TYR Blackops 140 EV goggles review – Buy with caution

Having signed up to review equipment for Trivelo, I was excided to have my first ever item arrive to review. A pair of TYR Blackops 140 EV goggles. With a RRP of $29.99, which roughly equates to £23 but a quick search can find them for £20. 

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Summary of TYR Blackops 140 EV Goggles Review

Trivelo Score – 2 / 5

They didn’t leak, the nose adjustment was good, anti-fog was good enough. I think I could just about cope with the tunnel vision for a one-off event. Would I choose these given any other option, no. Unless you want to learn how a visually impaired triathlete/swimmer feels, which incidentally I would highly recommend as a life lesson, then these are perfect. 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Good seal to prevent ant leakage
• Comfortable

Cons

Terrible visibility in the water that is impossible to overlook

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First Impressions of the TYR Black Ops Goggles

TYR describe them as “Engineered for both men and women in competition and training, the low profile design of the LGBKOP swimming goggle ensures a close fit with minimal drag. Lightweight and streamlined, the Blackops’ watertight construction includes Durafit silicone gaskets, wide peripheral range (140°) and four removable nosebridge size options”

A good sturdy box encloses to sleek black, heavily tinted goggles with the removable nose pieces to ensure the correct nose bridge length is available without having annoying lose ends digging into your nose. First impressions are good.

Fit in the water

In a previous life I was a sailing instructor, I was given the opportunity to sail with paralympic sailors and learn how to adapt to be as inclusive as possible. One of the sessions involved wearing various googles that mimicked the different visibility categories that the sailors get categorised in. It was mind blowing just how good the Olympians are at adapting and feeling their surroundings. What has this got to do with swimming goggles I hear you ask? Well, if you want to know how a partially sighted person sees the world, the Black Ops 140 are the goggles for you.

For an alternative option see the TYR Special Ops 3.0 goggles review by Ben Green.

Seal of the goggles

Put the goggles on and you are transported to another world where only items directly in front of you are discernible. Whilst TYR claim wide peripheral range of 140°, the reality is you can see something is there. It could be your own arm, could be the swimmer next to you, could be the lane rope or seaweed. The vision is so bad I couldn’t tell. At no point could I see my own hand enter the water unless directly looking at it, a couple of times I passed a swimmer going in the other direction and stopped for fear of a collision but I shouldn’t have, they were swimming in a perfectly normal way, which, when wearing any other pair of goggles I have ever owned wouldn’t have been a problem. On the plus side the anti-fog seemed to work well.

Anti-Fog Durability

Thinking maybe I was harsh in my initial assessment; I tried the goggles a second time. Nope, nope, nope. Just awful, vision was as bad as I remembered and the anti-fog didn’t seem great either to boot. 

Quality of the materials

There is no reference point or peripheral vision that is useful. Yes, there is a wide peripheral vision and the materials are qualty. But the goggles distort everything so much it almost exactly mimics the visibility goggles I wore that day sailing in Plymouth sound. Completely overwhelms any views on quality of the goggles themselves.

Would you buy them?

Would I buy them? If I had entered an event, left my goggles at home and TYR Black OPS 140 were the only ones left on the shelf (and they should be last on the shelf) I would. 

Read our round-up of 15 of the best swimming goggles available to buy for other options.

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