Wearable Tech: FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles – Second Impressions
My decision to buy a pair of FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles was a great success. Read about my first review here.
This is a follow up to my FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles review, 1 year after my purchase.
Pros:
- Swim stats presented real time, uninterrupted, right in front of your eyes
- Incredible motivation to swim more – Great diet and fitness support
- Improves your swim efficiency, endurance and speed
- Works without your phone when you swim
Cons:
- Battery: Sensitive to cold weather
- Battery: Durability issues
- Stroke, rest detection sometimes a little off
What a first summer swim season
One of the reasons why I made my purpose quickly is because it was summer in the northern hemisphere and I wanted to start using them immediately. I still swim indoors in the winter, but not as often.This turned out to be a huge success. I had the best swim season of my life with my motivation to swim increased thanks to being able to visualize my progress real time. This contributed to better health and well-being overall.
My experience using the FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles for year
The Good
During my year using the FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles, I became used to the variety of information they provide in real time right before your eyes as you swim. It’s a great innovative idea because otherwise you’re just staring at the bottom of the pool while you swim. As I became used to this, it was hard to imagine swimming without them.
If you’re like me I’m always counting my strokes as I swim aiming for a better Distance Per Stroke (DPS) ratio. I also want to count how many laps I’ve swam so I can aim for a particular distance. I’m not as concerned about speed, but I would like to time my sprints which I do at the end of my distance swim sessions. Just counting 2 metrics alone in my head is too hard to remember. If I’m lucky I’ll remember my stroke count for a lap, but I’m prone to forgetting that and forgetting my overall lap count. Forget adding my lap times on top of that. With the FORM AR Smart Swim Goggles all of that is taken care of, so I can focus completely on my swim form.
The Not So Good
As innovative as they are, as a small wearable device I discovered they were limited in one particular area; the battery. The reason why I stopped using a smartwatch was because the battery effectively died on me rendering the mobile device useless. When I first used these goggles I was concerned about the durability of the gaskets, thinking they would wear and tear after a couple of years of heavy use. However, the battery would give me problems much earlier than I would experience any gasket trouble.
After my first summer swim season ended, it got cold and trips to the pool decreased. First I noticed the length of each battery charge decreasing. Then, one time I got into the pool, powered on the goggles and the LCD screen indicated they were out of battery and soon turned off. Since I had become so accustomed to using them every swim, this was devastating. I couldn’t imagine putting in a whole bunch of effort and not having any of it recorded. I felt lost in the pool without that instant real-time feedback. I knew they had enough battery since the last charge, at least 50%, but the battery had depleted suddenly. When I finished a very disappointing swim session, I charged the goggles again and synced them to the FORM smartphone app. From then on I decided to keep them charged at least over 75% before any swim session.
Worldwide Coronavirus Pandemic
From March 2020 the global coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the use of my goggles. My gym was closed leaving me without access to a pool for several months. As a result, my goggles sat untouched for an extended time. I checked that they would turn on before going for my next swim months later when the gym opened. But, this time when I pressed the front power button they were completely unresponsive. I charged the goggles until they were able to power on. In this case when the battery has apparently depleted 0%, when the goggles are powered on the LED display is at the default brightness and prompts you to sync the goggles to the FORM smartphone app via bluetooth. For some reason without this sync to the FORM smartphone app, the goggles fail to charge properly and are unresponsive on their own. I was able to get the goggles to work on their own again, but it was a troublesome process to charge them from 0% battery. From that day on they didn’t seem to keep charge for even one day, so charging them before every swim became mandatory.
Stroke, Rest detection
These goggles are automatically able to detect your stroke count, what stroke you performed and when you’re resting. I presume this is achieved by a gyroscope function that can tell if your head is up/down or if you’re on your back. It’s very intuitive. However, it’s not perfect. Maybe my shabby technique is to blame but sometimes it thinks breast is fly and vice versa. Sometimes it didn’t check my turn times properly and thought I was resting. I adjusted the turn speed and this mostly solved the problem. I tried using the Interval mode, but it reset often mistaking a turn for a rest. With some fine tuning I can probably get this work, but in the meantime I just stuck with the lap swimming mode rather than interval mode.
Protect the anti-fog treatment (goes with any new swim goggles)
I made one critical mistake when I first used the goggles. This applies to all goggles too. I lightly washed the inside of the goggles with soap like I usually do for new plastic cooking products. But goggles aren’t for cooking (although old goggles are great to reduce irritation cutting onions). Washing the goggles like this can strip away the anti-fog protection, so don’t do this, just use them as they are and rinse them with water. Although I don’t have any significant issues with anti-fog protection at the moment, the goggles might have even better protection now if I didn’t wash them with soap first.
Using the Finis Tempo Trainer Pro
I use the FORM AR swim goggles together with the Finis Tempo Trainer Pro. This Tempo Trainer is essentially an underwater audio metronome that you place inside your swim cap. It provides an audible beep loud enough to hear in and out of the water. You can set your desired stroke rate and keep it constant allowing you to focus more on your form. Doing this allows you to achieve your distance and speed goals easier.
The Finis Tempo Timer was recommended to me through the Total Immersion Swimming method. I chose the Pro version with a replaceable battery so it would last longer. As a result it has lasted over 5 years. The watch battery needs to be changed every few months.
Look forward to my 3rd review 1 and a half years after my purchase.