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Open water swim goggles protect eyes from the sun, help swimmers sight, and train smarter. Here’s a look at the best open water goggles for swimmers and triathletes.
Looking for a set of open water swim goggles for conquering the elements?
The right open water goggles enhance vision when swimming outdoors and doing triathlons, reduce eye strain from UV exposure, eliminate glare, and provide an extra-large field of vision to sight and maintain bearings.
Open water swim goggles should also be comfortable, have a leak-free fit, and be durable to give you maximum confidence when swimming.
In this guide to the top open water swim goggles, we look at the best of the best for conquering open water, whether you are doing a triathlon or just hitting open water for a swim under the sun.
Let’s dive in.
Best Open Water Swim Goggles
Here is an overview of our top picks for open water swim goggles:
- Best open water swim goggles for beginners – Aqua Sphere Kayenne
- Best open water racing goggles – Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Tri Goggles
- Best open water goggles for sunny days – Speedo Biofuse 2.0
- Best goggles for real-time workout data – FORM Swim Goggles
- Best open water swim mask – Arena The One Swim Mask
Next, we will evaluate each swim goggle, looking at key features, who the goggles are perfect for, and how they compare to other open water and triathlon swim goggles.
Aqua Sphere Kayenne
⭐ Best open water swim goggles for beginners
Our top pick for open water goggles among beginner and intermediate swimmers is the Aqua Sphere Kayenne. These goggles offer exceptional comfort and are equipped with an extra-large lens, providing excellent vision coverage.
Kayennes are budget-friendly and come in a wide variety of tint and lens color options, perfect for enhancing visibility during outdoor swims.
Where the Kayennes really shine is in vision clarity. The oversized lenses make it easy to sight and get your bearings while swimming outdoors, with nearly 180-degree visibility. UV-coated lenses reduce eye strain, and the Kayennes with smoke or mirrored lenses eliminate glare.
A perfect fit is easy, too, with adjustable head straps that can be configured easily and a large hypoallergenic gasket skirt suctions against the skin, keeping water out of the swim goggles.
The Kayennes has all the crucial features of a quality open-water swim goggle, including anti-fog, polarized lenses, and nearly 180-degree visibility.
In addition to being a great open water and triathlon goggles for beginner and intermediate swimmers, the Kayennes are inexpensive, retailing for $25 to $35, depending on tint choice.
| ✅ Reasons to Buy: | ❌ Things to Note: |
| Top beginner goggle for open water swimming | Fog up relatively quickly |
| Multiple tint and color options to protect eyes from sun and glare | |
| Value pick | |
| Excellent durability | |
| 180-degree peripheral vision |
Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Tri Goggles
⭐ Best open water swim goggles for racing
The Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Tri is a game-changer of a swim goggle that combines industry-leading ant-fog technology and a hydrodynamic gasket design made for maximum speed in the water.
The big story with these triathlon and open water swim goggles is the anti-fog technology. As the factory anti-fog in swim goggles fades over time, swimmers wipe the lenses to clear them of condensation, degrading the anti-fog even faster.
The Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Tri flips this on its head with an anti-fog that “resets” when you gently swipe the inside of the goggle lenses when fogged up.
It sounds made up, but for real.
Beyond the cool anti-fog technology, the Arena Cobra Swipe Tri is a premium swim goggle that has exceptional peripheral vision and a slim gasket profile that is the most hydrodynamic among open water swim goggles.
The Arena Cobra Tri Swipes are also very comfortable, with a soft rubber skirt that creates a gentle suction against your cheeks, keeping water out while swimming. The goggles ship with three nose pieces to configure that perfect fit, and the head strap buckles, mounted at the sides of the gasket, ensure snug goggle placement on the head.
The Arena Cobra Tri Goggles are more expensive compared to the Aqua Sphere Kayennes, but the premium price tag aligns with the hydrodynamic design, anti-fog technology, and excellent vision coverage.
| ✅ Reasons to Buy: | ❌ Things to Note: |
| Best open water swim goggles for racing | Pricier compared to Kayennes |
| Industry-leading anti-fog coating that resets with gentle finger swipes | |
| Slim gasket profile | |
| They look awesome | |
| Comfortable for extended use |
Speedo Biofuse 2.0 Swim Goggle
⭐ Best swim goggles for bright and sunny open water swims
The Speedo Biofuse 2.0 Goggles earned high marks during our testing for several reasons. The gasket is extremely comfortable, with soft rubber seals sinking softly into our skin, creating a watertight seal that didn’t result in goggle marks after extended wear.
