Maru Pulse Mirror Pro Goggles [in Red] – Not quite so rosey

Randomly though the packaging didn’t just contain goggles, but a pretty strong smell, that reminded me of TCP!

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Ignoring the smell, and taking a look at the goggles themselves:

First impressions on appearance were pretty good. I liked the fact that the lenses weren’t too big and the colour of mirrored-effect in the lenses was pretty cool too.

But, I thought the strap was a bit on the thin and rubbery side. I was also a bit worried about the length of it and how much give there was in terms of fitting… after a bit of adjusting, via the traditional ‘over-and-under-style clasp” I got them to  fit my head, but I think someone with a bigger head might want to see if there are any larger strap sizes available. [NB: My noggin isn't that big after all]

Here’s a close up of the goggles and strap:

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The goggles also come with a few interchangeable nose bridges in different sizes, which is great, but just as well I opted for the ‘as-standard’ medium size since it looked a bit tricky to change.

I then checked out what those funky looking mirrored-effect lenses looked like… and as you can see from the pics, everything was pretty rosy! I’d not worn any red lensed goggles before (even when I was little) so I was quite intrigued to see what affect they would have on my vision when swimming…

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And here’s what the Maru goggles look like on and how much lee-way there was left on the strap once I’d gotten it to fit properly:

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And so, post test-drive, here’s my sink or swim’ rating based on the following factors:

Function

They were certainly watertight and didn’t fog up, so I would have awarded full points for them doing what they were meant to if it weren’t for the fact I had to take them off after 25 minutes due to discomfort. These goggles are described as suitable for training, but sadly I don’t think they’re for long distance. So I’m giving 4/5

Comfort

Oh my goodness ‘frog eyes’ ahoy! I know the lenses are meant to fit the eye sockets, and am sure some people might like a snug fit around the eyes, but I found the harder plastic lens rims/seals really dug in and were quite painful [despite loosening the fit]. So I’m giving 1/5

Vision

The close socketed lenses weren’t too restrictive to vision, but did have a kind of ‘blinkered’ effect whilst swimming – the clearest line of sight was straight forward. But with the red lenses everything kind of looked a bit 3D-ish too…it was a weird novelty at first, what with the air bubbles and everything, but to be honest it’s not for me and I think after swimming a long way they’d give me a headache. I’m scoring 2.5/5

The vanity factor

The mirror-effect was pretty cool, they didn’t swamp my face and my boyfriend didn’t laught too much. I’d give them a good 4/5

Value for money

You get what you pay for with these goggles. In my opinion they’re pretty average in terms of quality vs price, 3/5

Thank you to Simply Swim for suggesting I try these goggles, and for letting me give them a test drive in my search for the perfect pair…