INDOOR GOGGLES
With dark mornings and evenings comes the return to training in the pool – but which goggles are the best for indoors?
Only buying one set of goggles for all your swimming is possible, but ask most triathletes and they’ll prefer to use seperate pairs for their open-water and indoor pool aquatics. Why? Well, although their core job is the same – to protect your eyes and enable visibility when swimming front crawl – the different conditions mean you might find a set of pool goggles serves your needs better. Good pool goggles should fit closely without leaving horrendous goggle marks, be comfortable for long training sessions and be able to stand up to dive starts, fast tumble turns and different drills without seeing any ingress.
You’ll also find you can get away with smaller, more streamlined goggles in the pool as you don’t need such wide visibility, plus while the lenses need to block out any harsh glare of pool lights, you don’t need the array of fancy tints and lenses that you would see in your openwater goggles. So, on to the testing!
LOMO VANTAGE
£11 With a hard plastic case and a choice of three nose bridges included, Lomo once again take the award for offering an amazing package for very little spend, something they’re making quite a niche for themselves in within tri. But are the Vantage any good? Well, with large soft silicone gaskets and a flexible split-strap, the comfort level was high. We did find them a bit rigid across the bridge when first fitting them, but once in place that wasn’t a problem. Uniquely, the lenses here have a gradiated tint that is darker at the top but it worked well and the blue tint took off glare but made everything bright and cheerful! The clear frames added to the feeling of brightness of vision while the wide curved shape gave a similar range of vision to some of the others on test. At a push you could use these in open-water too, though we would prefer to see a bit more of a tint. For the pool though, what a steal! lomo.co.uk
75%
SPEEDO VUE MIRROR
£60 Much as we believe in investing in quality kit for training (we’d rather buy once and buy right) that £60 tag for a set of goggles still made us gulp a little bit… Until we popped them out of the plastic case and put them on, that is. Of all the choices here, this was the pair that instantly fitted to our face without needing adjustments and toed the line between feeling sturdy and secure yet soft and flexible. The wide, curved lenses gave great visibility while still feeling ‘race’ enough for the pool. We’d quite happily use them in open-water as well, and, in fact, we added them to our kit bag for the last of our 2022 open-water races, the fit felt that good. Speedo quote two-times the anti-fog properties of other goggles on the Vue and although we can’t comment on that, we certainly did not see any fogging in testing. Finally, the mirrored lenses blocked bright lights while still keeping colours true and not being too dark. speedo.com
90%
HUUB PINNACLE
£39.99 The new Pinnacle’s from tri stalwarts Huub have a slightly different gasket to the others on test here. A double-walled silicone gasket with air cushion design means they’re super-soft but also feel a little ‘bouncy’ and cushioned when applied to the face. To this tester, this made them feel like they were achieving a seal without the high level of ‘suction’ on other models, so if you struggle with comfort or goggle marks, these could be the ones for you. The smaller shape feels closer to a traditional pool goggle, while the mirrored lenses gave great clarity of vision and just enough tint to protect from harsh pool lighting. We did find we preferred some of the larger, curved lenses on test as we could see quite a bit of the frames in our peripheral vision here as we swam, but for the pool that’s not such an issue and is personal preference. Multiple bridges plus a good-quality case add to the package. huubdesign.com
83%
ZONE3 VENATOR X
£29 The Venator X last appeared in our September 2021 pool goggles test in a monochrome and smoked lens combo, which we felt looked a little dull – but that’s not a claim you could lay against this zingy gold and orange combo! With soft, flexible silicone gaskets and a wide split strap with buttons that’s simple to adjust quickly, these felt like a quality set of goggles. On this set, the lenses are mirrored and polarised, which, coupled with the relatively large size against others on test, made these feel much more like an openwater goggle, though they would be a good choice for someone looking to invest in just one set for pool and outdoors. Although quite dark in the pool the Venator Xs weren’t as dark as the Aquaspheres, and this year they come in as as the second cheapest, which may add appeal. A simple cloth bag is also included to keep them in when out of the pool. zone3.com
85%
ZOGGS TIGER LSR+
£35 The Predator range has long been this tester’s goggle of choice for both openwater and pool (it comes in such a wide range of tints) so we initially approached the new Tiger range with a tiny bit of anxiety. Would it perform? Thankfully, the answer is a resounding yes. The Tiger is lighter, more streamlined and more flexible than our trusty Predator, but these things all made for an extremely comfortable swim experience. The gaskets are made from Zogg’s ‘Liquid Skin’ silicone which was very soft against the skin and didn’t leave goggle marks, while staying perfectly in place. The lenses here are mirrored, which we always thinks looks cool as well as protecting from glare – here, taking the edge off pool lighting without making things too dark. The classic split strap and quick-adjust system will be familiar to Zoggs customers and works as well as ever. Several tints and two face sizes are available. zoggs.com
90%
AQUASPHERE XCEED YELLOW
£49 There’s a big caveat we have to put in place with the Xceed goggles – in this zingy yellow tint they’re designed for the brightest light conditions and marketed as such, so their submission in this test was a strange one. In the fairly mellow lights of our local pool they were a touch dark, although the colour-contrast boosting lenses did give a sharpness to our surroundings. Fit, meanwhile, was superb, with a close fit around the eye socket feeling streamlined and snug yet comfortable, while the curved lenses gave good range of vision. Sturdy straps have a single buckle to adjust, while a choice of nose bridges are included and they stayed in place throughout our sessions. Sadly, though, you don’t receive a case, which seems stingy for the £49 asking price. But the cardboard packaging was nice to see and is part of Aquasphere’s pledge to improve sustainability. aquasphereswim.com
75%