Marko Maslakovic, gadgetsandwearables.com

July 29, 2021

Most swimmers will have heard of the name FINIS. The Northern California-based outfit is one of the leading manufacturers of swim products. With nearly three decades of experience they sell their gear in more than 80 countries across the globe. This includes everything from swim caps to underwater MP3 players.

Essential reading: Best fitness trackers and health gadgets

The company is known for innovation and says it is dedicated to developing the next big thing. And smart swim goggles certainly have the potential to become just that. This type of product offers a much more convenient method to track your swim sessions than a sports watch, or even worse – manually counting laps!

Mind you, FINIS is not the first to enter this market. FORM Swim Goggles have been around for some two years now as the first augmented reality glasses for swimmers. But now FORM has its first real competitor in the form of the FINIS Smart Goggle. This offers more choice to customers and will help to drive down the cost of such products.

I’ve been tracking my swim sessions for the past few weeks with the FINIS Smart Goggle. Here’s what I made of them.

FINIS Smart Goggle Review: Design

In the box you get a set of swim goggles, a little pod-like Smart Coach module, six different sized nose-bridges and a magnetic USB charging cable. There’s also a little instruction booklet if you care to read it.

Traditional Design

What I liked about the product is that it looks no different than a high-end traditional pair of goggles. More so than FORM Swim Goggles which are a bit bulkier and heavier.

Looking closely, you won’t notice anything strange about the FINIS Smart Goggles. And that can only be a good thing. I don’t particularly want to attract attention from fellow swimmers around me.

The goggles come in two colour options – white/smoke and blue. I have the second option as can be seen from the images. This is essentially a blue polycarbonate lens with a white, what looks to be, Thermoplastic Rubber Gasket and an adjustable silicone strap.

Ensuring a Nice Fit

The gear is comfortable to wear and you can adjust the tightness by pulling the straps, as you would with any traditional swim goggles. For added customization, you also get a number of different sized nose-bridges. The one that was attached by default ensured a nice fit for me, so there was no need to swap it around for another one.

During swimming the goggles kept the water out and felt perfectly fine. As far as fogging up, I did find this happens to an extent. But no more than any standard pair of swim goggles.

The clever bit of the whole thing is housed in the Smart Coach module. This needs to be inserted into the corner of the left lens. You’ll know it is properly in place when you hear two clicks. The first indicates that it is in position, the second that it is secure.

There was no danger, whatsoever, of the module falling out or moving around once it was in – it will not budge. In fact, it sits so firmly that I found it a bit difficult to remove when charging. But with trial and error you do get the hang of things. In the end I opted to just to leave it where it is. There’s no real reason to remove the module once it is in place.

FINIS suggests you rinse the goggles with fresh water after each swim. Also, if you spot any residue, to remove it from the Smart Coach module with rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth. Not a problem.

A Single Button for Control

In addition to the traditional design, what I also liked about the goggles is how simple they are to use. There is only one physical button and you use this to switch the goggles on, and to start or stop a swim session. This has been integrated in such a way that you don’t really notice the button unless you’re looking for it. It blends very nicely into the surrounding material.

As far as turning off the FINIS Smart Goggle, there’s nothing for you to do there. Simply end the swim by pressing the button, and they will automatically switch off after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Up to 6 Hour Battery Life

Moving on to the all-important battery life and on this count the goggles do not disappoint. On a single charge everything keeps going for around 4-6 hours depending on your use. Nevertheless, FINIS suggests you refuel after every swim. Not sure why – perhaps this helps to preserve battery health. On a one hour swim, I found the battery life displayed in the smartphone app was around 85%.

Charging is done via a proprietary cable which has a magnetic end which snaps on to the pins in the module. You can remove the module to charge it, or leave it in the left lens and charge it from there. I’m not a particular fan of proprietary charging gear as it means if you loose the cable or damage it, you’ll need to order a new one.