Swimming goggles are designed to keep the water out of your eyes and to help you see more clearly when you are underwater. Goggles also help to shield your eyes from damaging sun rays and protect your eyes from any debris or harsh chemicals that might be in the water. The type of goggles you'll need depends upon what kind of swimming you plan to be doing.
Competition Swimming Goggles
Competition swimming goggles have a hydrodynamic design intended to help racers swim even faster. These goggles consist of strong silicone straps, an adjustable nose piece and small, sleek lenses that sit very close to your eye sockets. Silicone padding surrounds the lenses to create a vacuum, which leads to less resistance or drag in the water. Because they are designed for racing short distances, competition swimming goggles are typically too uncomfortable for everyday use.
Practice Swimming Goggles
Many competitive swimmers also own a pair of practice swimming goggles that they wear for swim practice. These goggles typically have a rounder shape and include more gasket rubber around the lenses, which reduces the pressure on your eye sockets while still creating a very good seal. These more comfortable goggles can be worn for longer periods of time than competition swimming goggles. While not usually constructed quite as well as competition goggles, practice goggles still tend to be made with higher quality materials.
Recreational Swimming Goggles
Recreational swimming goggles are designed for swimmers to use in pools or at beaches. According to YourSwimmingSpace.com, recreational swimming goggles typically have larger lenses and stick out from your face more than the other types of goggles. The bigger lenses put less pressure on your eye sockets, which makes these goggles feel more comfortable than either competition or practice goggles. However, recreational swimming goggles also tend to be constructed from cheaper materials, such as foam padding around the eyes and cheap rubber straps. This means that recreational swim goggles tend to break easily and typically won't hold up well during distance or competition swimming. Another con for this type of goggles is that the anti-fog film inside of the lenses tends to wear off more quickly, making it difficult to see underwater.
Prescription Swimming Goggles
If you wear prescription glasses or contact lenses, you might think that you have to choose between swimming with poor vision or wearing contacts underneath your swimming goggles. However, many manufacturers can make goggles with your prescribed optical corrections. Prescription swimming goggles typically cost more than other types of goggles, but it might be worth the extra cost if you can actually see while you're swimming. You must have a prescription from an eye doctor in order to buy prescription swimming goggles.
Considerations
The lenses on swimming goggles come in various tints. YourSwimmingSpace.com suggests that you select a rose or a yellow tint if you plan on mostly swimming indoors because those two colors make objects appear lighter. Chose green, blue or gray lenses if you plan on swimming outdoors since those colors help to keep the sun's harmful rays out of your eyes. The folks at iSport.com suggest buying swimming goggles with mirrored or metallic lenses if you mostly swim the backstroke or practice outdoors around noon.
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