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.
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Handsome models aren't cheap , cheap models aren't handsome. Or something. |
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. |
A Florida Pompano , caught right next to the pier pilings. |
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. |
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!
Onshore winds are tough for keeping sunglasses clean! We fish the south beach quite a bit and those SW winds can really wrap everything up in salt spray.
ReplyDeleteWe carry an old laundry detergent container filled with fresh water and rinse as needed. Paper towels are used to dry the lenses without worrying about whether any grit found its way into that beach towel.
We tried the B&L wipes, but they still leave smears and you'll go through a bunch of them. Especially on those days when your glasses are covered within five minutes of cleaning.
On the plus side, I've found that as long as you don't wipe them with a gritty rag, Costas are pretty difficult to scratch. There's no film to scratch off, so you're just worried about things that would scratch glass. Assuming, of course, you sprung for the glass lenses.
In my opinion, the glass 580 lenses are the only way to 'Costa'.
Thanks Jeff! It's good to know that they are tougher than I previously thought. Good idea with the laundry detergent bottle if you're driving. I'm normally a splinter-foot though , so I try to pack light.
DeleteI normally wear the Wal Mart specials - never been a fan of wearing sunglasses. The Costas have almost won me over.