Did a local sprint tri yesterday. Now I have a routine I follow to make sure I never get foggy goggles (which I find super annoying). I get new goggles (I use Rokas F1), keep them dry before starting the swim so they don’t fog up (ie don’t keep them on my swim cap while waiting for the starting gun). Yesterday the air temperature was in the high 40s and despite keeping the lenses dry, every time I put them on in preparation for the swim, they fogged up. In the end, out of desperation I decided to dunk them in the lake before starting to swim (I thought what the heck they can’t get any worse as they keep fogging up) and magically the lens cleared up and had a perfect swim. Any views on what is going on here? I remember for sea swim races in the past in warmer conditions, getting the lens wet before wearing the goggles would guarantee a foggy swim, but not this time. Thanks!
I lick them, dunk and put them on and I use the cheapest goggles available.
You needed one more step. Brand new goggles, 1 drop of baby shampoo in each lens. Rub around with q-tip. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT touch the lenses with your fingers. Rinse out under the sink to get excess, but you want to leave a film.
Repeat the baby shampoo sequence before every race, but use this set of goggles sparingly the rest of the season.
thanks! Will try
Is there a way to “reset” the goggles (or a used pair of goggles) along the lines of this process or does this only work on new goggles?
Thanks!
DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT touch the lenses with your fingers.
???
I use baby shampoo in my googles routinely. I keep a travel sized container in my swim bag and in my race day transition bag. Place a small drop in each lens. Use a finger to spread an even layer throughout the lens, including the sides. Lightly rinse/ dunk in the drink. Repeat every 3rd-5th swim. Never had a problem. What’s on your fingers that messes with this process?
It should work on older goggles too, but might want to go through the process a few times to make sure any oils are removed. Main reason to use new goggles is that they aren’t scratched at all, providing great visibility for sighting.
The oils on your fingers can counteract the baby shampoo preventing it from forming a good film. Probably fine in most cases, but for a race take no chances.
When it is cold, goggles will fog because your head is much hotter than the water/air especially if you are overheating in a wetsuit. If you get your head cooled down in warmup, they’ll fog less.
I use commercial Quick Spit. It’s cheap enough, and a bottle lasts about a year, for regulars training and races. Never have had a single problem with fogged goggles, in cold water, warm water, cold air, or steamy pool rooms. I spray it on the night before, spread a good thick layer, and then let dry. It’s ready to go for the next morning. Once dry, I do not touch it, and do not get it wet.
Fogging obviously depends on presence of moisture and the temperature of air and surfaces, however I expect the presence of condensation nuclei on the lens is likely another big one. I expect salt water is going to be more conducive to seeding condensation than fresh water. Even if you’ve kept your new goggles nice and dry, if they’ve inadvertently been exposed to some dust, even very minimal particles, then fogging is likely.
On the other hand, I expect detergent on the lens drops the surface tension as soon as a drop forms so that it doesn’t bead and just flows off the lens without significantly getting obstructing the view. So this too can help prevent an issue but in a completely different way.
This is off the top of my head. I might be missing something obvious, or making invalid assumptions. If so, please do point them out so I don’t mislead anyone! 
I use commercial Quick Spit. It’s cheap enough, and a bottle lasts about a year, for regulars training and races. Never have had a single problem with fogged goggles, in cold water, warm water, cold air, or steamy pool rooms. I spray it on the night before, spread a good thick layer, and then let dry. It’s ready to go for the next morning. Once dry, I do not touch it, and do not get it wet.
Gawd I hate that stuff! I’ve bought it 3 separate times over the past few years, mainly on advice here and elsewhere, and I hate it. I’ve tried everything with it too - apply & let dry don’t touch, apply then rinse with water (not pool water!), apply dry buff, etc. Of all the products I’ve tried this has been by far the worst - not only has it given the least fog protection, but add more than a little and it’ll sting your eyes red as well.
Before you try this stuff, seriously, just do the same thing with a small squeeze of hand soap, then rinse with water (not pool water). It’ll be at least as good.
