EnduranceSource.com

Reviewer: Triathlete

Location: Swimming Pool

Today i'm in the pool with a new pair of Aqua Spheres - 'Vista Mask' goggles to try out! The goal of my swim session is to focus on my 100m time and this session is made up a 200m warm up followed by 12 x 100m sets with 5 second rest between each set, and then finally a 200m warm down – total distance: 1,600m

    Appearance / Fit: 

The Vista Mask is based on the same design ideas used for Scuba masks and as such is slightly bigger than a standard pair of swim Goggles. The design of the Vista mask means that it’s still ‘aqua-dynamic’ while also providing the wearer with a much greater area of visibility while in the water.

  The Test:

Fitting the goggles was a bit different as they are fitted with a special “Quick-fit” button. This button is a pretty cool way of tightening and loosening the strap on the goggles at a single touch, as opposed to the traditional method of slowly feeding the goggle strap into a strap lock.

In the water the Vista Mask goggles were comfortable and really did improve visibility, as I found it far easier to see both around & ahead of me while in the water. This was also true when I practiced sighting by raising my head out of the water. The strips of transparent seal on either side, above and below all contributed towards the greater sense of space and light. The seal around the goggles is very solid resulting in absolutely no water entered the goggles during my swim. I was also delighted to discover that at then end of my session, I didn’t have any goggle marks on my face!

  Overall Verdict:

Aqua Sphere's Vista Mask definitely provides excellent visibility in the water. Having had the opportunity to give these goggles a go, I definitely feel that they would be even more impressive in open water where sighting and visibility are more important. The impressive seal was also something which I think would perform well in an open water race as it would be very helpful in reducing the risk of goggles getting knocked off by a competitor’s stray kick!

Total score: 9 out of 10