Magic5 swim goggle blue-tinted lens
This is a short review of my experience with the Magic5 Swim goggles. Magic5 goggles are custom made , custom-fitted goggles that promise to transform the age old issue of leaky and ill fitting goggles into a perfect leak-free fit.
Leaky goggles are the bane of anyone who spends enough time in the pool or the open water, and I too have been hoping for the day when goggles would fit my face comfortably without having to cinch them into cutting my eye sockets while keeping all water away from my eyes. Read on and see my experience about these goggles.
The Theory
The name Magic5 comes from the founder’s credo that it’s the last 5% (the last magic 5%) of making goggles that are custom-fitted to an individual ‘s facial contours that will make the difference between a perfect fitting goggle, that feels “almost invisible” to your face, and every other swim goggle on the market.
Making the Purchase…
Magic5 Mirrored collection: Source theMagic5.com
The process begins by purchasing a pair of goggles from their online shop. choose the lens color from either mirrored or non-mirrored. available color selections are shown here , after successfully purchasing the goggles who’s prices are about ~$70 wait for an email with the purchase code that you’ll need for the face scanning app.
Then begin downloading the Magic5 Apple or Android face scanning application and proceed to follow the steps Scanning your face as illustrated here with their demo.
I followed the above steps , and dutifully scanned my face, I originally tried the Android application but it kept crashing and after a quick email from the company borrowed a friends iPhone to scan my face and that went pretty well. I understand the Android app received a recent update so it should be more stable now.
When you use the App to scan your face, it essentially creates a 3D mesh of the contours of your eye sockets, nose, jaw line etc. and from this contour mesh it will generate what Magic5 data it needs to custom manufacture the google seals within their manufacturing equipment.
The Magic5 Goggles themselves..
Magic5 front view
A few weeks later, the one pair ordered(blue tinted -non mirrored) in a nice black hard case with the goggles inside. The goggles themselves look pretty standard they look like an over-sized swedish goggle, blended with the MP goggles style. The hard plastic lenses (in a variety of stlyes) are mated with a double strap , adjustable at the rear using a simple tried and true center wrap adjustments. The straps are attached to plastic extensions on the sides of the goggle. A removable V shaped nose divider finishes up the design.
The “magic” is in the custom made seals…
Magic5 swim goggle seals custom sized seals around our eye socket
Looking at the construction of the goggle, its made of hard plastic except for the lenses and the eye seals. It’s in the eye-socket seals this is where likely the 3D printed /or custom extruded manufacturing takes place (custom-fitted) . You can clearly see the depth of the seals, are customized and different than any
Magic5 goggles straps
other google I have used, where usually, the lense extends towards the eyeocks and the seal is just the last little bit.
They are designed to fit under your eyebrow, in your eye socket (which is why they suggest you scan your face with your eyebrows a bit raised… yeah kinda of like Spock, see their video for how to get the best results), I presume this is so the scanning software is able to better measure the contour of your eye socket.
The seal material feels a little hard to me against the face and is not a cushy soft silicone seal like say TYR goggles.
The Verdict… they leak 🙁 part one..
my Magic5 goggles leak
Sadly, I have to report that my experience with the Magic 5 goggles is they leak and frankly are no better than any other goggles, that I tried. They leak as much as any other off-the-shelf store bought goggles. I tried fiddling with all sorts of adjustments, the head strap tightness from very loose to very tight, with swim cap, without swim cap, adjusted nose bridge, put them on at all sorts of angles, but with similar results, the leak in my case begins from the bottom of the goggles (like most other goggles I tried).
Magic5 closeup eye socket
They are designed to sit on your eye-socket (kinda like swedish style goggles) and the idea (i think) is that the custom seals will sit exactly against your facial contours creating a “perfect” seal.
I did a bunch of pool swims with the goggles about 3000 yds, mostly freestyle but some butterfly and breast, about 20yds into the swim set the leak begins from the bottom. I didn’t bother taking them to open water, since it I doubt that it wouldn’t leak there too.
