Goggles - tinted or clear ?

Probably should go in the Gear section, but the answer is..... it depends on the time of year, conditions, etc.

If it's overcast, I go clear.  If it's sunny, I use tinted.

If it's winter, I use clear at 6:30 masters cuz it's dark.  Summer I use clear.

I have both the blue and the smoke X-Sight from TYR.  I've always used the blue indoors and have used the smoke for outside.  The blue are fantastic!  Great vision and very comfortable. 

I've never been able to get the smoke ones to seal properly though.  I can't understand why.  One time they did eventually seal, but that was after several hundred aggravating yards in La Jolla Cove.  Because of this, I've stopped using the smoked ones all together.

I have both, plus blue. I have the Tyr Socket Rockets in smoke and they're not too dark. Actually, at one of my races when it was clear and sunny, I was wishing I had something darker. As someone mentioned, it's hard to sight when the sun is directly in your face. I like the blue ones too but they are hard to use while sighting if the buoys in a race are yellow. (this happened to me) I use all of them at the indoor pool, depends what I feel like wearing. Plus, my socket rockets were only $6 so I can afford to have many pairs in different colors.

Mindy 

I keep a range of goggles on hand, clear, smoke, orange, and blue. 

For races, I usually use my Speedo Vanquisher (blue) goggles.  They're dark enough to knock out lots of direct sun, but not too bad in murky water.  Some say that yellow/orange bouys are hard to see with blue lenses, but I haven't noticed a problem.  The orange goggles work pretty well on overcast days with murky water.  (Might have something to do with evening out the intensity between in/out of the water.)  I use clear and smoke lenses in the pool primarily, where the water is clear and lighting somewhat controlled. 

Clear for OWS.  Too hard to see if not.  Don't worry about the sun, you won't spend much time facing it.

If you want practice pair, smoke for pool.  Just cooler anyway.

I have one of each.  I love blue goggles for indoors, but they don't work for me in murky open water.  There wasn't enough contrast between them and the buoys in a race and that made sighting very difficult.  I use either clear or smoke depending on how sunny it is that day.  Both work very well for me.