As someone who is short sighted and doesn’t like wearing contacts with regular goggles, my options for goggles are limited. Few online stores have prescription goggles and often the choices are out of stock or not really suitable for racing. Up until recently my go-to goggles were a style made by speedo that my in-laws in China used to bring over for me when they were visiting. Unfortunately, about 2 years ago these goggles stopped being sold. Since then I’ve tried a number of alternatives but nothing really worked as well. Then I found the Zoggs Nitrogen Optic prescription goggles.
Design
These goggles are very similar in design to the speedos I used previously and at the basic level quite a few similar designs are floating about. You can even see the pros wearing this style before the newer flatter styles emerged. This is significant because other prescription goggles I have used often had straps that caused them to catch water or would loosen, or they had nose pieces that couldn’t be adjusted or were not suitable for the bridge of my nose.
The Nitrogen Optics come with straps and nose pieces that are easily adjustable and very practical. The only odd thing is that the nose piece comes apart if I am not wearing them, but they have never come apart while swimming. It might be by design as the tension when wearing them keeps the nose piece in place, or it might be a fault with the one I have. I’ll find out in the future when I wear the second pair I have. The eye pieces fit comfortably and provide a good field of vision.
Starts and turns
The real test of a pair of goggles is in starts and turns. Even the best streamline will not keep your goggles on if they aren’t the right shape and profile. These goggles have stayed on perfectly on every dive, turn and sprint I’ve worn them for.
Any negatives?
There isn’t anything wrong with these goggles, they work well for my training and racing. I would like them to have a lower profile, but at my level of swimming I don’t think it would make much difference in terms of resistance and as I mentioned earlier the pros were wearing this style until relatively recently. They currently only come in grey for the UK and Ireland, if anyone from Zoggs is reading this I would love to see a mirrored version. Apart from looking good, the mirror ones are easier on the eyes when swimming outdoors.
Ordering Them
When buying them you order each lens individually so you can have a different strength lens for each eye if needed, and a “strap and nosebridge set”. Which means you build a set of goggles specific to you. They are also, in my opinion, affordable for prescription goggles and can easily be found on the Zoggs website.
I’ll be honest, these are currently my favourite goggles and it’s a relief to know they are easily available if I need to order more.
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