How Are Polarized Ray Bans for Fishing?

[The Pond King]

Hey guys,

 

I am thinking about buying a pair of polarized Ray Bans - Aviator style. I feel like they are a good middle ground between fashion and utility. Just curious, does anyone use Ray Bans for fishing? If so, how are your experiences with them?

 

I'm also looking into investing in another pair of sunglasses with the darkest lenses possible. Often times, I can be out on the water and the glare from the lake is just too strong even with polarized sunglasses on, or there are times when I'm driving and the glare from the cars in front of me are too strong. I really want to protect my eyes from staring at strong, bright glare for prolonged periods of time. Do you guys have any recommendations for really dark polarized sunglasses?

 

Thanks,

The Pond King

[FishinBuck07]

I think the problem you are going to have with those are the sunlight coming in on the sides of your eyes.  Most fishing sunglasses are designed to wrap around your face so that the light doesn't affect you seeing into the water.  Aviator style have thin metal arms so there is no blocking out sunlight with them.

[Chance_Taker4]

What @FishinBuck07 said. I have a pair of polarized "driving" Ray-Bans that I have used out on the water when I forgot my Oakleys and they worked good but the glare or sun itself that comes in through the sides sucked. They work if you are fully facing the sun or have your back fully to the sun but once the rays or glare come at you in an angle the polarization won't matter because you'll be blinded.

[fishwizzard]

I have a pair of Aviators I use for driving and looking cool.  I will occasionally forget to switch over to my Costa’s while making a short little pond-stop while out running errands. 

 

The optical clarity on the Costa’s is a bit better but nothing huge. An advantage the Aviators have is that because they’re not wrap-around they fog up a lot less on the muggiest of days.  

 

I actually prefer glasses with as light of a tint as I can find, and honestly if I could find lenses that were just pulverize with no tint I would probably switch to that.  

[LonnieP]

Blue mirror lenses are the darkest and the best for bright sun.

[Gorris317]

5 hours ago, FishinBuck07 said:

I think the problem you are going to have with those are the sunlight coming in on the sides of your eyes.  Most fishing sunglasses are designed to wrap around your face so that the light doesn't affect you seeing into the water.  Aviator style have thin metal arms so there is no blocking out sunlight with them.

I have this issue with a pair of Oakleys I have. I quit wearing them for fishing and now use them use them for driving. 

[fin]

I don’t think I’ve ever owned any Ray-Bans, but it’s one of the original brands (1937) and there’s a reason they have survived all these years. I don’t think you can go wrong with them unless you’re looking for a status symbol. Ray-Bans used to be a big status symbol, but there are other brands that are ‘way cooler’ now.

 

I’ve used aviators for fishing for years. I used to wear wraparounds, but they have several downsides like fogging, poor fit, they (sometimes dangerously) block vision, and they are more bulky when folded.

 

The main argument you will see for wraparounds is they cut out light coming in from the sides, which is true, but that ignores the power of the brain to ignore and block out that light. If you are used to wraparounds, then obviously switching to anything else is going to draw your attention to all that you can see that you could not see before. It doesn’t take long for your brain to cancel it out, unless your brain doesn’t want to cancel it out because of beliefs/opinions. If you have your mind made up, it can be difficult to change. I always wear a hat when fishing, if I didn't, I might have a different opinion about wraparounds, I dunno.

 

I always bought dark/gray glass, but recently tried some brown glass and after getting over the initial change, I’m sold. I’ve been able to see fish and structure that I couldn’t quite see before. I keep some dark glasses for driving, but most of the time I don’t bother to change after I’ve been fishing. The one downside to the brown glass is the reflections/glare show up as blue, which can take a little getting used to.

 

I would suggest buying some cheap glasses in the style you’re interested in to try out before you make a major purchase.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Darkest would be Oakley Black Iridium Polarized lens. They get darker than Costa Blue mirror where I still felt the need to squint. The mirror coating blue green yellow red purple as little to do with how dark the lens get might add 1% light reduction or so depending on brand. The base color is the most important factor for darkness of lens. I have a pair of raybans that dont fully wrap around and like others have mentioned light that gets in from the side/top shows a reflection in the inside of the lens and hard to see. This is the case with other brands of aviator style as well. I had Oakley Wardens aviator style not the best to fish while wearing.

[gilkeybr]

I have RB Aviators (Green Mirror - Polarized).  They're fine for fishing.  But if i'm really hoping to see through the glare, i'll leave them at home and bring my Oakley Prizm glasses.

 

You probably wouldn't regret a pair of Ray Bans.  But from a strictly fishing point of view, you can do better