Aqua Gear

As anyone who has met me or spoken with me in the last year knows, I love swimming.  When I started training for Vineman swims quickly  became my favorite workouts.  I feel comfortable in the water, even if I'm not fast.  I love swimming, especially swimming in the ocean.  OWS (open water swim) is my absolute favorite and I go whenever I can.

Recently I discovered a website called Aqua Gear.  They got in touch with me to do a review, and being that I am the queen of ocean swimming, it seemed like the perfect site for me to look in to and review.  So here's my thoughts.  Aqua Gear sells all kinds of swim gear, including goggles, swim caps, tempo trainers, water jog belts, waterproof mp3 players and SO much more.  They have basically all the swim gear you could possibly need, all in one place.  Its a super easy website to use and they have a great selection.  If you enjoy swimming a website like this is fantastic cause you can get basically all the gear you need in one place (note, they do not sell bathing suits, but they do sell pretty much everything else you could need for swimming).

Notice, it says Free Shipping on orders over $75, awesome!

As I explored the website I found some goggles that would work better for open water swim than the ones I currently have.  (I was doing all swims, pool and open water, with a pair of goggles that were really designed just for pool swimming.  I love the goggles I've been using because they don't fog up, but they don't have quite the range of vision that I would like for OWS.)  I found a pair that I thought might work well for me and decided to get a pair that are lightly tinted (good most of the time in LA when it's bright and sunny) and one clear pair (good for swimming when its slightly more overcast out).  And, I figured, as long as I was ordering something I'd get a new swim cap too.  I got a fun kids one (which fits my giant head, sort of), its a yellow fish with white stripes.

The Aqua Gear website has a great chat feature as well.  If you have any questions you can have them answered by someone who is knowledgeable.  So, I decided to test it out.

I didn't have a lot of questions.  But, I did have one. I asked, and waited... tick tock... In an age of every thing right NOW it took a moment for me to realize that three minutes is not a crazy amount of time to wait for an answer (remember to be patient).  Plus, I didn't have to call and be on hold forever.  Its a great little feature.  Ask a question, keep shopping around, wait for an answer, and I'm sure if you need more follow up you can keep asking away.

I didn't actually say thank you, but I should have.

I got an account set up quickly and the items shipped fast.  I got them in just a couple of days, actually faster than I expected.  I was super excited when the package arrived and couldn't wait to hit up OWS again, ASAP!  But, alas, because of timing it took a couple of weeks.  Then, this past week I was able to get in not one, but TWO, ocean swims and I was able to bust out my new swim gear.

First, let me say that the swim cap is super cute and fun.  It would probably fit a little better on someone with a slightly smaller head, but I do have an abnormally large noggin, so there's that.  Aqua Gear has a good variety of these kids caps, cute for children AND adults (with normal sized heads!).  They actually have a really good variety of swim caps for adults too.  Lots of colors and silicone and latex varieties (they also have thermal swim caps that I guess would be good if you swam in super cold lakes/oceans/etc).

Please ignore the utterly exhausted look, it was like 6am on Friday.  I was tired. The bags under my eyes don't usually look quite so monumentally large. Its cute cap though, right?

Next up are the goggles.  Friday morning OWS was the first time I used them.  I got the Aqua Sphere Kaiman, one with transparent frame and clear lenses and one with silver frame and smoke lenses.  I did not get the women's specific version, and they fit my face perfectly.  They are really comfortable, and fit my face perfectly.  I haven't used the ones with the clear lenses yet, as it has been quite sunny here, but as they are the same, I'm sure I'll have the same experience.  The goggles fit nicely, and were super easy to adjust.

The biggest thing that annoys me with goggles is when they fog up non-stop.  Its frustrating and annoying and I hate it, and it happens all the time.  Most goggles tend to fog up.  The goggles I have for the pool are like a small miracle, because they don't fog up at all.  So, I was hoping that these ones wouldn't and would have a better range of vision.  I got in the ocean and set off.  I got out to the buoy and stopped, they had fogged slightly, but I realized I had forgotten to splash some water in them, and that usually helps.  I turned the goggles around and splashed them and then began to swim again.  Success! No more fogging.  The goggles didn't leak and never felt uncomfortable and stayed tight on my face without being too tight (I think the women's ones would have been much too small).  Success!  Plus, my range of vision was much better, no more imaginary sea creatures in the corner of my eye from the edge of the goggles (that happens all the time with my pool goggles when I swim in the ocean).

Yes, I know, I look super tired, it was VERY early.  This was just as the sun was coming up

I still look silly/tired here, but not as bad, thank you tinted lenses.

Verdict?  First, get a fun swim cap, it just makes your swims more fun too.  Second, the Aqua Sphere Kaiman goggles are great for open water swimming, definitely recommend, no leakage, no fogging.  Last, I really recommend using Aqua Gear for your swim needs.  They have everything you could need for swimming, and they are super helpful and nice.  The website is incredibly easy to navigate, and if you have questions they are happy to answer them.  Everyone who works there, that I dealt with, was really nice and friendly and knowledgeable.  I really recommend using this site for all your swim gear needs, plus their prices seem to be on point with other companies.

Disclaimer: I was contacted by Aqua Gear and asked to write a review of their website.  I received a $40 store credit.  However, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.