i’m doing ironman florida in 2004 as well as plenty of tri’s leading up to it. up until now i’ve always used various pairs of speedo goggles. i’ve been considering getting a seal mask or seal goggles as they seem to be the “best” for ironmans and open water swimming in general. but, i’m not sold… they just seem so big and bulky and goggle inferior. what does everyone here use? any suggestions?
thanks in advance…
TC
TC,
I’ve used speedo goggles for about 3 years. I finally got tired of the fogging and limited peripheral vision, so at IMF 2003 I decided to buy new goggles. Seal mask just happened to have a demo table set up a few days before the race during the Gatoraide-sponsored swim. I tried both the seal goggles and the seal mask, shadded lens and clear lens. I ended up going with the mask with shadded lens. It is like going from glasses to lasik. The clarity of vision, especially the peripheral vision (which helped greatly with sighting) was incredible. They also fit the face better - better seal, that is. I, too, was originally concerned with whether they would be bulky; they were not. I rarely get this excited over a product. They look a bit dorky, but so what.
PS. They did not make me swim faster . . . . but that’s my issue.
I tried a Seal Mask at IMF at the Gatorade swim. I won’t be going back to goggles anytime soon. The vision was so crystal clear that I could see ALL of the jellyfish we were swimming through. 
Seriously, they worked very well in open water and stayed put. My swedes got knocked off in the rough swims before the race.
I’ve got their goggles, not the Seal Mask, and am equally fond of them. They’ve never fogged up, open water or pool, and don’t cut into the bridge of my nose like other goggles do. I also bought them after demo’ing them at IMCdA, which appears to be good marketing ploy based on these posts!
One other positive note. My goggles broke after only 4 months. I contact Aquashpere, the maker of the goggles, and explained that I really liked them, but was disappointed at such a short life from that pair and would they warranty their product. The did replace them, twice actually, at no hassle. The first time, they sent the wrong pair, so my 12 year old is sporting a pair of their goggles now. The second time they got it right. I was pleased with the “hassle free” warranty.
I have both the goggles and the mask. I use the goggles at the pool to cut down on the “dork” factor and I use the mask in open water, where the increased visibility is a huge plus. Both are extremely comfortable. The mask tends to fog a bit easier since it has a larger volume of trapped air, but it’s nothing a little spit can’t fix.
Aquasphere Kaiman goggles rule. All other goggles aspire to be a great as these - and they all fail miserably. People will try to sell you on the swiss goggles, speedos, etc. Ignore them and buy the Kaimans. I wore them in all my training last winter, raced with them at Wildflower, and they NEVER leaked, no matter how many times I was kicked or punched. Not a drop. Unfortunately, I left them on the front seat of my car over the summer and they melted. When I was unable to find another pair on short notice, I bought some speedos. Utter crap - and these were more expensive than the Kaimans!!! Went briefly to the Seal Mask, which is OK, but it leaked periodically. Went back to the Kaiman’s last week, 6000 yards later, not a drip. And talk about comfort! Very nice. You will not be disappointed.
tc-
i was a national-level swimmer in high school, so i (until recently) had a strong bias against the seal mask–“too clunky! looks like something a rec swimmer would wear!”–but after using one for the SoCal tri season this year, i am 100% sold.
getting kicked in the face/eye with swedish goggles on is no joke…people get cut deep; i remember it happening to a beautiful girl on our USS team…she was still beautiful, even with 8 stitches under her eye, but it’s a needless risk, especially with the hurly-burly that goes on at a IM start.
go with the seal mask, like others have pointed out, the sighting is much better…there’s nothing that comes close out in the open water.
Love my Seal mask. Use it in the pool. First goggle that’s actually worked for me. All the rest leaked and I tried a lot of em. The wide contact area means I need to use very little tension on the strap so I’m sooo comfortable. Wide field of view, nothing wrong with that. Anyway, I could gush on and on, but mine’s actually made me want to get into the pool.
Best swim invention ever
–ashayk
The seal masks are great and I personally love the Kaimans. They look a little dorky on my but work better than anythign I’ve ever tried. Working at a running store we sell more kaimans than anything else but be warned that they do break more often than other goggles out there. You’ll probably go through two kaimans for every pair of TYRs or the like. The either break at the nose bridge or the lens seal goes. That being said I warn everyone I sell them too and people still love them. Great performance just be prepared to replace them a little quicker and if you’re doing a big race with an old pair, get a new pair for the race just in case.
