I ordered my TheMagic5 swim goggles last month after being bombarded with ads on Instagram and taking advantage of my 35% MX Endurance team discount. Although I’ve worn the same model of goggles for a while, I was definitely intrigued by TheMagic5 brand promise: a pair of goggles customised to your face, manufactured per order and delivered to your door.
It took a while because after I sent my order in, it took me another few days to download their scanning app and scan my face. Then, I had to re-do the scan. By the time they started making my goggles, nine days had elapsed. But then it only took them seven days to manufacture and deliver my order to my US forwarding address (I used Shipping Cart). Sixteen days is pretty reasonable for custom-made goggles!
From there, I sent it onward to the Philippines and received it 10 days later. (You can have TheMagic5 goggles sent directly from the US to the Philippines because they ship worldwide for free, but I have trust issues with Philippine customs…) So it took a total of one month to get my TheMagic5 goggles, and I’ve been testing them for about two weeks now.
The goggles come in a premium hard zip case with three other nose pieces hidden in the bottom of the foam that cradles the goggles. Out of the box, there is a visible difference between the right gasket and the left gasket, with the right gasket moulded a bit more sharply toward my outer cheekbones. They’re meant to press lightly against your skin and eye socket so you don’t have to wear the straps as tightly. You also shouldn’t feel like the goggles will suck your eyeballs out.
For those of us with long hair tucked under swim caps, it can be a bit finicky to find the proper tightness for the straps — or even where to lay the straps against your head. So there’s some trial-and-error involved in the pool especially on first use. I assume that as you get more accustomed to these goggles, the strap tightness and placement becomes more second nature.
For people who keep their hair short, this is a simpler matter.
Because TheMagic5 goggles don’t rely too much on suction to create a watertight seal, squinting while doing a hard lap let a drop of water in one time during my first swim with them. And then I realised I was wearing the goggles a little bit crooked; that’s why they moved. In any case, I absolutely hate when water gets into my goggles, but once I’d gotten them properly adjusted and worn, TheMagic5 goggles performed well.
In the video above you will see that I still got the red marks around my eyes after a swim session, but they disappeared quite quickly. (Also, I get red marks on my nose bridge if my sunglasses are too heavy, so I think that’s just the way my skin works.)
Now I’m not going to lie: TheMagic5 goggles come with a price tag of $65 for the Blue Magic Mirror Gold (or Php 3,738 — ouch!). But another, non-customised swim brand I’ve used before has goggles priced at $80; its other goggles are in the range of $40, so you could consider the $25 difference the premium for customisation. If you’ve had trouble finding a proper fit that doesn’t hurt, that might be a price you want to pay.
TheMagic5 also have a no-leaks guarantee, so if your order leaks you can get in touch with them, like a fellow MX Endurance member did. They troubleshot it and sent him a new fixed pair for free. They also say that if they can’t fix the issue, they’ll give your money back.
I think my new goggles from TheMagic5 are great, and hope they’ll be with me for a long time. At that price, I will definitely be putting the mileage on them.
