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Whether you’re working out at an indoor pool or splashing around on a warm-weather vacation, a good pair of swim goggles will improve your experience exponentially.
Looking for goggles that come with adjustable nose bridges and straps helps you get as close as possible to your ideal fit. You’ll also want to consider whether you swim outside or inside, making sure your goggles are compatible with the environment you’ll be using them in the most.
We paged through dozens of reviews and recommendations to determine the best swim goggles for a variety of uses and features. Our favorite is the Speedo Vanquisher 2.0, which stays true to the brand’s longtime reputation for quality and provides everything you need without costing an arm and a leg. The world of aquatic gear also has fantastic smart, open-water, and oversized options.
These are the best swim goggles to kick your freestyle into high gear:
Why We Love It: These classic goggles tick all the boxes with solid performance and a comfortable fit at a reasonable price.
What to Consider: There aren’t as many nose bridges included as with some other models.
These goggles are incredibly popular, sweeping up “best swim goggles” distinctions left and right. They do what you need them to do, include all the necessary features, and then some. The low-profile, inner-eye fit won’t get in your way if you’re going for speed, and the gasket sits securely within your eye socket. Panoramic lenses help you stay aware of your surroundings by maximizing your field of view and protect your eyes with UV protection built-in. You can also opt for a mirrored lens from Speedo if you like the extra glare reduction. There are four included nose bridges to help you find your perfect size as well as an adjustable clip on the back of the double strap to dial it in.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 4 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: These are light and sleek.
What to Consider: They don’t have a specialized anti-fog treatment.
Tyr’s Black Hawk goggles are specifically designed for racing and training, making them lightweight, sleek, and reliable. You’ll get minimal drag thanks to the close fit and low-profile design as well as a wide field of peripheral vision. The goggles also come with an impressive five different nose bridges to make sure you can find the ideal fit for your face, along with an adjustable clip on the back of their double straps. There are plentiful colors available, so you can get a pair to match all of your favorite swimsuits.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 5 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: No
Why We Love It: These goggles provide everything you need in an easy, comfortable fit for casual recreation.
What to Consider: They’re not designed for heavy use, so if you’re concerned about your speed, you may want something a little sleeker.
If you’re just doing some laps for your workout or want to keep chlorine out of your eyes while splashing around with your family, you probably aren’t as worried about things like hydrodynamics. For a simple pair of goggles like the ones you grew up with, Speedo’s Hydrospex are a classic pick. The outer-eye fit is comfortable and easy to wear with its soft, flexible frame. Speedo still includes the classic UV protection and anti-fog so your vision stays clear and protected, and there’s a mirrored finish available if you need to cut the glare.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 1 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: They provide a wider range of vision without sacrificing speed.
What to Consider: The nose bridge isn’t adjustable.
Sometimes you don’t want something sitting right up on your eye sockets. If you want a little more eyeball room, the Kayenne are the best swim goggles for you. Their oversized lenses sit around the outside of your eye socket, providing four-point vision without getting too high off your face. Though it can’t be swapped out for a different size, the nose bridge is still designed to be comfortable and secure thanks to an interior stabilizer that keeps things steady as you adjust the goggles’ straps using the one-touch button on the side.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 1 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: Roka uses patented technology to give you the widest possible field of view.
What to Consider: You can’t swap out the nose bridge for fit.
The Roka R1s are popular with triathletes as well as useful for more casual swimmers who happen to practice outdoors. The goggles are designed with less hardware on the top of the frame and a retroscopic angle (a slight back tilt of 11 degrees) to open up a wider field of vision. Their smaller form keeps you hydrodynamic, and a soft TPR gasket makes sure the goggles stay secure and you stay comfortable. Choose between five different lens colors based on your usual swim conditions, like the dark vermilion for transition light, green backgrounds, and to make orange and red buoys stand out, or cobalt for ocean swims and enhancing green and yellow buoys.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 1 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: In addition to unique anti-fog technology, these goggles come with five nose bridges.
What to Consider: Their tight racing build might not be comfortable for everyone.
