While the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles are priced out of reach for most casual swimmers, their superb fit and innovative smart features make a strong case for the data-driven tech-loving swimmer. It’s just a pity a lot of the innovation is locked behind a paywall.
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Features
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Counting laps is an integral part of a pool swimmer’s training routine, dominating their thoughts on every stroke, trying to remember how many laps they’ve completed. With this in mind, we dived into a pool wearing the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles to see if they were any good. For the most part, yes. The Form Smart Swim 2 offers an innovative approach to enhance the swim training experience.
Smart goggles activate
The initial unboxing of the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles was surprisingly pleasant. The goggles ship inside a functional black case with drainage holes on either side. However, our enthusiasm was curbed at the realisation of having to engage with another app, completing a registration process with more usernames and passwords to remember and inputting credit card details to experience the Form Premium subscription. In a crowded digital landscape with apps for everything, there was a moment of hesitation at installing yet another fitness-related app onto our phone.
The business model here, aside from the cost of the goggles themselves, is a monthly subscription to Form Premium for €16/m (R320/m). While the goggles can still be used without a subscription for real-time metrics in the goggles and post-swim data in the app, a subscription provides access to all of your historical training data and statistics and plenty of fancy features, like HeadCoach, a virtual in-goggle swim coach.
Thankfully, the app integrates with other training apps such as Strava, Training Peaks, TriDot, Apple Health, and Final Surge, where your workout can be imported and synced, which we found genuinely useful. The extent of this integration will depend on whether you have a Premium subscription, however. The goggles can also be paired with Garmin and Apple watches for distance and average pace.
The Form app offers a slightly overwhelming amount of stuff to explore and we couldn’t get to it all, unfortunately. One such feature we didn’t try but feel is worth a mention is the ability to input a swim program which will allow you to see what set, stroke, pace and intensity is up next, including rest periods.
This means you won’t have to refer to a printed sheet of paper in a plastic sleeve on the side of the pool or have to engage your brain to remember what’s next, something which is especially challenging during a very early morning solo training session before you’ve had the chance to wake up properly.
Overall, the app worked well and we appreciated the helpful instructions for the correct fitment of the goggles. The images and layout are clear and very easy to navigate.
Who knew goggles could feel premium?
We were impressed with the fit and feel of the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles from the first stroke. Goggle-fit can be very personal, but these sit securely and comfortably, creating a good seal without any discomfort or leaking. The rubber head straps, a critical component of swim goggles, were comfortable and required minimal adjustment, allowing a quick jump into the pool to join the squad session without hassle. The goggles come with 5 different interchangeable nose bridges making them suitable for pretty much all nose sizes and shapes.
The swim squad found the googly eyes a laugh initially – the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles definitely have a unique look compared to the standard look of other goggles on the market.
Initially, we were unsure about the darker tinted lenses for the indoor pool (more commonly found in open water goggles), but actually enjoyed them very much and found they made the swim slightly calmer. The tint is presumably to make the display metrics more readable. They will certainly be of great benefit when swimming outdoors where the glare of the sun can make that an issue.
Unfortunately, we did not get an opportunity to test the Form Smart Swim 2 goggles in an open-water swimming environment, not being brave enough to take a cold-water plunge in winter waters.
We did, however, try them out in the 25-metre pool. We activated SwimStraight, a digital compass feature designed for open-water navigational assistance, via the open-water mode. While we can see how it could be useful if you struggle to swim in a straight line because you don’t have lane ropes to guide you, the feature isn’t designed for use in the pool which is probably why we found the feature distracting more than anything else, especially when training with a pool squad sharing a lane.
Similarly, we found ourselves still counting the laps at first, as is the habit. But, after more time with the goggles, we began to trust the lap counter which allowed us to relax more and focus on form and effort. It was lovely to have all the details – lap splits, rest periods, distances swum – right in front of your eyes.
Show me the numbers
Of all the info and metrics provided, our favourite was having our heart rate readily available without having to break stroke to glance at our wrist. It’s a useful stat to track the intensity of your efforts.
While many watches capture swim data and heart rates, having it displayed right in front of your eyeball as you stroke is peak swimming convenience. We also suspect reading heart rate from the temple, as these do, is a more accurate way to measure this data than from the back of the wrist. Having said that, we couldn’t help but notice the placement of the integrated heart rate monitor did restrict our vision slightly.
The Form Smart Swim 2 goggles grew on us and we enjoyed having quick access to our performance resources shown in the heads-up display. The lenses are crystal clear and the display can be worn on either the left or right side.
Although the goggles come with an anti-fog coating, there was still some minor fogging up of the display lens, which is pretty normal with almost all goggles as a result of many factors such as pool and body temperature, which affected the display slightly. A quick rinse sorted this out though. The goggles come with proprietary rubber eye seals which definitely minimised any water leaking into the goggles, reducing interruptions during a swim set.
According to the box, these goggles should last around 14 hours before you’ll need to charge them. This could vary depending on how you make use of them but the worst-case scenario is they die mid-swim and turn into regular swimming goggles. If you’re already using other smart wearable tech, remembering to charge them shouldn’t be too difficult.
Form Smart Swim 2 verdict
So then, are these goggles worth the R6,000 asking price? We’re quite sure you could find plenty of seasoned swimmers who will tell you ‘no’. But if you’re reading Stuff it means you enjoy the tech-infused lifestyle and with these, there’s no better way to nerd out over your swimming stats.
The Form Smart Swim 2 goggles present a compelling option for swimmers seeking comfort, performance, and innovation in their swim gear. While minor drawbacks exist in terms of app integration and registration processes, the goggles’ core features deliver on their promise of enhancing the swimming experience – if you’re swimming solo, that is. If you spend most of your pool time training with a squad (or sipping colourful drinks with little umbrellas), these aren’t for you.
