North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Mako. Wouldnt have anything else.

Picked up a pair of Costa Del Mar glasses and would never buy anything else.

Reasonable prices

Mako or maui jim's, blue lense for blue water yellow/brown for the fresh stuff

Gezzac wrote:I have a pair of Tonic glass's. They are pretty good. I used to get the servo sunnies and since having these ones, i will defiantly not be going back to anything less then glass lenses. They make a big difference.

X2

Hi - Didn't want to revive an old topic, but I work in the industry and just wanted to throw some info out there.

Maui Jim have an awesome warranty policy - if your lenses crazed within two years they will replace the whole set. I have personally sent glasses back to them after two years without a receipt, and they still replaced them. They are just a great company. In my opinion their lenses are also the best I've dealt with, they come in four color variants in two different materials, each with their own advantages.

Bronze lenses let more light through - increasing contrast (pretty useful when fishing in my experience)
Grey is great for general wear as it doesn't distort color.
Green (In my opinion Rayban have the best green*) absorbs a lot of blue light, I think it's a great 'general wear' lens. Because it absorbs blue light it's great on open water though.
Maui also have a rose lens but I'm not a fan as I think it feels 'hot', as it gives everything a red tinge.

With regards to coatings, the base material doesn't make a whole lot of difference as they are added at the end, it's more about the process of how they add it and what they use. This is where I think Maui Jims win out, their multicoat has a few extra layers other brands don't use (affecting a greater range of light wavelengths) which makes them look more 'pure'. They also have an extra which I find to be extremely beneficial, called a bi-gradient mirror coating (basically a mirror coat top and bottom to reduce glare) - the best way I can describe this is the glasses are 'squinting' for you.

Side note regarding Oakley, they use a polycarbonate-ish material for their lenses, which I do find can craze a little easier. The frames are great though, and many don't have any metal parts (held together with friction joints rather than screws) - and they have a really large range of colours in their lens range (most of which come in polarised options). If you do choose to go an Oakley, just ask the question whether the lenses are hydrophobic + oleophobic - some of the more expensive Oakleys are coming out with a multicoat which is helping increase their chemical resistance. If you do go an Oakley, check out the ICE Iridium Polarized lenses for blue water, and the polarized bronze lenses for everything else. If you find the bronze too dark, try and track down a G30 lens, it's got a 10%-15% more light transmission compared to the standard 85%.

Side Side note - If you have your heart set on glass lenses, Rayban have quite a large range of frames which are available in glass, and many of them come in multiple sizes for those of us with larger heads =)

All three of these brands are available in prescription, and they all make their own lenses where available.

can't beat maui jim!

Spotters, only had mine since Christmas but won't buy anything else now

I have a pair of Spotters and Maui's. The Spotters are the gold penetrator lenses, they are very good out on the blue water and change the darkness of the tint depending on light. (photochromatic or something). The Maui's I accualy think have a clearer picture and feel like they filter more UV light than the Spotters, this is purely based on how my eyes feel at the end of a day on the water. Either way they are both fantastic sunnies.
I agree that once you have had glass lenses you will never go back. I have had glass lensed sunnies now for 10 years plus, both of mine are a few years old now, yes they have a few scratches but no where near as many as they would if they were plastic. Plus the lense quality is far and beyond what plastic can deliver IMO.

I think my next set will be either the Mako "ET" ones or a pair of Serengeties. They look good and from other peoples reports they are a great lense too.

Tonics are good too ... http://www.fishfinderbooks.com/index.php?cPath=77

Had no problems with mine, I've had several brands in prescription glass and plastic varieties over the years.

I have been running spotters for years in the amber photochomatic....very very good imo.....especially when driving on dirt roads that are shaded by tree's. I also have a pair of tonics and I don't really rate them in anything but the brightest of conditions....probably beecause I went for the dark tint instead of the amber...I'm not sure....but they are very well made. But for me it is spotters, glass lense, amber photochromatic.......the best I have had!

Spotters - penetrator lense

Tonics in high contrast copper/bronze lens are the go, that is pretty much the best lens colour for fishing in any specs, Spotters penetrator is a bronze lens. Tonics were created by the bloke who started Spotters.

I was wondering how long it would take for that plug matt....

Tiz all true ...

love the light weight tonic frames , another vote for tonics