Try ANTYHING else before this stuff. Baby shampoo is best bet.
Wow, that’s the first I’ve heard a bad report on the stuff. I’ve been using it for over 5 years, and never a lick of problems, and has always worked as advertised, and better than anything else I’ve tried before it… way back into the 80’s, including my spit, baby shampoo, and other types of soaps. It completely eliminated any fog problems for me. Usually when folks have trouble, they are using it like wax (wax on wax off) but that’s the trouble. Spread it, leave it, and let it dry. If you try to remove the excess, buff, or rinse, it doesn’t work. I have had some eye stinging, but it’s early in the swim, and doesn’t last very long. It has really shined on cold mornings, such as my last IMAZ, with an air temp of 48º, and water temp of 62º which would normally be fog city, but the stuff worked perfectly, and I had no problems. BTW, I’m using it on cheap goggles that have over 5 years and over 4.5 million yards of swimming on them, and no issues whatsoever.
I soak my goggle overnight in a bowl of soapy water. I don’t have any baby shampoo so I use dish soap. Gives me a couple weeks of clear lenses.
Dish soap will “reset” old goggles. I put in a drop and spread it out without my fingers. Start every swim with a lick of the insides and rinse out with pool/lake/river/ocean water. Doesn’t matter how hot or cold I am or the water.
Swimoutlet.com sells an exact clone of the Roka F1 for half the price. Because both Roka and the Sporti house brand are almost certainly made in the same factory, you can save $ and get the generics. The Sporti/swimoutlet model is called the S2.
Fogging happens for a variety of reasons. Brand-new goggles fog much less because those come coated in the anti-fog treatment, and bc there are no microabrasions on the lens surfaces. Those microabrasions increase surface area and make fogging that much more likely and problematic. Coatings smooth the abrasions. Soapy water removes any oils and dirt that allow water vapor to condense. In the same way that rain cannot fall if there are no dust particles that vapor can condense on, removal of particles decreases fogging/condensation. Saliva removes the particles as well, and is just viscous enough to cover the abrasions, while being clear enough to see through. There’s an upper limit on how foggy lenses can get once the humidity inside the lenses reaches saturation due to evaporation off the eyeballs. Fogging will happen faster the colder water is compared to skin temperature, and to more abrasions there are, but reaches an upper limit. Scratches and abrasions also limit the transparency with condensation.
If you want to be assured that you won’t have any fogging (or fogging doesn’t get out of hand), these are the steps:
- wear brand-new goggles that you’ve worn only to get the fit right and that you haven’t touched the interior lenses.
- wash or wipe off your face right before putting on goggles to removed sweat and oils.
- put your new goggles on a dry face as close to entering the water as possible.
- wash out and treat goggles after your swim and leave them out to dry on a table or someplace not in your gear bag.
The good thing about goggles is that the very best ones are very inexpensive. The bad news is that many triathletes think more expensive = better, and buy overpriced clones. If you’re hung up on fogging issues, buy a bunch of inexpensive goggles.
Look around the pool at masters workout. Almost all the lifelong swimmers, especially those older than about 40, are wearing inexpensive goggles. They know that it’s silly to buy expensive goggles when $5 and $55 goggles will all fog up the same.
I spent the $60 to get the Magic 5 goggles cause I like wasting money on tri crap but I must say that the damn things have not fogged up once. I’ve had them for about 2 months and I’m really shocked at how good they are (and pretty darn comfortable).
I use 50/50 mix of water and baby shampoo in a small spray bottle. Spray on goggles. Rinse real quick so a thin film of shampoo remains. Let it dry. Race.
I soak my goggle overnight in a bowl of soapy water. I don’t have any baby shampoo so I use dish soap. Gives me a couple weeks of clear lenses.
This.
(And I wish the title of this thread was “The mystery of foggles”.)
Another vote for baby shampoo, specifically Johnsons and Johnsons variety - 100% effective
.