Swimmers / Triathletes - Form Goggles?

Equipment
63

@giventotri thanks man, I appreciate that. :slight_smile:

100% friendly, chatting, supportive tone here. And zero pooping on anyone who loves their FORMS for pool laps, and practice OWs.

Totally wasn’t my intent! For real.

I get what you mean; that because I said they should be illegal in races, it sorta shifted the entire tone of the post. And I appreciate that input / feedback!!

That being said, I do back up what I said on them being illegal for races. Yes, I know FORM officially says you still have to sight… that’s for pretty obvi safety / liability reasons! :slightly_smiling_face:

But you really don’t have to… or you do a “double check” every like 100 - 200 m… but otherwise, you’re just head down, crushing past people, 100% focused on speed.

Having that compass just presents a massive advantage, that is quite different from a super light, super fast bike; because they completely remove one of the elemental / core challenges of OW swimming; sighting.

It would sorta be like if someone invented a magic cage that had zero weight and zero increased pull / water resistance that you could wear around you that would completely flatten all the waves and chop, so you were swimming just in flat water, while everyone else struggled through the doo-doo.

Unlike an amazing bike, where you are still up against the exact same challenge as everyone else; namely pedaling your legs off, you just have a better bike, the compass, or the magical anti-chop cage fundamentally change the nature of the challenge, completely removing one element of it.

The gear isn’t helping make you faster within the same race.

The gear has put you in a completely different event, almost, from everyone else. They are struggling to stay as straight as possible, and you’re just killing arm-watts as fast as you can!!! :open_mouth:

IDK man. Just seems totally offside, from an “equal competition” perspective.

I’m ghetto; I have a 2013 Al frame, C fork bike. But never think anything ill of anyone with a speed monster. I think that kicks butt! But something like having a HUD compass, while everyone is swimming around in S patterns like a bunch of drunken snakes… just seems a bit… IDK…

Srsly… I’m the only person who thinks that’s a bit…

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64

lol man, I think we’ll just have to agree toodisagree on this one, because you are massively inflating the benefits of this thing and/or completely misunderstanding the way it works.

Yes, I know FORM officially says you still have to sight… that’s for pretty obvi safety / liability reasons! :slightly_smiling_face:

But you really don’t have to…

You do. They show you a “sight for safety” message every 20 seconds or so, and it does not go away until you sight. You have to sight to be able to see the compass again.

or you do a “double check” every like 100 - 200 m…

That’s sighting!

but otherwise, you’re just head down, crushing past people, 100% focused on speed.

I just don’t see how these goggles will let you “crush” past people unless they’re completely stopping to sight every 10 seconds. Those people are not at the front of the pack.

Having that compass just presents a massive advantage, that is quite different from a super light, super fast bike; because they completely remove one of the elemental / core challenges of OW swimming; sighting.

The goggles don’t know the swim course, they don’t tell you where the buoys are, they don’t tell you where to turn, they don’t tell you where the swim exit is, they don’t account for currents or waves. You have to sight, there is no way around it. In no way, shape or form is sighting completely removed from the equation.

It would sorta be like if someone invented a magic cage that had zero weight and zero increased pull / water resistance that you could wear around you that would completely flatten all the waves and chop, so you were swimming just in flat water, while everyone else struggled through the doo-doo.

Come on, man, this is just nonsense. We’re talking about a number on a screen. At best, you will gain seconds on your swim, and if you’re the kind of swimmer who needs this to swim relatively straight, you will not be at the front of the pack to begin with. I don’t know what kind of races you attend, but at the ones I’ve done, no one is “swimming around in S patterns like a bunch of drunken snakes”. If that’s your competition, honestly, you wouldn’t need Form goggles to beat them.

Srsly… I’m the only person who thinks that’s a bit…

I mean, you just made up a whole thing about a weightless, dragless, water-controlling magic cage as an argument against these goggles, so yeah, it might be just you :joy:

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@giventotri LOL nah, you’re right.

I just totally misunderstood how they worked.

Weird; bc I have read a few reviews, including a couple professional reviews, that sing the praises of the compass as a complete revolution of how they experience OW swims. “Massive advantage” , “huge help in straight line tracking”, etc. I mean. If you only have to sight once every 200 m, that is certainly better than every 4th or 5th stroke, and I would think, a huge advantage?

But no, had no clue it forced you to sight every 20s or the compass *disappears !! (???) Why?!?!

Mini-edit: The water we tend to swim in is suuuuper murky. Pretty often you can’t even see someone’s arm or leg if it is more than 1 m / 3 ft away. So maybe in even slightly better visibility water, it is much easier to stay straight? We aren’t truly a bunch of drunken snakes….but tracking straight in absolutely zero visibility water is certainly a serious challenge, and many swimmers get a few degrees of course constantly, and constantly having to re-adjust. …. and thus losing time….

Anyhow. Thanks man. Take care!

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Oh yeah, I’ve definitely seen a lot of that (I follow a lot of swimmers and triathletes on social media), but it’s always worth remembering that sometimes folks are sponsored by various companies, part of their jobs is to promote their products, and often they don’t disclose that relationship clearly, so I always take those endorsements with a huge grain of salt unless it comes from someone reputable like DC Rainmaker. It’s all just marketing, at the end of the day.

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67

@giventotri ya, huge ‘roger that’, and right on dude. For sure.

Love DC; he always cuts it straight, no matter what, no matter how much a company will hate reading it, and is super clear about any help, test samples, or money he gets.

And thanks again for being cool. I love this community and it’s always beautiful to see stuff like this happen; two ppl strongly disagree but are able to work together, re-correct the tone, and even actually learn from each other with open minds instead of descending into internet “debates”.

Massive thumbs up on you! :slightly_smiling_face:

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I love a good rant, so well done :slight_smile:

The HUD keeps me focussed on swimming and form, which I think puts me in a much better mindset perhaps the same as during a coached swim.

One of the great things about tri is the room for innovation,

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71

Just got an “exclusive” offer come through. I don’t have £164 spare but might be worth considering for others and a good thing that they’re trying to attain a base of users like TR did:

We know subscriptions aren’t everyone’s thing, so we’ve got a limited-time offer just for you.

£164 FOR A LIFETIME OF PREMIUM

No more recurring payments—just one flat fee for lifetime access to all our current and future Premium features!

Offer expires​ December 26th, 2024.

:point_right: This exclusive offer is only available through xxx

What’s included:

  • Guided Workouts - Maximize your fitness
  • HeadCoach™ - Master your technique
  • SwimStraight™ - Cut minutes off your race time
  • Plus all other Premium Features, and all future releases
72

Just checked their website, it’s not visible there (which makes sense). Any idea what might be the best way to get it for someone who’s not yet a customer?

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Going by the time of the year, probably as a Christmas present, from someone who is a customer, to someone who is not [yet]. Unless it’s simply there as an option for current customers to cease paying ongoing fees…?