It's Friday so the FINIS Australia team decided to take the new Smart Goggle for a rip in the pool.  You could say it's market research but.... we really just wanted to see if it was as good as the blurb on the box. That still sounds serious and a bit like work.  What we really wanted to do is see if we could out-do each others stats! The short answer is YES, it's everything on the box and more.  YES, we had a blast nosing through each others stats and seeing how the swim really went rather than how the story of the swim went.  AND another YES just because it brought an ordinary swimming session to life in a way we didn't quite expect.

The team at FINIS Australia cover the spectrum from seriously recreational swimmers to formerly competitive and currently competitive.  We don't agree on a lot of things (Agility Paddles are a united 'yes' but on the ideal swim fin we remain divided) but we all agreed on this - we had a better swim wearing the FINIS Smart Goggle.

It isn't so much about what your goal is as it is about showing how you are tracking so you can make decisions in the moment rather than at the end of a set when you have well and truly forgotten what was happening in those blurry middle laps. It sounds simple but being able to 'clock' a pace that looks and feels good and be reminded to hold it is so useful. Without being able to see the seconds creeping up, or in some cases even the fractions of a second, drifting just happens.

The Ciye data display in the Smart Goggle is to the side so it doesn't get in the way of your vision and it requires just the right amount of effort to check so that is deliberate and isn't too "in-your-face" or distracting.

One super bonus is that the data module clips out so it is easy, and relatively cheap, to replace goggles as they wear out unlike some other types of electronic goggle where once the goggles are scratched or start to fog, the whole unit needs replacing.

Don't be put off by the tech aspect and thinking you'll need an IT degree to operate FINIS Smart Goggles.  You download the app first, pair the goggles, switch them on and swim.  It is literally that simple - maybe two or three minutes tops.

Wearing the Smart Goggle we all felt we had a more productive swim. It felt like we did more and understood more about how we performed.  But the real fun part was syncing the data from the session once we were out of the pool.  You can see all your details in black and white - not how you thought you did but what you actually did.  You can see patterns in your training that might not be obvious in the water and it is all 100% honest data.  You can cheat but it takes a lot of effort to out-smart this piece of tech.

We also all walked away (for some it was more like hobbling after trying to show off) with one feeling - that swimming had magically gone up a level. Sure, this is an expensive piece of kit but if you are a regular in the pool and just the tiny bit competitive, you will LOVE these goggles. Even if you only compete against yourself, the level of information/motivation in the data the goggle captures and displays is next level.

"These goggles are so good - seriously. They were comfortable, not exactly like my normal goggles, but they were comfy and didn't leak or fog up. You can see normally and the data display doesn't get in the way of your vision.

It's very honest!  You can't lie to yourself or your coach. It's got laps, does your splits and it has your rest time. And you know when your 20 seconds is up - you can't cheat!

These would have been awesome to have for World's."

Jess Walker - Australian Open Water Swimmer

"I love tech and swimming but the two don't always go hand in hand. The useability with the Smart Goggle is brilliant.  All you have to do is push a few buttons and they just work. It didn't distract from my swimming, it just made swimming better - so good."

Trent Goulding - recreational swimmer