Wow, These FORM Smart Goggles Are Bad
Counting laps in my head and using an imprecise analog clock on the wall to track my time isn't exactly optimal. I had hoped these smart goggles would be the answer. Instead, it's like swimming with narrow blinders on. Utterly unenjoyable.
Swimming with H and J
5am alarm again. I got H and J out of bed. Their swim bags were already packed, so it was a quick process to get changed and out the door. They each swam six to eight laps, while taking breaks occasionally to dip their legs into the spa / hot tub thing.
Meanwhile, I set aside my regular goggles to try out the new FORM Swim smart goggles which arrived last night. They are...not my favorite. Functionally, they're exactly as described, and exactly what I wanted. It has an on-screen timer. It counts laps. It shows me total distance. The interface is easy and intuitive to use with the two-button system.
None of that matters though, because swimming with them is awful. It's like I'm looking through a long, narrow tunnel. I'm wearing blinders while swimming. It's so completely unenjoyable. If I tilt my head up, I can see a little better, but then it seems like I splash more water into my mouth, which isn't great. Basically, you have no peripheral vision (in either axis) – you have to tilt your head to see where you're going. Anyway, I hated every moment of it.
I needed to give these smart goggles a solid try so that I could know it wasn't just an inexperience issue. I swam for thirty minutes. I did not enjoy a moment of that swim. I'm looking forward to be able to use my old goggles again next time. I'm either going to just keep counting laps in my head, or get one of these lap count / timer thingies that looks like a wrist watch for a midget, but goes on your pointer finger. The reviews for them are quite mixed, so I think I'm just going to have to concentrate and count laps.
| Date | Distance (Yards) | Time (Minutes) | Pace (Per 100yds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-01 | 650 | 20 | 3.08 |
| 2026-09-03 | 800 | 21 | 2.63 |
| 2026-09-04 | 1,000 | 26 | 2.60 |
| 2026-09-07 | 1,100 | 28 | 2.55 |
| 2026-09-08 | 1,000 | 23 | 2.30 |
| 2026-09-09 | 1,250 | 30 | 2.40 |
| 2026-09-11 | 1,250 | 30 | 2.40 |
| 2026-09-14 | 1,500 | 37 | 2.47 |
| 2026-09-15 | 1,150 | 27 | 2.35 |
| 2026-09-17 | 1,750 | 43 | 2.46 |
| 2026-09-18 | 1,250 | 29 | 2.32 |
I stopped after about half an hour. I was done with this myopic version of swimming.
After our swim, we hit the gym. H and J spent most of the time on the treadmills. In all, I think they both walked / jogged about a mile, sometimes with the incline set all the way up, which looks rather comical.
Bringing two kids was a major success. They kept each other entertained, and both of them did far more exercise (swimming + treadmill) than either of them did when solo.