Magic5 Customer Service reached out, offered a new set of Goggles. Result of second googles…
So after customer service found out that I was unsatisfied with the original goggles, they offered me a seco
nd set. I took advantage. I re-scanned my face (This time with their improved Android App which has vastly improved since the first time i tried it), then waited for my new googles to arrive. Which they did, quickly .
But much as the first time, the fit was fine, the goggles were optically very clear, but again they were not leak-proof.. pretty much like my original pair, the seals around my face still allowed water to creep in.
But a bigger issue I had with the second set of goggles, was they changed the design of the nose bridge and made it weaker, and after just a month of use the nose-bridge plastic tabs broke! that hold the nose bridge spacer . Really this is shoddy plastic around a high-stress point and I was very disappointed , so my $70 pair are now worthless, I suspect I could once again ask magic 5 to send me another pair, but unless the improve the design and fix the nose bridge flaw.. I don’t see the point.
Broken nose bridge plastic tabs
Conclusion
I really, really wanted these goggles to work, I literally dreamed of being able to swim one day without the annoyance of water impeding my vision, but short of wearing a full face mask, It didn’t happen. So here’s how I would break it down.
Pros:
- Decent quality and sensible styling design
- excellent fog resistance
- nice wide side viewing angles,
- good for open water visibility
- good responsive customer service (for me as an early buyer)
Cons:
- not entirely leak proof
- adjustable nose bridge clip design can come undone too easily or break
- cost $70 a little too high..
My gut feeling on the reason for the leaks is that the custom made/printed seal material, whatever process (3D printing? injection molding? extruding? ) material they are using, simply doesn’t have good sealing properties because of the nature of how it has to be manufactured (printed?).
As I mentioned above they feel “hard” against your eye socket and lack the softness of a typical silicone style gasket (such as a TYR goggle which uses a much softer seal compound), means its more rigidly affixed to your face, but I suspect a softer/gripper would conform better to facial contours possibly forming a better seal.
I want to stress this is my experience, its entirely possible my pair of goggles had some weird manufacturing defect or my scan didn’t get uploaded properly or some sort of other technical explanation.
Supposedly they have many testimonials on their website, from world class swimmers and triathletes, that really advocate for these goggles. So take my review for what it is one, individual with one two set of goggles. If your the owner of a set please feel free to share your comments below.
I applaud Magic5 and their founders for thinking outside the box and really offering an innovative solution for an age-old dilemma, and even though my experience wasn’t the most convincing I’m glad to know there are options out there, and I do believe future refinement of this custom process will eventually lead to leak-proof goggles for everyone.
I just ordered mine, hopefully they will not leak. The app seamed to do a nice job of scanning my face. I’ll see what happens when I get them.
Joshua,
Thank you for the feedback.
Don’t hesitate to contact us via [email protected] if you need anything or have any questions!
Best regards,
Christina, THEMAGIC5.
If you guys have a new nose bridge m sure ..
Mine have never leaked, not even once. Perhaps the contours of your face make it a more difficult fit? All I know is that, I have been in dreamland since using mine, the view is amazing. The fit is such that the elastic strap isn’t even tight nor do I feel the lenses in my eyesocket. They are that comfortable. I hope you resolve the problem.
I actually re-did the scan and received another model, which is working better, its still not a perfect seal, but better than the initial set. They also changed the nose bridge
Im going to be updating the review,they have since sent me a newer model that works a bit better
I ordered goggles and could not get customer service to respond and never received my goggleS…
That’s unusual, they were very responsive to my inquiries, did you order via the APP? maybe the order never went through?
Andrew,
I am sorry to hear this!
Did you receive your goggles? Did you complete your scan?
Sometimes it happens that the emails we send can end up in the spam folder.
Please let me know if we need to find a solution for you.
Thank you! Looking forward to hearing from you.
(Christina, THEMAGIC5)
Mine, two pair, are perfect. I don’t even know they’re on my eyes.
When scanning your face, you have to scan slowly and most importantly relax your face muscles around your eyes. Tension in the facial muscles will distort the scan data. If that doesn’t work, try pilates. Swimming might not be for you. (Joking) Hope that helps.
