Nobody likes a foggy or blurry goggles while swimming. Sun, water, and chlorine can wear out your goggles after several uses. Hence, to enjoy your swimming fullest, you need to replace them after a certain time- for you or your baby.
But how often should you replace swimming goggles? Let’s find the answer in this blog. At the end of the article, you’ll also find some maintenance tips and tricks to enhance swimming goggles’ longevity.
How often should you replace swimming goggles?
If you are a regular swimmer, your swimming goggles should get replaced within 4 to 6 months. On the other hand, the goggles can be changed every year if you’re a leisure swimmer. Usually, it’s very important to replace them when exposed to sun, salt, and water. Also, how often you clean them, using frequency, and other factors determine whether to replace them.
Here’s some more information that might help you:
| Swimmer | Using time | Replacing time |
| Leisure | Once per month | Every year |
| Regular | 3 to 5 times every week | Every 4 to 6 months |
| Competitive | 5 to 7 times every week | Every 3 months |
Signs you need to buy new swimming goggles
You might think your goggles go longer than a year when you are a regular or leisure swimmer. Here are a few signs that show they might need to replace:
- Continuous fogging: This means that the anti-fog layer is degraded. So, it can cause continuous fogging even after cleaning properly.
- Fills with water: Sometimes, the sealing gets disrupted and fills the goggles with water. So, it’s time to replace the goggles!
- Loose straps: The straps can be loose and worn out. Eventually, they will slide off the face easily, making swimming problematic.
So, with fewer chemicals, maintenance, and a good brand, you can replace swimming goggles after months and years. Also, when you use goggles for years, they wouldn’t work the same. It’s obvious that continuous usage would ruin the quality.
How to maintain swim goggles?
You can maintain a swim goggles by storing and cleaning it properly. There are several methods available. You can also read the manufacturer’s care guide and follow them accordingly.
Here are a few tips professional swimmers suggest for maintaining swim goggles:
1. Lens care
In most cases, it’s important to rinse the lens with lukewarm water and buff it with a microfiber cloth. Additionally, you should use clean water rather than a pool or seawater. Some may suggest using mild soap in lens care. But it would affect the lens by stripping away the layer of anti-fog protection.
So, you should avoid soap to clean the lens. Moreover, you should also avoid touching the goggles inside the layer as it would affect the anti-fog layer again. It’s better to use cotton wool to clean the lens.
2. Strap care
Cleaning the straps with water and massaging them with soapy water can be effective. However, you need to be very cautious while using soapy water. Eventually, your lens could worsen at contact with soapy water. So be extra careful in this case.
3. Lens seal and gaskets
While you clean around the goggle or the gasket, you should always use lukewarm water. It would help you maintain the watertight sealing. Some swimmers avoid taking care of the things around the lens.
This could affect the tight sealing, and water will easily enter the goggles. So, it would help if you keep these clean and debris-free as they will extend the longevity of your goggles.
4. Drying goggles
Once you are done cleaning, check whether your goggles are completely dry before putting them in a swim bag or storing them. The moisture in the goggles can create mold and bacteria, ultimately ruining the goggles. So, you should air dry them after you rinse them properly.
Air drying them would also help you maintain the structure and shape of the goggles. You will find many swimming goggles with hard cases. These could protect the goggles and dry them flat. Consider using them.
How to extend swim goggle longevity?
Well, there is no shortcut to extending longevity rather than taking care of them properly. Some top-notch goggles can be used for even a year without worrying about replacing them. However, they would last even longer when you take good care of them.
Eventually, you get to save a few pennies when you maintain them, or else you require to continue replacing the goggles. So, remember to clean them properly, so they last till their expiry dates.
Final verdict
The answer to the question of how often should you replace swimming goggles is usually around 3 months to 1 year. The longevity of a swim goggle depends on the type of swimmer you are, chemicals, maintenance, and a few other factors. So, if you want to avoid replacing them frequently, it would be best to take good care of them. What swimming tips do you know? Let us know in the comment box below.