You’ll have both excellent visibility and top-tier hydrodynamics with this sleek pair of racing goggles from Arena. The low-profile, blade-shaped lenses are designed for minimal drag and have semi-rigid temples to keep them stable no matter how speedy you may be. There are five adjustable nose bridges included for fit customization along with the adjustable double straps, and you can choose between mirrored or non-mirrored lenses depending on whether you usually swim outdoors or indoors. Their most interesting feature, though, is Cobra’s anti-fog film, which you can activate by holding the goggles in water and swiping the interior lens five times with your finger. Arena claims this anti-fog lasts 10 times longer than other anti-fog coatings.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 5 | UV resistance: Yes | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: A thick fabric headband makes these goggles much more comfortable for kids.
What to Consider: The goggles only come in one size.
Kids aren’t exactly known for how easy it is to get them to wear things they don’t want to. Rather than fighting with a thin rubber headband that can snag on your child’s hair or ears, opt for the thick fabric back of the Splash Place goggles. The fabric headband can easily slide over the back of your child’s head with minimal squirming, and there are multiple fun colors and patterns available so they (hopefully) won’t get mixed up at swim lessons. They’re also free of potential allergens like latex and PVC. The comfortable design doesn’t require sacrificing visibility — the polycarbonate lenses have anti-fog coating and are shatter- and leak-resistant.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 1 | UV resistance: No | Anti-fog: Yes
Why We Love It: Form tracks multiple useful metrics with an easy-to-read display and app syncing.
What to Consider: If you’re not a super committed swimmer, this may be more than you need.
If you’re hooked on smart stats and displays, why not add them to your swim routine? Form’s smart goggles show your swim stats as you go, with numbers projected onto one of the lenses. You can choose whether you want to view them on your left or right lens. The partner app lets you customize your displayed metrics pre-swim, with options like time, distance, pace, stroke rate, and more. Once you’re in the water, they include automatic stroke detection, interval or lap swim mode, and swim, turn, and rest analytics. You can also pair it with an Apple or Garmin watch to track open-water swims and go deeper into your stats in the companion app, and you can even upgrade to a paid subscription to add virtual coaching with real-time instructions.
Number of nose bridge sizes: 7 | UV resistance: No | Anti-fog: Yes
The most important thing in a pair of swim goggles is fit, so it helps to choose a pair with as much adjustability as possible, whether that’s interchangeable nose bridges or a more adjustable headband.
You should also consider the conditions you usually swim in. If you’re outside, you’ll want UV protection and possibly a mirrored finish to protect your eyes from the sun and help minimize glare. If you mainly swim indoors, you don’t need as intense of a lens (though it won’t hinder you, and it does look cool).
According to Speedo, keeping your goggles clean helps them both perform better and last longer. For the lenses, rinse them with just lukewarm water and gently dry them with a microfiber cloth to avoid scratching. The straps can be cleaned with soapy water and then rinsed, but make sure you don’t get soap onto the lenses or gaskets, as it can remove anti-fog coating. Let them air dry lying flat before you put them back into their goggle case and into your bag.
This is one of the trickiest issues faced by goggle-wearers, but Speedo has a few tips for minimizing fog. You’ll want to start by finding the right pair of goggles, ideally with built-in anti-fog. Then, try getting your face wet to minimize the temperature difference between your skin and the goggles and therefore decrease condensation buildup. You can also apply various substances to your goggles, whether that’s spitting in them and spreading the saliva across the lenses (somewhat gross, but effective), or adding a thin layer of shampoo (try baby shampoo to minimize eye irritation) or toothpaste. You can also purchase an anti-fog spray if you want a more specialized solution.
Fit is one of the most important aspects of determining your best swim goggles. To figure out if a pair is a good fit, hold them up to your eyes without putting the strap on, then press down lightly. They should stay on with a little bit of suction and gentle, even pressure around the edges.
Rena Behar has been reviewing travel gear and other products for outlets including Wirecutter, Consumer Reports, Reviewed.com, Travel + Leisure, and more since 2014.
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