Glad to hear, I have since gotten updated goggles from Magic5 and they are improved, but still not perfect or leakproof, but much better than the original ones I reviews.
Karl,
Thank you for your great feedback!
I am happy to hear that you like the goggles.
Don’t hesitate to contact us ( [email protected]) if you need anything else.
(Christina, THEMAGIC5)
I too ordered my googles on line received a confirmation, it’s been 3 weeks, and have had no luck getting a response from customer service.
Peter,
I am sorry to see this!
Sometimes it happens that the emails we send can end up in the spam folder.
Please let me know if we need to find a solution for you.
Thank you! Looking forward to hearing from you.
Have a nice day.
Ordered the blue tint with gold mirror and they leak. They also dig into the bone above my eye. Contacted CS, they sent a replacement pair (wrong ones – they sent the blue, not the mirror gold) and the replacement ones also leak. Also, the connection to the nose piece comes apart easily (while swimming).
They are not even usable.
Yeah, I got another version , newer model but there was still some leakage.. it was improved though..
John,
Thank you for your feedback! I am sorry to see this.
Please send us an email to [email protected] and I am sure we can fix it.
Otherwise, you are entitled to a full refund.
Thank you.
(Christina, THEMAGIC5)
I also purchased a pair of these goggles.
They did leak a lot less than any other goggles I’ve purchased,all though they did cost more than twice too.
I thought the product felt very cheap and inferior to all my other goggles and unfortunately they leaked after about 45 minutes.
The visibility seemed slightly blurred on the up part of the lense too.
Sadly , the newer replacement goggles, the nose clip broke, its poor design in the stress points of these goggles. I applaud these guys, but I think we’ll need to wait for version 2.0.
Hi Philip,
I am so sorry to hear that your goggles are leaking!
Did you try to reach out to our customer service? [email protected]?
Since we improved a lot in our algorithm and sending out a new version, I am confident to say that we can find a good solution for you and a pair that will work.
Thank you for your feedback.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
(Christina, THEMAGIC5)
Hi, first of all thanks for the review. You seem, based on the photo you posted, to have a larger nose than average. Nothing personal, I actually have a quite large nose myself. I’ve had problems in the past with most standard made googles & swim masks that I have tried, that leaked. The root cause being that they did not take into account a nose with a large angle like mine (especially the latest swim mask that I tried, the Aqua Sphere Vista).
I just received my magic5 googles and have not tried them on in the swimming pool yet (will update my comment once I do). But I can tell that the nose piece does not fit at all, although it is claimed to be a custom piece. It may be custom, but not fit for my face at all. I will try different nose pieces and see what happens.
It is also hard to understand why they give 5 different nose pieces when they claim the nose piece to be custom made.
Reply, thanks for the insight, yeah I know I have a larger nose (no offense taken) , and I did try all three different nose pieces, and you’re right, the larger nose and not a big enough nose piece will definitely affect the fit, but even with the largest piece it leaked.
They did send me a second set of goggles, which had a better fit, but still not perfect, the issue with that set was they changed the manufacturing process for the nose piece clip, it kept popping out and eventually the plastic just broke , the slot where the nose piece fits into.
They offered another me yet one, but I’ll pass , I like their concept, but I think a better solution is just to use a better seal material rather than #d printed eye-cup seals (which is what they’re doing) , because a pliable seal material will make up for any contour differences, and again if its a good quality should form enough of a bond with your skin to make it waterproof.
Dear PPAO,
We have different nosepieces to make sure that people get exactly what they want depending on their feeling. Sometimes people like it to be a bit bigger or smaller because they are used to it. I hope this clarifies why we sending out more options.
Do you have any issues with your goggles? You can always reach out to our customer service: [email protected])
They will take good care of you and help whenever they can to fix any issues.
Thank you.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need anything.
( Christina, THEMAGIC5).
Dear Tony and everyone else!
Thank you for your review back then.
