There's a lot of information floating around about which lenses are best for specific situations. We can help you sort through all of the opinions.
First and foremost is protection for your eyes! At a minimum, you should have 100% UV400 protection to prevent long-term sun damage to your eyes.
Second, you want to ensure your lenses are polarized to cut through or eliminate glare altogether. This is the feature that allows you to see underwater objects that are impossible to spot with non-polarized glasses or the naked eye.
Third, lens color can enhance your vision under certain conditions. While no lens is perfect in all conditions, the list below will help guide you to select the lens that most closely matches your predominant use.
Finally, mirrored sunglasses have a reflective coating on the outside of the lenses and look just like a mirror. A pair of sunglasses with a mirrored surface layer will further decrease the amount of light that passes through the lens. It had the effect of decreasing glare and protects your eyes further. The outside color of the mirror is independent of the color of the lens that you look through. For example, a blue mirrored lens could have a gray or purple tint lens base.
Blue Mirror:
Great for the open ocean, open water and clear bodies of water. Encapsulated mirrors deliver maximum contrast and color in full sun while eliminating glare.
Green Mirror:
A great choice for enhanced visual acuity for fishing inshore, flats, rivers, lakes and streams in full sun. The mirror helps further reduce glare.
Red or Amber Mirror:
Excellent all-around lens that delivers the brightest field of vision. Excellent in cloudy or stained water conditions. Also, a great choice for sight fishing, driving and everyday activities where high contrast is needed.
Gray or Black:
The perfect all-around choice for sports on water and land. Maintains color saturation and natural contrast in the brightest sun conditions.
Amber Non-Mirror:
Delivers the brightest field of vision in cloudy or overcast light conditions. Excellent in cloudy or stained water conditions. Also, a great choice for sight fishing, driving and everyday activities where high contrast in cloudy conditions is needed.
Silver Mirror:
Encapsulated mirrors optimize light transmission and enhance colors. Similar to Gray, it perfect for freshwater sight fishing or any outdoor activity with variable light. The mirror helps further reduce glare.
Yellow or Wine Non-Mirror:
Excellent all-around lens that delivers the brightest field of vision for sporting clays, hunting or driving.
Other Colors: There are a myriad of special color mirror lenses hitting the market. Most offer similar performance to the above and all of our lenses offer our proprietary HD Polarization and UV protection. In that case, you would want to choose the color family that most closely aligned with your conditions.
Fish 419 Tip: If you are unsure or you use your glasses in multiple different environments, choose the color for the conditions you will spend the most time in. For professional Guides and Captains, you might consider having more than one lens on hand so you are prepared for whatever conditions arise.
When in doubt, give us a shout. Thanks for visiting!