Ruby Fresh Goggle Fitting Tips

"You just put them on your face, right?"

"Yeah ... nah ... !"

Here's a few pointers for the fitting of the Ruby Fresh goggles — the points made here are also relevant to all such 'large gasket' type swim goggles from any brand.

It's really super important to make sure that the goggles are fitting correctly BEFORE you hit the water. There is nothing as annoying as leaking goggles. These tips will help you place and align the silicon gasket properly to help with a great fit on each swim.

1. The eye gaskets should be placed 'in' the eye socket. That sounds obvious, but what that means is don't have the upper part of the gasket on the top of the eyebrow. That won't work so well and will probably leak. Have the top edge of the gasket just below the eyebrow 'in the eye socket', or at the least on the bottom edge of the eyebrow if you are of bushy-eyebrow ilk.

2. Push the inner (nose side) edge of the gasket in towards your nose slightly (first image below) when putting them on. This is a good gauge of the fit. To get a great snug fit open your eyes wide and stretch your cheeks down at the same time by making that funny pose with your mouth open. You know the one ...

3. Don't overtighten the straps. Why? Because of two things, three even ... (i) the goggles will feel uncomfortably tight; (ii) and this is the main reason — the bridge section of the goggles between each eye across the nose will be stretched apart and have an effect on Point 2 above, possibly causing a leak from the inside position of the eye near the nose; (iii) your eyelashes will touch the inside of the lens and this is very annoying — this is a good indication that the goggles are too tight — see point (i).

4. Check that the gasket is not overlapping your swim cap, especially at the temple position on the side of your head if you like your cap pulled down low. This will cause leakage from the outside edge if it overlaps the swim cap.

 

 5. Make sure that the strap is centralised on the back of your head. You will note the goggles being pulled to one side if not. It will be obvious.

6. Now, this next tip is purely a personal one but I don't take my goggles off once they are on if I can help it. I like to keep them dry on the inside if I can. I find this lessens any tendency to fog up. This is a personal thing, because for many swimmers, the first thing they do is dunk the goggles in the water after spitting in them! Buy hey, each to their own on this point!

7. When storing your goggles, keep them out of the direct heat of the sun, especially in your car. Do not allow other items, particularly those with sharp edges or corners, to be resting or sitting on top of the goggles, especially across the gasket. This will deform the silicone material, kinking and/or making it lose form, allowing a leak to occur. The image below shows an extreme example of what happens when goggles are thrown into a scorchingly hot car in direct sun AND have a shoe resting across them!