Polarized sunglasses recommendation

You'll look like a total dork wearing them, but I've had pretty good experience with Cocoon sunglasses. They're specifically made for fitting over other glasses so they're pretty big, but they also helped a bit with blowing dust and such in my experience (although I'm guessing that's pretty specific to how they fit you personally). Fairly inexpensive but still held up pretty well with extended use.

Having used Vaurnet, Oakley, Julbo, Revo, and Maui Jim in my past life…

I'm rather content with my Native Eyewear sunglasses nowadays for most outdoor activities I do. The lenses are "just fine", reasonably durable, and replaceable depending on the weather, or if I scratch them up too much. Probably not much different from Numa, though.

(p.s. I use "better" sunglasses for driving, which forever reside in the car for that one purpose.)

+1 on the Cocoons. They have one model which is smaller that doesn't look dorky at all; but your frames have to be small enough to be covered. Cocoons do protect from dust and mist. I like the brighter shade: it makes going in and out of the forest no problem (forest shadows sort of pop instead of getting darker.) Their polarization is excellent.

The Native Eyewear glasses are a good choice, IMHO. Reasonably priced (in the weird world of sunglasses, anyway), and all of the dark lenses are polarized so you don't have to pay extra for that – it's part of the overall price. Many models include an extra set of lenses for low-light conditions, and Native has great product support. In fact, for a small fee of $30, they will repair or replace any set of glasses regardless of the reason for repair – an unlimited lifetime warranty.

Quality is good enough. I have had several pairs over the years and tend to be hard on them: tossing them on the dash in the car, dropping them on the ground, even sitting on them occasionally. Scratch-resistance is good, and they ventilate well. Worth taking a look at.

Check Ebay for "best offer". I recently was able to get $40 off a pair of Oakleys that was already $20 cheaper.
Alternatively, I often buy polorized safety glasses from the hardware store, especially if going off trail. They hold up well and are cheap enough to lose or scratch. You can drill a hole to vent them. Not to mention the "I don't care how I look" antifasion fasion statement they make. Depends if I want to be fasionably fasionable or unfasionably fasionable.

I've been happy with Wiley-X's quality although I've never owned a pair of their polarized glasses. Quality is on par with Oakley but typically at 1/2 the cost.

Check out the selection at Lowes/Home Depot the next time you're there. They sell polarized glasses. I bought a pair of the 3M polarized glasses a couple years ago. I have a freakishly large head so they weren't all that comfortable for me to wear but YCMV (Your Cranium May Vary).

I also have issues with my glasses fogging, and I'm a child of the '80s, and unless I expect to spend a lot of time crossing snowfields, I stick with Wayfarers for backpacking.

I've found the Fort Knocks/Knockarounds Wayfarers are outstanding glasses for the price. I'm pretty hard on my glasses and have found that I cry less when I break/lose a pair of $30 glasses than a pair of $150. In my opinion, I find that the quality is pretty damn close to Ray Ban's.

It takes a few minutes to set up an account with Huckberry but this is one of the few companies where I don't mind their emails as their blog is filled with campervan living and traveling stuff that I ordinarily geek out on anyways.

https://huckberry.com/store/knockaround/category/p/22963-fort-knocks-polarized-strap

Julbo Bivouak are da bomb. Made in France too. Mine have the most expensive polarized chameleon photochromatic lenses (<$100) but the frame is sold with cheaper lens options. Julbo USA also comes with a Lifetime repair/replacement warranty. Only have to pay shipping one way.

I just tried on a pair of Julbo that a buddy of mine has. Wow! They have me convinced to spend the extra coin. Amazing the difference.

He has the camel lens with a Cat 2-4 photochromic lens which he bought for boating. Since I'm interested in its use in the woods, where I am in the canopy of trees, I wonder if that would be too dark.

Maybe the Zebra Light lens with the Cat 1-3 might be better? Looking at the Venturi frame.

Any thoughts appreciated.

http://www.julbousa.com/performance/venturi/

one other option-Smith

not cheap, but not uber expensive- lots (and lots) of different frames, many have interchangeable lenses which I find to be very useful

the ones I've owned have been very light, light enough you barely know they're on

their lifetime warranty is excellent too, have had two occasions to use it

I enjoy Arnette glasses personally. Quality enough but not super expensive. And I can always find good replacement lenses for them after I inevitably scratch the lenses enough that it starts to bug.

I'm trying to make an educated decision and have changed course and decided to make the investment into a good pair of sunglasses. There's Oakley, which I've had over the years, and they are the master of the wrap-around style. Not sure how good their lens are. Then there's Julbo who uses a photochromic lens in many of their glasses.

If we remove the frame from consideration and just evaluate the lens, from what I've read brown provides better contrast than gray. Is that correct?

Is a photochromic lens (lightens in the dark, and darkens in the light) all it's cracked up to be or is it just a gimmick?

Finally, I've also read that polarized glasses are goo for water and snow but loses some degree of clarity in the wooded environment. Is that true?

