Fog Free Swimming Goggles?

[Chris Padilla]

Any swimmers here at the Creek?

I would really like to find a pair of swimming goggles that do not fog up.

I've had pairs that were great for a week or two but they all eventually fog up.

I'd be willing to pay a decent sum to find a brand that works for a long time.

Does such a thing exist?

Thanks!

[Erik Loza]

Chris, do you do the usual spit-and-rinse thing first? Or any de-foggging drops?

Erik

[Dan Friedrichs]

Divers scrub the insides of masks with toothpaste (or I suppose bar keeper's friend would work) to remove any residual silicone residues, then spray dilute baby shampoo inside and gently rinse. I think the idea is that fog is just little droplets of condensation, and it can't be avoided, but the shampoo is a surfactant which reduces the surface tension between the droplets, resulting in a uniform film of water (rather than individual droplets which are visible).

[Chris Padilla]

Chris, do you do the usual spit-and-rinse thing first? Or any de-fogging drops?

Erik

I don't do any saliva treatment and the defogging drops don't seem to work either. I end up having to remove my goggles after a few laps to dunk and shake out. It gets rather annoying.

[Chris Padilla]

Divers scrub the insides of masks with toothpaste (or I suppose bar keeper's friend would work) to remove any residual silicone residues, then spray dilute baby shampoo inside and gently rinse. I think the idea is that fog is just little droplets of condensation, and it can't be avoided, but the shampoo is a surfactant which reduces the surface tension between the droplets, resulting in a uniform film of water (rather than individual droplets which are visible).Cool...something new to try. :)

[Erik Loza]

Chris, one thing that helps me (aside from spitting or the gel drops) is to splash cold water on my face before putting the mask on. If I just put the mask on, especially if it's a warm or tropical region, the mask will for sure fog. You need to cool down your skin first. I always splash water on my face a few times before I go in. Hope this helps,

Erik

[Rich Engelhardt]

Rubbing the lenses with a raw potato used to work when they were made of glass.

I wet my thumb w/saliva and rub mine, then I rinse them out in the pool and put them on.

I'm real low impact though & can only manage 4 laps-on my back - before I poop out.

I did get brave today though and tried to actually swim. I made about 15 feet before I pooped out.
(don't laugh, it's taken my ~ two months to get to that stage)

The rest of the time I just "tread water in a forward direction" :D :D!
Being a fat boy tubby gut means I got a lot (a whole lot!) of built in buoyancy !

[Mike Null]

Way back when--I used the spit method on my scuba mask with good results. Even worked on the bifocal lenses in the mask.

[Bill Orbine]

Blowing bubble soap works for racers helmet shields. BTDT.

[david scheidt]

Any swimmers here at the Creek? I would really like to find a pair of swimming goggles that do not fog up. I've had pairs that were great for a week or two but they all eventually fog up. I'd be willing to pay a decent sum to find a brand that works for a long time. Does such a thing exist? Thanks! I use a product called 'spit' (https://www.amazon.com/Jaws-Quick-Spit-Antifog-Spray/dp/B00PDE1TO4). It works well, if you apply it in advance and let it dry before rinsing it out. Don't rub it on, if your googles have a factory coating, just spray and swish it around.

[paul cottingham]

I swim about 1 mile a day when my health allows. All I do is spit in my googles, and that has always worked for me. You used to be able to buy artificial spit for the squeamish that I hear worked pretty well. You might still be able to buy it, I don't know.

I know now when I was swimming competitively, and we were swimming 6-7 miles a day, we all just spat in our goggles, and would usually just dip them if they fogged during rests, or between sets.

[Kev Williams]

Anyone tried Rain-X?

[Dan Friedrichs]

When you think of the physics of it, fog is just condensation that forms due to the temperature difference. It's unavoidable (unless you're swimming in 98.6F water, or can produce a 0 humidity environment in the space inside the goggles). I think Rain-x is actually the opposite of what you want - Rain-X is a hydrophobic surface treatment that causes large drops to form (and then shed more quickly). What you really want is a hydrophilic surface so that individual droplets blend together into a thin film of water which won't distort light as badly as individual droplets. Baby shampoo, spit, commerical "spit" - they're all just surfactants.

[Mark Blatter]

I swim about 1 mile a day when my health allows. All I do is spit in my googles, and that has always worked for me. You used to be able to buy artificial spit for the squeamish that I hear worked pretty well. You might still be able to buy it, I don't know.

I know now when I was swimming competitively, and we were swimming 6-7 miles a day, we all just spat in our goggles, and would usually just dip them if they fogged during rests, or between sets.


+1 ^^^

That is what we did in high school. At times my goggles would fog up again, but a quick spit and rinse would work for another while longer.

[paul cottingham]

+1 ^^^

That is what we did in high school. At times my goggles would fog up again, but a quick spit and rinse would work for another while longer.

i find once I have coated them, I can just pull them forward, lean into the water, and rinse. That clears the fog. My mile, even broken into sets takes about 35 mins, (give me a break, I'm almost 55, and weigh 260 lbs! Can't all be speedsters!) so it doesn't have to last too long.

seriously. Even though they don't show Michael Phelps gobbing into his googles, I'll bet even he does it when training, and before a 400 IM race. All his other distances it wouldn't be an issue.

try it. All the cool kids do it.

[Van Huskey]

While I rarely swim with goggles my wife and I are frequent divers and snorklers and over the years I have used spit, Rain Ex Defog and highly dilute baby shampoo I have learned they are merely treating the symptom not the disease. The two keys to a clear diving mask are first never letting water get in, even a little. The second and most important is to keep the lens SURGICALLY CLEAN. Similar to water not starting to boil if there are no nucleation points (though the physics is different) an extremely clean mask will almost never fog if you don't let any actual water in. Another key (most associated with snorkling) is when surfaced with your head out of the water, usually talking to your snorkling "buddy" about the cool manta ray etc you saw face away from the sun, the greenhouse effect will heat up the air in your mask and make it more likely to fog when submered plus don't wear your goggles/mask on your head before going in put it on at the last minute it prevents that hot lens/colder water shock which can fog them instantly.