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The first time I try Speedo iQ, the brand\u2019s new smart swimming goggles<\/a>, I wonder whether I\u2019ve missed something. They look like a normal pair of goggles. They feel like a normal pair of goggles. And there\u2019s no augmented-reality display or data screen, as I\u2019d expected from a \u00a3149 gadget promising to analyse my swimming in more detail than any smartwatch ever has. This thing is the future of swim tech, according to its creators, and three-time Olympic gold medallist Adam Ramsay-Peaty<\/a> is already a fan. Can the user experience really be as simple as pressing a black button and just\u2026 swimming normally? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Apparently so. It\u2019s only as I walk back to the changing rooms after my first 1km swim and the goggles sync with my phone that I discover they\u2019ve been watching me rather closely. Alongside the distance and pace data I usually get from my Garmin, there\u2019s my breathing, head position and turn performance \u2014 even a moving avatar recreating what my head was doing underwater. My average head angle was 33 degrees, but at my best I managed seven \u2014 much closer to the neutral position the app tells me reduces resistance. Suddenly I\u2019m looking at something I\u2019ve never really thought about in decades: not just how fast I swim, but how I swim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This is where the AI comes in. Once I finish swimming, the goggles send my movement data to Speedo\u2019s systems, where algorithms trained on years of swimming data work out what I\u2019ve actually been doing in the pool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThere are 50 per cent of people that want some kind of feedback, and there are 50 per cent that don\u2019t\u201d<\/p>\n Nate Tracy, Speedo\u2019s vice-president of innovation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There are already smart goggles on the market trying to change that. Form\u2019s Smart Swim 2 LT<\/a> (\u00a3129) beams pace and distance into your eyeline, with guided workouts and coaching available through a \u00a399-a-year subscription. HoloSport has gone further still: its SollaWave goggles<\/a> (\u00a3173) combine fitness tracking with underwater music. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a curious decision, then, for Speedo\u2019s device to give you less, not more than its rivals. But apparently it\u2019s deliberate. \u201cThere are 50 per cent of people that want some kind of feedback, and there are 50 per cent that don\u2019t,\u201d Nate Tracy, Speedo\u2019s vice-president of innovation, tells me. The company\u2019s competitive swimmers were particularly adamant that they didn\u2019t want technology distracting them in the water. \u201cYou really are looking to finish the workout and go get a look at that information,\u201d Tracy says, describing it as \u201ca total dopamine thing\u201d when you get out and race to your phone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There is a smarter reason for the omission, too. The passive sensor is approved by World Aquatics for competition, meaning the same \u00a3149 goggles I\u2019m wearing could be worn by Olympians. Speedo hopes athletes will do exactly that at Los Angeles 2028.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But what can iQ do for amateurs like me? Tracy compares it not to a Garmin but to Trackman, the technology golfers use to analyse their swing. Running and cycling produce relatively \u201clinear\u201d data, he says; swimming is a technique sport, where moving your head by a couple of degrees can matter. \u201cI don\u2019t know that there\u2019s another sport that parallels swimming when it comes to complexity and technique.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As someone who swims for mindfulness and general fitness over split times, I go in sceptical. We track sleep, steps, menstrual cycles \u2014 do I really need more swimming data too? But within a couple of sessions I\u2019m scrutinising my head angle. Could the tilt of my head have anything to do with my back pain? Could fixing it make me more efficient in my next triathlon? <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAre smart swimming goggles worth it? <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n