Goggles review

Goggles are one of those things that people get very attached to. I'm sure that most makes of goggles are pretty good, but it all comes down to face shape, habit and idiosyncratic preference....and anyone who spends any time in the water will know that once you find a make of goggles that work for you, you stick with them. I am a die-hard fan of mirrored Blueseventy Element goggles - on my Channel swim, I put a pair on at hour six, and didn't have to touch them once for the next 10 hours. But I've never really found a pair of clear goggles that I really like, so I was interested to try out the Speedo Futura Ice goggles that came free with my first issue of H2Open magazine.

I've been using them in the pool, and so far, I'm pretty impressed. They're comfortable, close-fitting and I haven't had to keep fiddling with them between sets; plus the blue tint is very light, giving good pool visibility, and the anti-fog is working a treat so far. My only two slight complaints about them are: firstly, that I've found that I need to have them tighter than I would ideally like in order to stay in place and watertight; and secondly, that if you end up with a drop of water in them, each socket is quite big, and the drop tends to bounce all over the place. This is the same objection I always had to mask-style goggles, although it's nowhere near as bad with these. So, have I finally found a reliable make of clear goggles? Possibly. I'm doing a longer pool swim tomorrow (3.5 hours), so I'll see how I get on.