Gear Review : Costa Del Mar Wave Killer 580 G Sunglasses , Part 2

Part 2 : A Quick Trip to the Pier

*DISCLAIMER* I received these glasses free of charge to use , review , and write about here at somefishblog.com . The opinions stated herein are my own , and not in any way influenced by Costa Del Mar.

Lately , I'm not really fishing as much as I normally do , so it's been a challenge to test these glasses. I've worn them a lot while driving , worn them to a few sporting events and practices , and even walked down to one of our ponds to see how much glare they eliminated. Not exactly the types of things I needed to do with the glasses to form an honest opinion , so I jumped at the chance to spend a recent weekend at the beach.

I had big plans to try to get out into open water so I could see how well they worked for sight fishing , but high winds and confused seas left me stuck on dry ground at the pier. I soldiered on with product testing , though , and managed to make a few observations about how well these glasses perform under less than ideal conditions.

Handsome models aren't cheap , cheap models aren't handsome. Or something.

First a few words about driving with the Costas on. They are a great pair of glasses to drive with , they reduce glare without being too dark , while at the same time enhancing colors. The only complaint I have is that I've become too comfortable with mine on , and it's pretty damn embarrassing when you go into one of the many tunnels around Norfolk , VA , and you can't understand why your headlights won't work or why the tunnel is so dark. Trust me when I say that your wife and children will find this highly amusing. The second and third times you do this may even cause uncontrollable laughter from others in the car.

As I mentioned above , conditions were less than ideal to test polarized sunglasses on this particular trip. In my opinion , ideal conditions would be slick water under clear skies , with retina blistering glare baking you from below. That didn't happen this time around , but it is worth noting that the Costas did give me an advantage because I was able to pick out the edge of the sand bloom from the breakers , which is where some species of fish like to hang out to snag an easy meal stirred up by the waves.

Tough water to fish.

It was also pretty nice to be able to see small fish come in and have a go at my bait. The water was murky , but I was able to make out their outlines with the sunglasses on. Without the glasses , all I could see was muck and foam , highlighted by glare. I still remain amazed at how effectively these block glare when compared to other sunglasses I have owned. I highly recommend them.

A Florida Pompano , caught right next to the pier pilings.

I did have a couple of problems with the glasses , but it was due more to the conditions than any defect in design or manufacture by Costa. You'll notice in the picture of my ugly mug above that I have the Gripper tucked in beside the frames. I wasn't trying to make any fashion statement , but rather protect myself from the whip like thrashing of the cord in 25-30 mph gusts. I may look into shortening it , but I certainly wouldn't remove it. It was too windy to wear a hat , and I saw two go overboard.

The other problem was keeping the glasses clean. Spray from a steady onshore wind resulted in a glaze of salt on my sunglasses. I would normally just use my shirt to give my glasses a quick polish , but because these are an expensive pair I was worried about scratching them and ended up raiding my son's supply of Bausch & Lomb lens cleaning wipes. No big deal really , but I will say that using a pre-moistened wipe is the best way to clean these. A reusable cleaning cloth just seems to leave streaks and smears.

I love seeing small schools of these fish cruising behind the bar.

In the coming months , I'll be trying these out on some more local water. Definitely for lake fishing , and small stream trout , maybe a few other places. I still want to experiment with taking a picture through the lenses , but that may not work out due to my limited experience with photography. We'll see.

Until then , be sure to check out the Costa Del Mar website , Costa's Twitter account , and their Facebook page for the latest news about their products and special offers!

Have a great weekend!