Choosing the Right Lens for Your Swimming Goggles: A Comprehensive Guide

As technology advances of course our range of buying choices expands.  You can often tell an Exceptional Goggles brand from an OK brand simply by the range of Swimming Goggles and the options available. A good indicator may often be how a Brand considers their end user during the research and development stages of Goggles design. Bringing new technologies and innovations and subsequently the best range of product to market.

This is why Swimming Goggles now include a range of superb Lens options to quote Aquasphere: offering a ‘lens for every condition’ with the emphasis on Visual Light Transmission and importantly UV protection. 

Coloured/tinted lenses will offer enhancements in depth of colour and clarity of vision in differing light levels so your choice will depend on the type of environment you are swimming in.

Many competitive pool swimmers now choose to wear swimming goggles with mirrored lenses – even though light levels suggest they are not necessary but they probably help to psyche out the competition as they can't then see the whites of your eyes or vice versa…!

Aquasphere Lens Guide:

Lens Types Explained:

Mirrored Lenses: 

Ideal for bright light conditions usually providing the lowest light transmission to offer greater eye protection.  For example, as well as standard offering mirrored lenses, Aquasphere’s range also includes Swimming Goggles with Titanium Mirrored lenses in a variety of models, which even in the brightest of conditions can provide as low as 8-13% light transmission which is on a similar level to some of Aquasphere’s polarised lens goggles. While their swimming goggles featuring standard mirrored lenses have similar visual light transmission to their smoke tinted lens goggles.

Polarised Lenses: 

Perfect for outdoor swimming to help provide protection by filtering out the sun's horizontal light rays to eliminate the sun’s glare reflected off shiny surfaces and provide better clarity to help reduce eye fatigue. Swimming goggles featuring Polarised lenses are ideal for wearing in any bright outdoor swimming environment and offer more protection than a smoke tinted lens for bright swimming conditions.

Photochromatic Lenses: 

Fairly recent addition to the goggle market but these lenses are usually slightly tinted but cleverly adjust to a darker lens for greater protection in brighter light and lighten for better visibility in darker conditions.  Therefore the Visual Light Transmission can be similar to swimming goggles with clear lenses or as low as that offered by using goggles with smoke tinted lenses. Swimming goggles featuring photochromatic lenses are ideal for swimming in varying low to partially sunny light levels.

Tinted Lenses: 

Smoke/Dark tinted lenses reduces light transmission to the eye to reduce glare, more so in brighter conditions making tinted lens goggles ideal to wear for outdoor swimming use. Swimming goggles with Smoke/Dark tinted lenses will have lower Visual Light Transmission than goggles featuring a lighter tinted lenses.

Clear Lenses:

Still perhaps the most universally used and although can be worn for swimming in any environment they are ideally suited to indoor use or in dim low light conditions. You should consider the improved eye protection offered by alternative lenses particularly for prolonged periods of swimming outdoors.