I am pissed! I have gone through 3 sets of goggles in the past 2 weeks. The last pair was the Kahuna’s. Every pair I try on seems to leak.
Can anyone here offer suggestions?
A pair that does not fog up easily would be a bonus also. I have tried spitting in them, baby shampoo etc with little success.
Go to store with a wide selection of goggles.
Take goggle type 1 off of the rack. Push them to your face WITHOUT HAVING THE STRAP AROUND YOUR HEAD.
If the goggles stay on, buy them, if not move on to the next type of goggles.
I am pissed! I have gone through 3 sets of goggles in the past 2 weeks. The last pair was the Kahuna’s. Every pair I try on seems to leak.
Can anyone here offer suggestions?
A pair that does not fog up easily would be a bonus also. I have tried spitting in them, baby shampoo etc with little success.
Speedo Sprints, lots of colors. Cheap at twice the price (about $6). Not much of an investment for a try-out.
I bought a pair of goggles called “Baracuda” at Pacific Multisport (on Main Street) several months ago and I’m very happy with them (no leaks, no fog) … but they are not cheap (around $45).
cheers
Alex
You’re bound to get tons of different responses, since I’m sure everyone has their own preference. Mine would be the Aqua Sphere Kaiman…
No luck with the baracuda. Not only did the goggles leak but a lot of mula leaked out of my wallet too. Perhaps I have a mutant head.
Swedish goggles… They are cheap and they work great.
Swedes…they are under $5…just don’t try and tie them too tight. They don’t need to be.
yeah, another vote for swedes. the simplest solution is usually the best.
-mike
I just tried Speedo Speed Sockets. My backup are Speedo Air Seals. To be honest, I like the Air Seals better. They don’t give me raccoon-face, softer around the eyes, and they are cheaper than the Speed Sockets.
Are swedes ok on the eyes? With no padding and resting on the delicate skin surrounding the eyeball I am concerned that I will cause irrepairable damage to the skin. Thoughts?
i don’t think i come out of the pool looking any worse than when i used those awful foamy-gasket goggles, except that the rings around my eyes are smaller.
as for the long-term effects: most serious/club swimmers use swedes for 7+ swims per week, so really i don’t think there’s anything too bad about the design in the long-term. whether or not your own face will like them is a different story, but they’ve always worked for me.
-mike
I went years without goggles that fit well- tried and returned probably a dozen pairs in that time. Eventually settled on Seal Mask XP which is OK only for racing- in the pool the changes of direction would occasionally cause leaking (which means that weren’t such a great fit for racing either). I had sort of given up on finding goggles that would fit. I walked into a new (to me) swim shop to pick up a new suit and mentioned my perpetual goggle problems, and the woman helping me said 'yeah, you’ve got those deep set eyes- here try these" Belng relieved not to have my eyes decribed as ‘beady’ I put them on- instant seal without the strap! Turns out they’re youth size goggles- Tyr racetech 2.0 or something like that. You’ll have to pry them out of my cold dead fingers, I’m planning to buy about 5 more pair next time I’m in there. Anyway, don’t give up, go to a swim shop if you can, and you don’t need to get in the pool to know if the goggles are right for you- the advice above regarding sealing is dead on. Good luck.
Ken
I’ve been using the Tyr Socket Rocket goggles for the past couple of years. They are essentially the Swedish goggles but with a very thin layer of rubber around the eye socket to enhance comfort. Not all shops carry them though.
One of my fears with the Swedish goggles was being kicked in the head during a race while wearing them. Not sure if the thin layer of silicon/rubber would make any difference.
-Darrell
IMO, its got nothing to do with the goggle. You can find one that works better than another, or is more comfortable, but it is more about where you place the goggle and strap. As people, said it is not good to over tighten but be sure it is snug and that the strap doesn’t drop below ear level–that’s why those straps are split. Also, think about where in the eye socket you are placing the goggle…I am a “high rider”–i.e. I have the bottom of the goggle very close to my lower eyelid, making the upper part of the goggle come up against my eyesocket under my eyebrow. Some poeple might benefit from doing it the other way, I suppose…I think the reason this works is because most of the movement in teh eye is in the upper lid and the lower lid area doens’t move that much. Probably thinking about it too much, but instead of buying every goggle on the market, play with the positioning, strap and nosepiece till you find a good fit.
BARRACUDA. They ROCK. I got 'em on sale on Tri-Zone.com for about $13.
any high quality racing goggle should be good and not leak. just check the fit at the store and use the replaceable nose bridge to have a better fit to your head. My fav is the TYR advant Metallic, these cut out alot of the sun in open water and still allow you to see with a wide periphery vision. TYR also have one with a rubber gasket that I have used recently and also like.
Kaiman goggles. From aquasphere or aquawhatever.
Lane4 Revolution have an infinitly adjustable nose strap. They are the only ones that have worked OK for me since I have a sort of prominent nose bone. Swedes also, but they tend to move when I dive in or do flipturns.
And…spitting rules, it’s free and works as good as any of the antifog stuff you can buy.
If you’re like me, you sense a leak, so you stop and push the goggles on a little more. Then they leak some more, and you push a little harder. Then you get pissed and push the goggles through the back of your head. Then you finally listen to every swimmer who ever replies to this type of post and get some swedes, and they never leak, because you would never dare to push the sharp little piece of plastic into the sensitive skin surrounding your 'balls. Then you go back to your $6,000 aquaspheres and put them on the same way you would put on swedes, and realize they don’t leak either.
The lessons I learned are two fold:
Swedes are good.
Don’t push goggles into my eye sockets. That makes them leak.