The big upgrade on the original Biofuse is a cool new button on the underside of the gasket that gives you one-touch control on head strap length.
Buckles for adjusting goggle strap length can often feel like open heart surgery. Speedo simplified this significantly.
See also: 9 Best Swimming Goggles for Every Kind of Swimmer
The Biofuse 2.0 also has superior vision compared to the first-generation model, with a slightly curved lens that gives better peripheral vision, perfect for swimming outdoors and quickly getting a sense of where you are.
Speedo upgraded the lens to UV400, which blocks out 99-100% of UV rays, perfect for swimmers who swim in bright and sunny open water and want maximum eye protection.
Comfortable, and with an expanded lens for enhanced clarity, and the highest amount of UV protection possible, the Speedo Biofuse 2.0 are an excellent goggle for swimmers who deal with a lot of sunshine in their daily swims.
| ✅ Reasons to Buy: | ❌ Things to Note: |
| Highest UV protection of any open water goggle | Gasket not as slim as the Cobra Ultra Swipe |
| Made by Speedo, the leading swim brand for goggles and swimwear | |
| Soft seal that reduce goggle marks | |
| Updated design with curved lens, push-button strap adjustments | |
| Budget-friendly |
FORM Swim Goggles
⭐ Best open water swim goggles for real-time metrics
The FORM Swim Goggles are a groundbreaking swim goggle that features a heads-up display that tracks real-time training data during open water (and pool) swims.
The FORM Swim Goggles are definitely a premium swim goggle (starts at $199 for the goggles, plus a monthly subscription for workout plans), but for swimmers who love to swim (pun!) in data, the goggles can be a game changer.
The dashboard on the heads-up display can be adjusted to monitor the things that matter most to your swimming, from time elapsed, stroke rate, and overall distance, which is surprisingly accurate.
Triathletes and open water swimmers will love all the training data with the FORM goggles, allowing swimmers to train smarter and more effectively.
Heart rate can be tracked when paired with a compatible heart rate monitor, and the app that comes with the goggles gives you an almost overwhelming amount of data to use to better plan your training.
Open water swimmers and triathletes are familiar with Strava and TrainingPeaks, and the FORM Swim Goggles can share workouts to these platforms, as well as Apple Health, TriDot, and Final Surge.
The technology on the FORM Swim Goggles is slick, but in terms of the actual goggles and comfort, they get high marks here, too.
The main drawback of the goggles, aside from the price, is that you lose some peripheral vision because of the heads-up display in the goggle.
Additionally, if you want to just focus on your stroke and tune out the metrics, there’s no way to turn off the metrics when swimming.
| ✅ Reasons to Buy | ❌Things to Note |
| World’s first smart swimming goggles | Lose peripheral vision from the heads-up display |
| Tons of training metrics to plan and evaluate open water swims | The HUD is always on; can be distracting |
| Accurate distance tracking | Pricey |
| Optional coaching and workout plans with premium subscription | |
| Comfortable goggle gasket design | |
| Mirrored lens to reduce eye strain from glare and sunshine | |
| Goggle case included |
Arena The One Mirrored Swim Mask
⭐ Best swim mask for open water swimming
The Arena The One Mirrored Swim Mask is the best mask-type goggle for open water swimmers and triathletes thanks to the mirrored lens, which eliminates glare and protects from UV exposure, and the increased comfort compared to pool goggles.
Goggles enhance vision and protect your eyes, but the narrower profile and peripherals on goggles meant for the pool aren’t always a good option for open water swimmers. Swim masks, which feature a wider lens, can be advantageous for longer distance swims where comfort and visibility become critical.
Arena’s The One Mirrored Swim Mask checks all of the boxes for an open water swim mask that is comfortable, protects your eyes from shimmering glare, enhances visibility, and the multiple color and tint options give swimmers some style flexibility.
The rubber skirt on the gasket is extra large, creating a watertight seal that suits a wide variety of face shapes, ensuring a leak-proof every time you hit the water.
Note: Arena offers The One in a pool version, making it a great option for swimmers who want a pool and an open water version of a goggle.
While this type of goggle is a bit bulky for pool swimming, Arena’s The One Mirrored Swim Mask is an excellent option for swimmers who want an IMAX-sized field of view when swimming in open water.
| ✅ Reasons to Buy | ❌ Things to Note |
| Massive field of view | A bit bulky for pool swimming |
| Mirrored lens to eliminate glare and protect eyes from UV exposure | |
| Available in multiple colors and tints | |
| Easy to adjust head straps | |
| Made with long-lasting silicone |
Other Open Water Swim Goggles We Tested
We’ve tested and evaluated dozens of swimming goggles over the years, from the classic old-school Swedish goggles to custom swim goggles to the latest in smart swim goggles, giving us a chlorinated overview of the top goggles for swimming in open water.
