortably in training and competitions that cost under $15 (and most wear goggles that cost less than $8), why is there even a market for much more expensive goggles that still fog?
Put another way: I coach masters swimmers, some of whom are among the best in the nation, and are in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. NONE of these top masters swimmers has a pair of goggles that costs more than $15, and my top swimmer, in her 70’s, stock-piled a bunch of $8 goggles. Considering their age and the elasticity of older skin, they obviously aren’t fretting about marks on their faces that many others use to justify the bigger and more expensive goggles. They have careers in which they face people all day: lawyers, doctors, dentists, veterinarians, physical therapists, public health coordinators. A bit of fog and temporary marks on the eyes, no problem. I’m 40, and I wore a pair of clear Swedish goggles today ($4) for a 65 minute workout, and had no leakage, very little fogging, and marks that were gone in about 10 minutes. I swam 7700 straight on Saturday, wearing an old pair of Hind Competition goggles ($4), and the same thing. A two-time 70.3 Pro winner and the top AG at St George 140.6 wear Tyr goggles ($12) and Swedish goggles ($4) in practices this week.
i do the same thing except i make a little bottle of half baby shampoo, half water and then swish a little in each lense and rinse once with water (not salt water). also, once i put them on and they have a nice seal, i do a warm-up and then i do not take them off before the race starts. kind of a pain if it’s a beach start, but worth it.
“goggles” is an ancient Hebrew word meaning “fog”
Brand doesn’t matter, model doesn’t matter, and adding the word “anti-fog” to the package simply guarantees fogging will happen.
It’s simple physics.
When the goggles go in the water, the air inside the google is usually relatively warm compared to the water and also relatively humid. As the goggle is immersed in the water, the inside surface of the goggle is also lower. If the temperature of the inside of the google gets cold enough, fogging will occur.
Anti fog products can’t stop the water droplets forming, but they can deal with the water droplets. The anti fogging agent (including “spit”) essentially breaks the surface tension of the minute water droplets, so they all run together, causing a thin film to develop. As the film is very thin, it distorts ones vision a lot less than the light scattering effect of fog on the inside of the lens.
According to ASHRAE, Natatoriums (the buildings than enclose swimming pools) should be kept 1-2 deg C warmer than the water. Recommended water temperatures vary depending on the type and use of the pool, but competition pools range from 24-26 deg C in many cases, with training pools that most of us use will be about 27-28 deg, with liesure pools being as warm as 33 deg C for mums and small kids to splash about in.
The warmer air temperature in a well controlled natatorium will hold more moisture than when the goggles get down to pool temperature. Remember that pools are warm clammy places. When that moisture condenses you get fogging on your goggle.
I used to use a Speedo brand droplet to stop the fogging but any water that leaked in would mix with it, and it was a MAJOR eye irritant for me. Now I use…spit. However, I use my tongue to apply it, and make sure I remove my tongue from the lens at the bottom of the lens, so that little glob of bubbly spit isn’t right in front of my eye. My coach routinely laughs at my method but it works better and for longer than any of the method of any of the other swimmers in the squad!
don’t you just love engineers who do tri and post on ST? LOL
+1 on the swedes!
That was intense and informative all at the same time.
goggles fog because they get little teanie tiny scratches inside them and dirt gets into them and then moisture adheres. Wash with shampoo when you are in the shower after each use and it will help them stay fog free. Don’t scrub, just put some shampoo-y water in there and rinse.
goggles fog because they get little teanie tiny scratches inside them and dirt gets into them and then moisture adheres. Wash with shampoo when you are in the shower after each use and it will help them stay fog free. Don’t scrub, just put some shampoo-y water in there and rinse.
This goes some way to explain older goggles fogging, but doesn’t explain brand new goggles fogging, even the anti fog ones.
That was intense and informative all at the same time.
As part of my job as a mechanical engineer, I’ve designed ventilation systems for quite a few natatoriums, all pretty successfully (when my designs have been followed)
I also spend a lot (too much) time dealing with the love it or hate it, psychrometric chart, that explains everything about air, including humidity, and provides all the necessary information for dealing with condensation on cold(er) surfaces, such as swim goggles.
Now if I could just get my wife to understand that in New Zealand, on cold nights, the windows will always fog, regardless of how high she sets the thermostat! then I’d be onto a winner! (if you think its hard teaching a woman to drive, try teaching a wife about engineering stuff. FARRRRRK…
+1 for Baby Shampoo.
Picked up this little bit of advice and it not failed me since. I tend to put a small amount in each side before heading off to warm-up and give it a good rinse. Result, no fogging of any kind at any distance.
Thanks everyone for the advice. If AS hadn’t had the instructions, I would have done much of the items above and thanks to those who gave the explanations. Very helpful.