FORMSmart Swim 2 - Goggles

A bunch of my swim friends were using FORM 1 and FORM 2 and raving about what a difference they made in their training. I wasn’t sure which to buy, and then decided to spend the extra money on v.2, and I’m glad I did.I had a couple of concerns initially that were (thankfully) put to rest quickly:First, I’m far-sighted, and I thought I might have trouble seeing the display clearly. Such is not the case. I am delightfully surprised at how clear the display is.Fit was another concern. Like many people, I have a hard time finding goggles that fit me well. The FORM 2 fit is excellent, and they are comfortable. Having multiple nose pieces to experiment with is helpful. If they do leak a little, I adjust the strap and the leak stops.Set up is easy. I set them up and used them the same day. And when I did run into a small issue (mostly user confusion!), I went to FORM’s support chat and was quickly connected with “Kris” who solved my issue quickly. What’s more, Kris emailed me the next day to ask how things were going. That’s awesome support.The basic features make you smarter about your workout approach. For example: current time, last split, strokes-per-minute, etc. The dashboard screens are customizable for the stats you want to see. It’s motivating to see how small changes in your stroke count, for example, will change your splits and overall times.Being able to see far I’ve swum (in yards or meters) is helpful for long, continuous swims — either when I’m swimming a Masters practice, or when swimming on my own (when I can’t rely on a lane leader to keep track!).The built-in heart rate monitor is awesome. Previously, I’ve only been able to check this after my workouts, because my watch doesn’t do a very good job of displaying it. Real-time feedback is great. I’ve seen others add 3rd party heart rate monitors to the FORM 1 goggles, which is bulky. With the FORM 2, the monitor is built-in and rests against my temple. I don't even know it's there.I signed up for the Premium features and have started to explore them.SwimStraight is amazing. I swim in open water during the summer and love the compass feature. It will never eliminate sighting (that would be dangerous), but it does reduce sighting, which means faster swimming, less fatigue, more enjoyment.HeadCoach: While my stroke is somewhat old school, I know that I’m technically pretty sound. (Humble brag, I’m a former D1 college swimmer, albeit from the 1980s). But everyone can improve, right? HeadCoach is a fabulous reminder and helps keep things in check. Analyzing head position, for instance, is really helpful.My only issue was: The display takes a little getting used to, and there is reduced peripheral vision. But to me, these are minor issues and go away after using them consistently for a few days.Overall, these goggles are great — a “game changer” as so many others here say. The first time I used them, swam 100 yards and saw the splits at every 25, I immediately understood how powerful these goggles are. Having real-time data in my goggles is a big motivator.

