FORM Smart Swim 2 LT Goggles: First Open Water Test

Summer is here. As I found out today, my usual open-water swimming (OWS) venue at Shepperton is closed due to algae, and only the winter lake is open for the time being. I’d never swum in the winter lake and thought this could be a great (warm) opportunity to test out the FORM goggles on a lake where I wasn’t familiar with the layout or sighting points. Specifically, the Smart Swim 2 LT has SwimStraight technology, which gives you a heads-up bearing/compass display inside your goggles as you swim, and it’s a free feature. The theory is that once you’ve sighted and headed off in the right direction, you don’t have to sight anywhere near as much and still go in a straight line.

Today’s tests

I wanted to achieve two things today.

1. Using SwimStraight on the Smart Swim 2 LT for OWS in an unfamiliar lake
2. Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra accuracy testing in OWS (GPS + HR)

SwimStraight – Why This Is An Important Feature

I’m an OK swimmer (Ironman finisher), but swimming is definitely not my strong point. I know that if I don’t swim in a straight line, I swim further. I know that if I continually perform sighting, my legs will sink slightly, and that will slow me down.

SwimStraight can help you swim a shorter distance faster. That’s a pretty obvious benefit, and more likely one that positively compounds the worse a swimmer you are. For excellent swimmers who naturally swim straight, it may slightly de-risk your race and lessen the frequency of your sighting.

The Test

I had the FORM goggles on my head (strange that) with the controls on the standard right side.

Also on test were the Forerunner 970 on my right wrist and the Cheetah 2 Ultra on my left. I had the Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 in the tow bag as a reference device (it’s probably the most accurate GPS on a watch on dry land).

All devices were started before entering the water, after acquiring a good GPS fix, and stopped soon after exiting the water. One lap is about 500m, but there will be a bit of error when out of the water, and perhaps also introduced by faffing around at the start, as there were lots of other people. I planned a couple of individual (identical) tests, this being the first.

Results

I’d only ever used FORM goggles in lakes I was familiar with, and I was surprised that unfamiliar surroundings affected how I used the tech. At my regular swim venues, the turning points are routine; I know where to go next and the magnitude of each turn. At this new venue, I was much less confident about the next buoy’s location, and they were all small/low ones — not hard to see, but not easy either. The key finding here was that at the turning points, I was slower and, after heading off toward the next one, I was less confident in what SwimStraight was telling me, so I made more sightings than I would have expected to (something like once every 10 strokes rather than just cracking on).

By strange coincidence, someone was swimming close to me who was obviously a bit faster but clearly not going in the straightest of lines. I guess neither of us was racing, but I beat them to every buoy as I was going straighter (though not super straight).

I’ve built up a few swims with these new goggles bot in the pool and now in OWS. I have the subscription and thought I’d check my progress.

I’m a little confused by the scores I’m getting from the app’s Coach. These 5-swim average stats all seem to imply I’m a good swimmer, ‘Level 5 expert’ in some cases. I’m really not.

General Ease of Use

The goggles are fairly new and did not leak. When I put them on, there was good suction in each eye socket, indicating to me that no water would get in, and they were more than comfortable enough for the hour I used them today. There is slight pressure to the nose side of my right eye socket, and that side seems to be positioned not quite right, as indicated by the discomfort and by the display not locating in my field of vision as I would like. (I have tried other nose bridge widths — larger — but prefer the one I used: medium.)

Compared to using it on my usual lake at Shepperton, I found SwimStraight less useful than usual in unfamiliar surroundings. For me, it’s better to tweak and improve what I already know rather than act as a learning aid in a completely new environment.

Cheetah’s Accuracy

The heart rate and GPS tracks lack a third comparator, which failed to work. Either that, or someone forgot to press the button on the watch in the tow float. Clearly, the Garmin chest strap is showing the wrong HR, but I can’t prove it. From the GPS track, it is not obvious which is wrong, but I’m fairly certain it’s the Cheetah 2 on the left side, though the return to the shore might be wrong on the Garmin. Re-test required.

GPS and HR Results

Sorry! None of the FORM Smart Swim goggles has built-in GPS, and the LT is the only model in the range without a built-in temple HR sensor. The following HR and GPS results are thus for the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Ultra that I’m also testing right now, although it is worth noting that, for example, the FORM app will sync your GPS trace from your smartwatch, so in this case, my GPS track in the FORM app is synced from my Forerunner 970.

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FAQ

Does FORM SwimStraight reduce how often you need to sight in open water?

Not automatically. In a familiar venue, where you already know where the next buoy sits, SwimStraight lets you sight less and swim straighter. In an unfamiliar venue, it can work against you: with less confidence in the buoy positions, this test produced more sightings, roughly once every ten strokes, rather than fewer.

Does the FORM Smart Swim 2 LT have built-in GPS?

No. No model in the FORM Smart Swim range has built-in GPS. The FORM app syncs your GPS trace from a paired Garmin or Apple Watch, so your open-water track still appears in your swim history.

Does the FORM Smart Swim 2 LT track heart rate?

No. The LT is the only model in the FORM range without a temple heart rate sensor. The Smart Swim 2 and Smart Swim 2 PRO both include one. To record heart rate with the LT, you need a separate sensor or watch.

What Are the FORM Smart Swim HeadCoach Skill Levels?

HeadCoach evaluates your swimming using five distinct ability levels: Developing (Level 1), Emerging (Level 2), Competent (Level 3), Advanced (Level 4), and Elite/Optimal (Level 5). Within each of these five tiers, your performance is tracked on a precise numerical scale from 0 to 100.

 

Last Updated on 23 May 2026 by the5krunner