I am sorry to hear about your bad experience, but we improved our algorithm a lot since then and we are sending out an overall improved version of the goggles as well 🙂 We are very proud and I am sure we can make a new pair for you that works if you want to give us a shot at an updated review. Please send an email to [email protected] and let us arrange something.
Thank you for your feedback and we look forward to hearing from you.
Have a great day. ( Christina, THEMAGIC5)
Mine leaked and were very foggy.Otherwise a comfortable fit.going to try a second pair but skeptical.
I ordered for my wife, and was surprised to receive a set of goggles which had a fit so bad I doubted the whole scan setup. As a scam, not scan. It took ages to solicit a reply from their customer service. We ordered another pair, which were just as bad. Then we tried for a refund, and had to write mutiple times just to get e reply. Miserable customer service. Refund took ages as well, we had the feeling they were waiting for us to throw in the towel. Great idea, lousy product, much worse than off the shelf. And service just as bad. Don’t even bother…
Sadly this is the experience for many folks, I mean the idea is a good one. The reality however is that to make a good sealing goggle its not really about the dimensions of the lens its about the actual material used for the seal. The custom 3d printed insert they use just isn’t pliable enough or hydrophobic enough to keep water out, even if the fit is good, they still leak. At this point your better off ordering a vairety of googles from Amazon and seeing which ones have the best fit.
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Your review was spot-on with my experience. Leaks, fogging, nose piece that won’t stay in place. Magic5 had me send them photos of the goggles on my face and they’ve promised a new pair. I’ve asked for a Black Magic (darkest) pair this time since I swim during the day and the original Blue Magic is much too bright for daytime. I hope the next pair works as promised.
Mine arrived today, unfortunately they don’t feel like they fit my face at all. I went to the pool, tried one pair with the original nose piece and a second pair with a larger nose piece attached. I tried moving them up, down, here, there and eveywhere; strap loose, strap tight. As soon as my head was in the water they leaked. I am wondering how these can feel so wrong. I even tried them so tight that they were painful, they still leaked. I made myself swim a length each time I tightened them and just ended up with goggles full of water. I will email Magic 5 tomorrow to see what can be done; I so want them to work, as I can see that the periphery vision will be great.
Will let you know how I get on.
I received mine the other day. A friend of mine suggested getting them because as an older swimmer, with close set eyes, it’s difficult to get goggles to fit without having them too tight and leaving permanent bags. These have great visibility, but they do leak and really hurt my eye sockets. I was wondering if my eyes will become use to this, like breaking in a bicycle saddle, or are they just too tight? I want to give them a chance but I’m afraid they aren’t going to fit.
The main reason for leaking is that your face muscles MOVE and nothing will fit perfectly unless you don’t. The kind of material that can fit is not yet discovered.
True, but a better seal material that is more supple and creates a better bond with the skin around the eyes usually does the trick..
Hmm, I was about to order a pair of these until I read these comments. What other types of goggles have you had luck with? I have been having a really hard time finding something that works and it’s driving me crazy! I’m now up to 8 pairs from amazon, and all of them leak!
My suggestions is just buy a variety of $15-$25 cheaper Chinese googles on amazon, some of them actually have decent silicone around the eyes.
With name brands I’ve had ok success with TYR Special Ops and Zone 3 , both have the nice soft silicone sockets that I think form the best most comfortable seal.
I just bought a pair and the nose piece on one side is too loose and unhooks. I tried putting in a smaller nose piece but it doesn’t fit into the grooves. Requesting a refund.
I was excited to try a custom fitted google. Never got to try them in the pool.
They arrived and clearly the first nose piece was too small so i tried to replace it with one the 2 larger ones provided in my nice carrying case.
Well that’s when the problems started. Easy enough to remove the nose piece already on the googles. However, getting the larger one to stay in place on either half of the google was impossible. It simply wouldn’t click into place. I even tried another nose piece one, same issue. It wasn’t the nose piece, the plastic fitting the nosepiece supposedly should slide didnt work.
Send them an email expressing my disappointment that a $70 pair of custom googles couldnt design a bracket that held tight the nose piece.
Asked for a refund.