Are These Futuristic Swim Goggles Worth It?

The FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles are $279. Are they worth it?

Feb 02, 2025

Growing up, I was a pool rat. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 7:30am to 4:30pm, you could find me at the pool, where I’d aimlessly wander from swim practice to the locker room, the diving well to the family pool with the slide, the barn that served as our concession stand all the way back to the tennis courts at the very edge of the property. Actually swimming laps, to be totally honest, was maybe one percent of any given day, and I was only mildly engaged with the sport at the best of times. The lane pool itself just happened to be the ecosystem around which my whole life revolved during those summer months.

And yet! “You’ll be glad you did this when you’re older,” my parents would ominously warn me. “You’ll thank us for making you swim all those laps when you’re grown up and looking for a way to exercise that doesn’t hurt your knees.” Ha! I scoffed to myself. Never. Not in a million years.

Naturally, like clockwork after I turned 30, I found myself inexplicably drawn back to the lap pool with a burning desire to perfect my strokes and churn out dozens of laps at a time. Parents always know. Sigh.

Baby Kristen and her bangs on a 1996 swim team.

I quickly learned that I had no idea how to create a swimming workout that went beyond simply swimming freestyle for an hour straight (which is, to put it mildly, incredibly boring). To my knowledge, there was no Peloton app for swimming, and any websites I searched for swimming workouts required me to transcribe a workout onto a sheet of paper, stuff it into a Ziploc bag, and bring it poolside so I knew what to do. Clunky.

A couple of years ago, though, I was introduced to FORM smart swim goggles and the accompanying app, which not only builds workouts for you, but also projects them INTO THE GOGGLES via an augmented reality display. But at $279 plus an optional premium subscription, are the FORM goggles worth it?

What are the FORM Smart Swim Goggles?

The FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles are a souped-up pair of swim goggles, with all the bells and whistles of a fancy fitness tracker (and then some). Inside the actual goggles is an augmented reality display that shows your vital stats for a swim — your laps, your pace, your heart rate, and various technique scores. The in-goggles display is completely customizable, so you can decide what you see and what you don’t. The goggles automatically detect what stroke you’re doing and when you’re resting for super-accurate post-swim data.

All that on its own is wildly impressive. But the Premium subscription is where it’s at. Premium is like having a swim coach in your goggles. You can choose from over 1,500 workouts in the app, and you’ll get lap-by-lap instructions in your goggles. You’ll also get a FORM score, which is their proprietary metric analyzing your stroke efficiency and technique on a scale from 1 to 100. From there, the app feeds you suggested workouts to improve different aspects of your technique. You can also opt to follow programs and training plans, or build your own workouts and feed them into the goggles.

If you’re a triathlete, you’ll be wowed by the Open Water feature. There’s an in-goggle digital compass for open water swimming that helps keep you swimming on the straight and narrow while tracking your distance.

Receipts, Proof, Timeline, Screenshots

First Time Viewer - Watch Through Thoughts : r/rhoslc

Receipts

I’ve received both versions of the FORM Smart Swim Goggles (1 and 2) from their generous PR company and have my subscription comped.

Proof

Since absolutely zero of my friends are into swimming, my testing has relied solely on my own experience this go-round. I’ve tested in both open water and lap pools, and as mentioned, I’ve tested both versions of the goggles so I can accurately compare them.

Timeline

I began testing the FORM Smart Swim 2 goggles in November 2024, although I’d tested the previous version for about a year before that.

Screenshots

I Would Buy These Goggles A Hundred Times Over.

And I’d be thrilled to do it each time. I’m quite obsessed with these and think they’re among the five coolest things I own — and they’ve helped me maintain the swimming habit my parents were so desperate for me to develop as a kid. Here’s what makes these so, so worth it.

They take the monotony out of swimming.

One good thing about swimming: You’re essentially in a sensory deprivation tank, unable to be contacted by anyone, free from the outside world, pleasantly paddling along.

One bad thing about swimming: You’re completely alone with your thoughts, swimming back and forth endlessly like a tiger pacing its cage.

The FORM goggles solved what was, to me, the existential problem with swimming. By programming my workouts for me and giving me lap-by-lap instructions, I get so much more out of my laps. Runners may understand this too; sometimes, a long workout feels much more manageable when it’s broken up into segments, or when a speed workout feels much more engaging than a steady-state four-miler. Plus, you’re challenging yourself more with various intensities and drills than if you just swam at the same pace for an hour.

The post-swim analytics are amazingly accurate.

When compared head-to-head, the FORM goggles deliver much more accurate swimming stats than my Apple Watch. Honestly, it’s kind of wild that these goggles can detect what stroke I’m doing, how long each stroke is, the exact angle my head is tilted at, and how long each breath takes me. Data nerds will rejoice over the extreme level of detail available in the basic free subscription.

You’ll actually improve your swimming with HeadCoach.

I’m a goal-oriented Virgo who loves nothing more than seeing scores improve over time; it’s what I loved about running for so long. The HeadCoach feature in the Premium subscription gives you an overall FORM score, broken down into sections so you can see where you need the most help (for me, it’s Time to Neutral — aka how long my breaths are). Then, you can get real-time feedback during your workouts and post-swim advice in the app about how to improve. With FORM, I’ve seen my scores (and my times) improve, with just a little bit of thoughtfulness and effort on my part. Swimming as an adult (and without a coach) can feel like a bit of a muddle; it’s hard to know if you’re doing it right. HeadCoach takes the guesswork out of each stroke in the smartest way possible.

Is There Anything I’d Change About FORM?

I have a couple of tiny, tiny quibbles. I still struggle with the goggles’ fit sometimes, although FORM provides five interchangeable nose bridge options. The Smart Swim 2 goggles have a better leak-proof seal than the originals, but I still get minor leakage during the beginning of my swim. If you’re kicking with a kickboard, the goggles may miss when you turn around at the end of the lap, and they especially struggle if you’re using fins and the kickboard at the same time, resulting in minor inaccuracies in your data.

So, Are the FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles Worth It?

I adore these goggles and can’t imagine swimming without them; I’m ruined, a customer for life. The FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles are $279, although you can get the Smart Swim 1 Goggles for $179 without a few of the updated features, most notably in-goggle heart rate tracking and the leak-proof seal. The Premium subscription costs $119 annually or $15 per month.

Who would get their money’s worth from the FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles?

A fairly confident lap swimmer who wants to get a little bit of guidance, whether that’s help improving their strokes or assistance finding a workout to do that day
A triathlete or open-water swimmer who doesn’t want to rely on sighting to swim in a straight line (worth noting, FORM goggles and its features are approved for race use by USA Triathlon and World Triathlon)

I wouldn’t recommend the FORM goggles to someone who’s just building a swimming habit or is totally new to the sport. I think you’d be overwhelmed by the data and may not get your money’s worth out of them. But if you swim semi-regularly and feel comfortable with swimming lingo, you’ll love these.

If my FORM Smart Swim Goggles broke today, would I pay to replace it tomorrow?

I would, in a heartbeat (and I’d pay for the Premium subscription too). FORM perfectly walks the line between cleverly innovative and supremely functional, and I think they’re now a 100% necessity for me and my swimming workouts. My old swim coaches would be so proud.

Verdict: The FORM Smart Swim 2 Goggles are WORTH IT.

Got specific questions about the FORM goggles? Ask them in the comments!