Background information
Garmin, Fitbit and all the rest: how smart is your smartwatch? An expert explains in this interview
by Patrick Bardelli
Smart swimming goggles promise more perspective when training
19.3.2022
Translation: Megan Cornish
The flood of data in sport doesn’t stop at swimming. So you don’t have to check your smartwatch at every turn, there are now swimming goggles with an integrated display.
This model is neither gilded nor endorsed by a famous face. But it is «smart». «Form» superimposes training data over your field of vision at a price that would still make me think long and hard even if my swimming pool was Scrooge McDuck’s money bin.
While we’ve long been used to being able to control all possible parameters with one look at a smartwatch, mobile phone or bike computer for sports on land, the situation has been more complicated in water – until now. There are, of course, countless sports watches which display distance, pace, the number of strokes and much more. The data’s there, but not in your line of sight during training. That's enough for 99 per cent of users.
Live data for a performance-driven target audience
For the one per cent, who want to swim at the cutting edge of development, there are smart goggles. And as is the case with every innovation, the customer base will expand over time. If it proves itself. It’s clear that, in a few years’ time, it will still attract a performance-oriented target audience for whom no training effort is too much, no price tag too high – as long as they're progressing.
I can understand using data goggles. You can’t usually do a lot when you’re swimming except count the tiles and lanes or occasionally peer at a pace clock at the water’s edge. The idea of changing that and placing live data in your field of vision makes sense. And it has been continuously pursued.
Not the first smart goggles
The brain behind «Form» is founder and CEO Dan Eisenhardt, a man who has long been involved with smart sports eyewear. In 2008, he co-founded Recon Instruments, a company which also brought glasses with a heads-up display to the market. They’re designed for use on land, though.
The first model was launched back in 2010 as the first sports glasses of their kind. For context, this was before Google Glass – the data glasses which were the first to also garner attention beyond the tech scene because their wearers drew ridicule and earned themselves the scornful nickname «glassholes». In 2015, Recon was taken over by Intel and it was closed down in 2017.
However, Dan Eisenhardt – himself a competitive swimmer for 14 years – had unfinished business. Water is clearly his thing, and the sale of Recon Instruments left him with enough capital to launch «Form». The smart swimming goggles have been around since 2019, but the know-how behind them is much older.
Swimming in the data stream
Competition stimulates business
Cover image: Form
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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