Ready to take on the pool, but want to be able to take your prescription with you? Here are the best prescription goggles for swimming.
As someone who wears prescription glasses (or contacts), you already know how important it is to take care of your eyes.
This care and attention extend itself to the pool as well—swimming goggles are important from a safety perspective—they allow you to correctly judge walls and avoid other swimmers, but also keep harmful irritants and chemicals like chlorine and its nasty step-brother chloramines from causing itchiness and bloodshot eyes.
While you don’t get the same selection of goggles as those without prescription vision, there are lots of options out there. Whether you are an adult that is looking to tackle indoor or open water swimming, or you are looking for prescription swim goggles for kids, there are plenty of goggles for hitting the water.
Here’s a breakdown of the 7 best prescription swim goggles for all your swimming needs.
1. Speedo Vanquisher Prescription Goggles (TOP OVERALL PICK)
The Speedo Vanquishers are one of my favorite pair of goggles.
They are durable as heck with their silicone straps (compared to the latex head straps older goggles come with—they fade crazy fast!), they are stylish, and in the years of wearing countless pairs of them, they have never sprung a leak on me. On top of all of that, they are Speedo goggles, which is good enough for me, regardless of what kind of goggle we are talking about.
The prescription Vanquisher comes with four different nose pieces, ensuring that you get the perfect fit for your particular face (mine fit right out of the box), and the goggles are polycarbonate and shatter-proof.
The goggles are anti-fog (for a while at least—all goggles say this but the anti-fog inevitably wears off) and even offers UV protection making them ideal for outdoor swimming.
2. TYR Corrective Optical Goggle
The only other representative of the main competitive swim gear brands is TYR’s prescription goggle.
Because you can easily disassemble these goggles, it is a suitable set for swimmers who have different RX in each eye. Simply buy one pair at each prescription, take them apart and reassemble so that each lens matches up with the designated eye.
This option is hilariously cheaper than buying a pair of custom-made goggles, which usually runs in excess of $200 per pair.
They don’t leak, they are comfortable, and with the old school adjustable nose-piece you can find a good fit to your face.
3. Sports World Vision Prescription Goggles for Kids
- Top Pick: Best budget-friendly prescription swim goggles for kids
Looking for prescription swim goggles for kids? Look no further. The Sports World Vision Swim Goggles are perfect for younger swimmers.
With a suggested age range of 4-14 years, the Sports World Vision Goggles come in a variety of colors, from pink, to lime green, to black, which means that your little swimmer gets a healthy variety of style choices when it comes to crystal-clear vision in the water.
The goggles are slightly tinted, which makes them perfect for swimming indoors and outdoors, and they come packaged in a hard plastic case to protect the goggles between swims.
The Sports Vision Prescription Goggles for Kids have easy-adjust snaps on the side for the straps and are priced cheaply, making them our top budget-friendly pick for prescription swim goggles for children.
4. Splaqua Clear Prescription Goggles
While trying to pronounce the name of this particular goggle maker is difficult (Splah-qua?), being able to see out of them certainly is not.
Clear lenses are excellent for the simple reason that once the anti-fog in your swim goggles wears off (and I promise you that it will–it’s just a matter of when), you will still be able to see comparatively well compared to darker and mirrored tint goggles.
The straps and gaskets are made of silicone, and the lenses are made of shatterproof polycarbonate (handy for those moments you step on your swim bag). Diopters go all the way up to 10.0.
The design and look of these goggles are simple, which is what I like most about them. They are available in the blue (as shown below), as well as in black.
5. Dr. B Barracuda Optical Swim Goggles
Lastly, we have the Barracudas.
I’ll admit–they are a unique set of goggles (and I mean that in a good way).
The field of vision is quite good, particularly when looking to the sides. The goggle straps are made of silicone, and the rubberized gaskets are comfortable against your face, making them great for those longer swims.
The mirrored look is a solid bonus–especially for you open water and outdoor swimmers. And they have the same bracket and strap system that I thought only the Arena Cobra Ultra goggles featured (the straps meet the “bracket” halfway around your head instead of the straps looping into the gaskets).
With all these features I suppose it’s not a surprise that they are more expensive. In fact, they are easily the most expensive goggles on this list, available for around $45-50 per pair.
6. Zionor G7 Optical Swimming Goggles
Made specifically for adults, the Zionor G7 Optical Swimming Goggles come close to being more of a swim mask than swim goggle, making them ideal for the recreational swimmer.
Made of hypoallergenic silicone, the goggles sit comfortably on the face while providing a leak-free fit. Available in a variety of level lenses, from -2.0 to -7.0, the goggles have tinted lenses, making them particularly ideal for outdoor and open water swimming.
The goggles have all the other customary bells and whistles you should expect from swimming goggles, including an anti-fog layer and UV protection that cuts down on glare. Available in smoke and tinted lenses.
7. WarmieHomy Optical Prescription Swim Goggles
Another goggle maker with an interesting name, the WarmieHomey Prescription Swim Goggles are made for older kids and adults.
The goggles come with three different nose bridge sizes (they come with the “M” nose piece on), and a sealed gasket around the lens ensures that you have a leak-free swimming experience in the water.
Like the Vanquishers, the WarmieHomy Rx Swim Goggles have silicone straps, an anti-fog coating, and a soft nose piece that won’t leave marks on your face when you hop out of the pool. Available in -1.5 to -7.0.
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The 7 Best Goggles for Competitive Swimmers. Our breakdown of the best training and competition goggles. Includes goggles from SPeedo, MP Michael Phelps, Arena, and more.
Swim Goggles: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know. From the history of swim goggles (we “borrowed” motorcycle goggles at the beginning), to the reasons why it’s so important that you wear them in the water.
