FORM Smart Swim Goggles Pool Review part 1

Plus some info on the new activity of "Lock Interval Training" 😉

Recent Training

I had a varied week at the end of June, though I feel I got a few quality sessions. The overgeared bike intervals (e.g., low cadence and increasing power on my Wahoo Smart Bike), the 10min 70.3 running efforts felt really good, and both pool sessions went well.

I was then off on a canal boat break on the Stratford Canal which really only gave options for running along the towpath and making the most out of the locks. On one stretch of twenty-four locks, I turned it into a sort of weird interval session. Jump off the boat, run to the lock (speed interval), open the sluices (upper body strength) to release the water, open the gates (legs) while the longboat gets driven in, then sprint to the next lock and repeat. I even perfected the “one person opening both gates simultaneously” option where you push the first gate a little, then walk along it, turn round and kick the other gate open, then back to open the first gate fully. I logged these as “hikes” in Apple Watch since Apple did not deem “Lock Interval Session” as popular enough to include as its own option - come on, Apple - try to stay relevant!

But overall, this was a pretty easy week in terms of training and a lovely relaxing break with friends.

Overall, and after the steep increase in training load at the start of my training plan in Feb, I have now plateaued somewhat as I head towards the Hever Gauntlet Tri in September. I still have three months, though, so nothing to be overly concerned with, and I expect the coming weeks will be intense.

FORM Goggles Pool Review (part 1)

I recently bought a pair of FORM goggles and used them in the pool (Open Water review to come later, and maybe even Pool Spa use if I can find one). They are £149/$199, which is a lot more than I have ever paid for goggles.

But the promise of these is the small display on one eye (you can switch it around to the left or right eye) that displays your metrics live while swimming. That sounds ultra-cool to some and totally geeky to others.

And actually, they didn’t initially appeal to me - it seemed like a step too far that may be more of a hassle than a benefit. Still, I decided to give them a go anyway (because, you know, this newsletter, and I’m an idiot when it comes to new technology), and so I ordered a pair.

They arrived in a fairly bulky case that contains the googles and a selection of nose pieces.

FORM recommends you take the spare nose pieces with you on your first swim to find the ones most comfortable for you, but honestly, it was fairly obvious for me after trying them at home and “air” swimming in the lounge.

There is also a custom charger that attaches magnetically to the side of the goggles and something that you are going to have to look after to ensure it doesn’t get lost in your massive spaghetti pile of other USB cables hiding behind your monitor (just me?) It is USB-A on the other end. At the time of writing, FORM has sold out of the cable accessory on their website (so maybe not just me then).

Comfort and Size

The goggles themselves are fairly old-fashioned and standard-looking, but with the display kit bulging slightly on one side containing the additional hardware and sensors.

Though they feel light and comfortable during use, and I’ve had no issues with fit or weight at all.

That older-looking design does mean the goggle lenses are smaller and more angular than I typically like, though, so that visibility is impaired a little when looking towards the end of the pool and trying to determine if anyone is waiting there or if you have a clear turn. Of course, this is made worse because you are also focussing on the numbers on the screen rather than looking through the goggles, but more on that later.

I’d like to see Form offer alternative designs at some point, more along the lines of the very popular (for triathletes) Zoggs Predators, for example.

Zoggs Predators have a much better field of view than the Form Smart Goggles.

A word on the case - I love a good goggles case; it keeps them free of scratches and makes it easy to find the goggles in my bag. The FORM case feels nice and strangely deep, deep enough to have two goggles in there if you want. They call it a “Premium ventilated case with zip closure.” I’m not sure what the ventilation adds - perhaps it stops them from misting up during travel? Either way, it’s a cool case and compares well to the funkier-looking Zoggs one.

Getting the Metrics

The goggles can display a decent set of metrics for the Pool (from 15m up to 650m(!) pools) and a reduced set for Open Water and Swim Spa’s. However, as noted, I’ve only tested in the pool to date.

The reason for the variance in available metrics is the way data is calculated in a pool - not through a GPS but through the accelerometer and the pool length you enter. From that, the goggles can calculate when you turn and what pace you are swimming at, together with stroke rate, etc. Unfortunately, heart rate is not available unless you purchase the additional Polar Verity Sense, OH1 or OH1 + however you can work around this with Apple Watch (see part 2).

In Open Water, the only way to track distance is through a GPS - but the goggles don’t have that, so they need to be paired with a GPS watch such as Apple Watch to get the data. I will test this later, but a major stumbling block is that the goggles do not support bilateral breathing with Apple Watch because the Bluetooth signal between the goggles and Apple Watch cannot be maintained.

The app

You use the accompanying FORM Swim app to set your goggles up, view your swim data, follow others (please no, not another social feed to consume), and play with various other settings.

It’s a nice app - simple to use, but missing some features that I would love to see in the future - more on this later.

Dashboards

Let’s take a look at Dashboards because this is where you are going to want to go first (once you have connected the goggles via Bluetooth, which is a simple procedure the app leads you through)

Dashboards are the set of screens you will see in your goggles while swimming. There are templates for each of the four types of swims (Pool, Open Water, Open Water with GPS Watch, and Swim Spa).

For Pool Swim, there are four initial templates set up for you - Technique, Pace, Lap Swim, and Intervals, but there are just different combos of the same available metrics. In my case, I wanted to start from scratch, so I created a new one called “Training.”

From there, you have three screens you can customize. Let’s take a deeper look at them.

Swim Screen

The Swim Screen displays when you are swimming when neither of the other screens is being displayed. It’s the one you are going to see the most. You get the option for one top metric and three rotating bottom metrics.

I opt for a Workout Timer at the top (because we are limited to 45min sessions currently in my pool because of the pandemic) and rotate between Current Interval Distance and Pace at the bottom. The Current Interval Distance is handy because you don’t have to count laps anymore or try to glance at your watch during a turn!

The Turn Screen

This screen pops up after you make a turn and stays on for the duration you set. It works really well, though I wish you could set the duration for a bit longer than 5 seconds. You can turn it off completely if you want.

You only get a choice of one top metric and one bottom one, which makes sense because you don’t have much time to view it before it switches back to the Swim Screen.

I have my Interval Distance and current Interval Pace. Having a live pace visible like this after a turn is a fantastic way to keep your set on track.

The Rest Screen

The Rest Screen pops up when you have stopped swimming and allows one Top Metric of either Rest Timer, Workout Timer, or Interval Timer, and up to three Bottom Metrics.

Having a Rest or Interval Timer is great for knowing when to push off next. With the Rest Timer counting up as soon as you stop (so great for those 10second Rest Interval type sets) and the Interval Timer giving you the total time for the Interval (so perfect for the 5x100m off 1:55 type sets - wait until the timer displays 1:55 and push off again).

You can also toggle this screen off here (confusingly, the toggle is called “Interval Finish Time”), in which case the Rest screen is shown instead.

Part 2 coming soon

Substack is telling me I am near my email length limit, and I also need to fit in a run before today is over, so I’m toggling my rest timer for this post and will return with the rest of the review in the next newsletter.

Look out for details on how clear the display is, how the workout log stacks up against Apple Workout Swim logs (which are excellent), and how to get HR in the FORM goggles log, among other things, not least of which is my wish list for improvements.

Stay Safe, and please subscribe and share if you are enjoying these newsletters.

Cheers!

Ian