I originally bought a pair of Form v1 goggles off ebay, and used them for almost 2 years. They have been a game changer for me in my training. I also bought a pair of Form V1 googles (new) for my Son (12 at the time) who swims with a local Club. The goggles are very powerful, if you buy the subscription, you can build your own custom workouts, which get saved to the goggles. But for me the only feature I really use is Pool Swim ( no subscription required ). I just push off the wall and they give me all the data. Current Time, Last Split, Last Interval. How far I have swam, great for people who loose count during distance sets. The display screens are customizable with the stats you want to see. Its very motivating to see how small changes in your stroke change your split times. Only feature they are missing live Speed in M/s. but no goggles have that yet. Form V3 maybe : )The main reason I bought the V2 goggles is one day I went to the pool and when trying to turn on my Form v1 Goggles, then just stayed on the logo boot screen, and then finally said connect to app for update. But then they wouldn't connect to the app. After going through a ton of steps, and hard resetting them to wipe the memory, I finally was able to get them to reconnect to the app, but now they just get stuck on the updating function. I have already contacted Form, but of course the goggles are not under warranty so I am out of luck. Lesson be learned, never leave your Smart goggles in the case, in the trunk of your Black Car ,which is parked under the Houston Texas Sun for a week, with it being Mid 90s. This likely was the cause of the issues.I went ahead and reluctantly bought the form v2 goggles, as I didn't know when a fix for my form v1 goggles would be available. As a former user of the form v1 goggles I can better explain the differences.1. Antifog is excellent. with my form v1 goggles I was having to constantly take them off and wipe the lenses to keep them clear. For the first couple weeks the V2 versions never fogged up on me. But now almost 4 weeks into using the goggles, the insides are a starting fog up a bit. I have been swimming 2 hours / day, 5 days a week for the past month. I have been very careful to not touch the insides of the lenses with the new goggles. It was nice while I lasted, but honestly I have never had antifog every last on any goggles I have owned.2. Faster Boot up. V2 seems to boot up much faster than V1.3. Built in heart rate monitor seems to work well, and I like the additional line of text at the top that shows your current heart rate. its nice not having to charge another accessory with a HR monitor like I did with my Form v1 goggles.4. Seals around eyes are better and more comfortable on V2, than V1. With V1 I had to get them pretty tight to not leak. With V2, I am able to keep them at a more comfortable tightness level and not have them leak. almost 4 weeks in, I am staring to get slight leaks, but I determined it was the straps stretching out a bit. I tightened them a little and leaks are gone. I might need to swap to a tighter nose piece too. They are still much more comfortable than V1.5. Screen brightness seems the same with both goggles. V2 seems just slightly easier to see during daytime, vs V1, but keep in mind the V1 goggles I had were used, and there was nothing left for the sunblocking reflective coatings on the outside.6. Sensitivity on push off seems different. I have noticed my split times on the V1 seemed faster than with V2. V2 seems to start a little sooner after you push off the wall. There are times when I push off the wall, and start swimming and V2 says I am already at 4 seconds, when I feel like I should only be at 2.5 or 3 seconds. Not a huge deal, but just something to take note of. 4 weeks in, I don't notice this anymore. Not sure if the goggles have learned based on my movements, or if its just all in my head.7. Storage case with V2 is a little more compact. but I do like the divider on the inside that your goggles can wrap around. Just a little worried that the lenses will run on the inside of the case, but so far no issues.8. The navigational buttons on V2 are bigger. Easier to press, than V1.9. Field of view seems just slightly better than V1. But don't expect to get the wide angle view of some old Swedish Goggles. For me at least the data I get in the display far exceeds any limitations in the view angle.Forced to buy membership with V2.Ok this is the only Gripe I have with V2, and from what I have read online its also one of the biggest gripes from other Form users. Since expressing this with Form it seems they are working to make improvements.You can't use the goggles til you activate them, and to activate them you have to create an account with form, and pay for a membership that is set to start after the 2 week trial ends. Its one thing to ask people to create an account, but forcing them to submit their credit and billing info just to use the goggles is wrong. After I did this I then had to login to the website and cancel my subscription just so my credit card would not be billed. Once again this is wrong. I just use my goggles for pool swim to track my splits and distance swam. I don't need any of the membership features. They should allow you to use the goggles straight out of the box without having to connect to a phone, or setting up an account, and submitting your billing info. I originally rated the goggles on 2 stars, based on this poorly thought out Activation process, but after seeing form reach out to right the wrong, I have confidence they are actually listening to customers.The first time you swim down the pool and flip, and see your split, you will understand how powerful these goggles are. Having that kind of feedback is a huge motivator.

I bought this for open water swimming mostly. Paired with an Apple watch Ultra 2 the distance is consistently off by 30%. Open water swims tracked by the Apple watch directly have reliable and consistent distances and data.In open swim mode, when the Form goggles are paired with the watch and use the watch GPS, the data is way off and useless. Customer support says Apple watch data is used differently when paired with the goggles... Watch has to communicate via bluetooth and must be worn on the same side as the goggle controls which I did. I was told by support that if I stopped swimming and the watch was under water to raise the hand above water to link with the watch again... I don't stop during my open water swims so not useful.With a premium subscription at $15/m you get a feature called SwimStraight. The feature works once you get used to it but you regularly get prompted to look up for security reasons... Those prompts are about at the same frequency I usually look up anyway. So not a useful feature unless you really can't swim straight for 5-6 strokes.The coaching features as well as the skills are not available in open water mode.So for open water swimming, very disappointed. Might be useful in pool mode but I will not get to try that for a few months. Also I have worn a lot of different goggles over the years. The FORM 2 are not very comfortable and the field of view is narrower than most other goggles out there. Don't buy these goggles for open water swimming.