The below swim goggles came close in our testing but didn’t quite make the cut:
ROKA R1 Swim Goggles. Roka is a premium triathlon and open water brand, and the Roka R1 is its flagship goggles. The R1 is a low-profile swim goggle that is excellent for reducing glare, but we liked the Arena Cobra Tri better for its superior anti-fog properties.
Zone3 Vapour Swim Goggles. Made with buttery soft silicone, the Zone3 Vapour Goggles are exceedingly comfortable. The Speedo Biofuse 2.0 offers the same comfortable, watertight goggle fit at around half the cost.
Orca Killa 180 Swimming Goggles. With a thin profile, polarized lenses, and silicone straps, the Orca Killa 180 are a comfortable and fast open water and triathlon swim goggles. The main, but significant, issue was durability with the gasket and strap bracket.
Choosing the Perfect Open Water Swim Goggles
The right set of swim goggles can make or break your open water swim.
To find the perfect open water and triathlon swim goggles for you and your goals, here are the key things to look for:
Pool vs Open water goggles
Open water and pool swim goggles share a lot of functions, but open water goggles differ in several key ways, including:
- Gasket and lens size – Open water swim goggles have larger gaskets and lenses to allow for a larger field of vision.
- Strap adjustments – Head straps keep swim goggles in place; on open water swim goggles, the buckles are placed at the side of the gasket for easier access mid-swim.
- Large rubber or silicone skirt – Open water swim goggles are designed to be worn for long periods of time, hence the larger, softer rubber or silicone skirts.
The Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Goggles. The pool version (L) has a thinner gasket, small lenses, and thinner straps than the open water version (R).
Open water swimming goggles are built “heavier;” thicker head straps, bigger gasket, and larger lenses.
While both types of swim goggles can be utilized in both open water and pool settings, each specialized type offers unique features to enhance your swimming experience.
Comfort and Fit
Open water swim goggles should fit comfortably on your face, creating a watertight seal to keep the goggles from leaking during extended use.
Goggles should also have extra large gasket skirts to create a gentle suction on your skin, reducing goggle eyes and maintaining a waterproof fit.
Field of View
Open water swim goggles have a large field of view, which is crucial for swimming in open water because it allows swimmers to maintain awareness of their surroundings.
In open water, this primarily means sighting, whether landmarks, buoys, or race markers. A large field of view helps swimmers navigate and stay oriented while also helping them keep on obstacles and the environment.
Swim masks provide the largest field of view, while open water goggles like the Kayennes, Biofuse 2, and Arena Cobra Ultra Swipe Tri provide a balance between pool goggles and swim masks.
Lens Type
Goggle lenses enhance vision underwater and, as it pertains to outdoor swimming, reduce glare from the sun, improving visibility and reducing eye strain and squinting.
On bright days, choose an open water swim goggle with smoke or mirrored lens with UV protection. Polarized swim goggle lenses, in particular, almost completely eliminate the shimmering and glare of the sun off the water’s surface.
Visibility
Visibility on the open water is paramount for safety, even more so compared to pool swimming. A clear and unobstructed view helps swimmers swim and navigate with confidence. Choose a lens tint that matches the weather on the water, and pick an open water swim goggle that has long-lasting anti-fog properties.
Price Range
Open water swim goggles tend to be more expensive than your run-of-the-mill pool goggle. The money you spend on goggles should match your open water swimming goals.
For a no-frills, low-budget goggle, go with the Aqua Sphere Kayennes, who punch above their price tag for comfort and durability.
The Arena Cobra Swipe Tri Goggles are pricier but are the absolute best for triathlon and open water races, thanks to their hydrodynamic and anti-fog properties.
And the FORM Swim Goggles are the priciest, yet most feature-rich, and an excellent hybrid goggle for people who thrive on real-time swimming metrics.
Wrapping Things Up
In conclusion, picking the right swim goggles for open water swimming and triathlons is crucial for comfort and performance.
By choosing a set of swim goggles that have the right fit, lens type, durability, anti-fog, and, in the case of the FORM Swim Goggles, live training data, you can get more from your time in the water.
Make leaky, cloudy swim goggles during open water swimming a thing of the past and take your swimming to the next level.
Happy swimming!
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