Re: breakage - do you think that this is a design issue? Given the fact that the company seems to stand behind their product and warranty broken equipment, it also stands to reason that they would want to also produce hard-wearing gear that lasts a long time too. I’m less inclined to think that the frequent breakage problems stem from the use of inferior materials or manufacturing processes when the company isn’t cutting corners on the customer services front. Have you guys talked with your rep about the problems?
I think I’ve tried everything under the sun and found Bugz to work with my face the best. Maybe I’m picky but goggle fit is just as personal as bike fit.
Wow. I’m surprised to hear so many positive responses about the seal mask. I have tried it once in a pool, albeit only for a short session. It really didn’t seem that special to me.
I swam competitively in high school and college and through all my years of swimming, the cheapo put it together yourself swedes have always worked best for me. In the pool, in the open water… wherever. At around $3 a pair, I’m not going to complain!
I have tried the seal mask, and for me the peripheral view is not that good. The mask lens is indeed big, BUT it also sits much further from your eyes, so the frame is well in your view. Many (but not all) goggles also can give great periperal vision because they sit very close to your eyes (sort of why most of us don’t see our own noses all the time).
Also, I find the seal mask distorts the image I see quite a bit (they bend the plastic lens in the mask and I suspect that is what causes this). My Tyr racetech goggles are optically perfect as far as I can tell. However, I think I would put up with the seal mask if I was to swim 2 to 3 hours, as most goggles become uncomfortable when worn that long and for many folks the seal mask is definitely a more comfortable thing to wear.
I’ve actually been in close contact with the rep about it. They know about the breakage problem but it is really a lesser of two evils sort of issue. The silicone compound that they make the frames out of is amazingly comfortable but because of it’s soft and pliable consistancy, but that also makes it prone to earlier breakage. I’ve also heard of the kaiman’s sort of melting if left in the hot sun say on the dash of a car. That being said while other brands market silicones that are soft and leak free, I doubt you will find any others as great as the stuff in the kaiman’s. The goggles have a good life for thier price and have excellent performance. Most of my triathlete friends use the kaiman’s and most have had breakage but love the fit that they will sacrifice the life. I think it’s a worthwhile sacrifice… I just wish I looked like less of a dork with them on. My TYR velocities look so fast, but then you get that first leak or sore eye sockets after a long swim and damn the looks, i’m wearing the kaimans again.
I don’t want to rain on the parade here. I’ve used seal masks and they are great - the visibility and comfort is excellent. However, maybe it’s me and my head orinentation in the water but if you try swimming a few lengths with them and switch back to the standard goggles I noticed a definite drag increase when wearing the seal…
BDyer, the thing causing your problem is that you are obviously swimming too fast. If you would just slow down to, say, my speed, you would see that extra bouyancy provided by the extra air trapped in a seal mask is their real benefit! More bouyancy is mo’ betta’!
Let’s see, I just checked my workout log, and I’ve not swam in…one month. I’d better get in the pool for a couple of lengths by Christmas, because that March triathlon is coming…BUT, I don’t want to “peak” too soon!
I’ve found that another huge benefit of the Seal mask is the increased physical and psychological protection that it gives in cold / dark / mass start situations.
In my first couple of tris with both regular goggles and Kaimans I went into hyperventilation freak-out mode the moment the hooter went, a combination of dark-water claustrophobia and inadequate facial cool-down in chilly water.
On switching to the seal, that all went away and it was the key to get me really enjoying the swim (you can see sooo much from the back…) - with the better face coverage, it’s more like watching the race through a TV screen…
You’re definitely right about the drag. The Seal mask is not for the pool, and you will often blow the seal coming off the wall. As a slower swimmer who is interested in visibility and comfort, I think that the Seal Mask is excellent for racing in open water environments, but keep the regular goggles for the pool. Now if I could find a pair of goggles that would last more than three months…
Several people I have talked to have told me they don’t like the Seal Masks because the visibility is too good, and they don’t want to see what’s in the murky waters of MA’s race locales.
Is it true that the seal mask and seal goggles dont fog up as much as normal goggles? If so why?
I have scuba dived for many years and learned that fogging goggles suck. Different products rubbed in the mask help out tremedously with fogging process but what I do also while scuba diving is let a little water in the mask and when they fog I swish the water around and it clears up. Offcourse you can’t do this with the typical type swim goggles because the water would irritate your eyes, yet I find with the seal goggles I can do this. I would say that for the most part the seal google doesn’t fog up as much as the others. Once you get over the dorky look, these googles for me or the best I have used. They’re not for everyone but they work for me.