I finally got these and love them. No more dealing with a second set of glasses. A couple of things to remember: when you go inside they take a while to clear, they don't go dark when driving, have to be hit by the sun, they will go at least partly dark on a cloudy/overcast day. I started with the gray, thinking they were darker and better on a snowshoe or ski, but on my first trip is was cloudy and snowing coming out and they were too dark. I changed to brown and are very happy with them.

Unfortunatly, photochromic and polarized are not offered in the same lens.

Polarization is a matter of etching fine lines in a lens. Cheap ones actually print them. Some will actually coat them after applying the polarization so it does not wear off. There is a large difference between the manufacturing and cost.

Fantastic quality in Persols as well. Except is is difficult to see electronic displays like at the gas pump with them on. Looking at other polarized windows and such gives you that weird effect. This is true with any polarized lenses in my experience. More of a bother in day to day life than benefit. I usually skip the polarizing option with sunglasses as I only like to own one pair at a time. I am a mole apparently and like my lenses dark. Tried those photo chromatic lenses years ago, never dark enough too slow to adjust. Has this improved?

Not true James. Photochromatic lenses can also be polarized. Easy to demonstrate by holding a polarized lens in front of an LCD screen and rotating it up to 90 degrees. A polarized image will gradually fade to black thru the rotation.

Here is my Julbo Chameleon aka Camel polarized photochromatic lens.

That's right. I've had some Revo polarized photochomic glasses for years. Very good, especially for driving. But imho, too fragile to use in the backcountry so I keep them in the car.

Here are some things I've learned along the way:
1) Amber is generally regarded as the most "versatile" color for sunglasses. While it shifts the color toward green, it makes it easier for the eye to separate objects from each-other.
2) Grey lenses are great to water use (and always make the sky look oh-so beautiful)
3) Polarized is great to use, except when using certain types of LCD screens. Sometimes those screens will completely disappear depending on the viewing orientation.
4) Photochromic – backcountry? Not sure it's very useful, especially if I were to keep going in and out of wooded areas. The bottom line is to protect your eyes. If your high up in elevation and it's bright as hell, get a lens with less "VLT" (see https://www.julbousa.com/lenses/ )
5) Glass lenses will usually give you much better clarity than plastic lenses, but are heavier (this was always my understanding when selling sunglasses 20+ years ago. I honestly don't know much about today's tech.)

While there are several manufacturers of sunglasses with a great balance between quality and durability (like Julbo), I personally need to make sure I feel "comfortable" wearing them, both physically, and emotionally. Some glasses will not feel good, or look good. It is important to try them on before committing to them. Or get them from a place you can return them.

hope this helps.

m

News to me. My eye doctor said I could not get them last year.

As a floridian who fishes almost every weekend, I rely on my polarized glasses. I would confidently recommend the Smith Chromopop lenses or the Costa 580 lenses. I own both and they are exceptional. They also cost $$$ but are totally worth it in the end unless you are someone who is prone to losing sunglasses. I am patial to an amber based lense for fishing in the shallows but a grey base is also very good.

Yesterday, I tried on about 20 pairs of Julbo. Tomorrow I will go to an Oakley store and try on their various glasses.

I found a few things about the Julbo. The camel lens was absolutely awesome but will be too dark for me in the woods. The Zebra Light lens I suspect won't be dark enough. So my choice for the Julbo will be between the Dust or Venturi in the Zebra (regular) lens.

I really like the Zebra yellow brown lens as that color seems to make contrasts pop compared to my existing glasses.

The hiking/climbing store I went to carried three other name brand sunglasses and I found the Julbo lens worked better for me than the others.

Now we'll check out Oakley and see how they feel and look. I'll report back.

I got a pair of Julbo sunglasses via Sierra Trading Post, and a pair of Julbo Glacier Glasses through Campmor, at different points in the past few years. I use the sunglasses for driving and hiking, and the glacier glasses less often of course as they reduce contrast too much for driving. If fishing I have a pair of dark fishing glasses with a bifocal so I can see to tie knots.

I have found that the more expensive the glasses, the shorter their life span.

How true Lori. I have a pair of not-very-expensive Bolle sunglasses that I got for free a long time ago, and I have found it is impossible to lose them. Just last year I accidentally left them behind at a lunch stop on the trail, and after I stopped to make camp many miles later two guys came up to me with the sunglasses in-hand to ask if they were mine.

Would that have happened if they were an uber expensive pair? I would hope so, but cheap sunglasses sure eliminate the temptation.

I really like the Electric Big Beat. They're popular with the skateboard crowd. I got mine at Sidewalk Surfer in Scottsdale. Cost $150 and are very durable. They have to be to stand up to the abuse I give them.

I tried on the Oakley photochromic lens and did not like it compared to the Julbo Zebra.

I recently bought a pair of these from Amazon for $20. My wife laughed at me for buying $20 glasses-she only wears Oakleys. I've been wearing them for about 3 weeks with no complaints. Last weekend we went backpacking to a bass pond, and we were standing at the edge and I'm pointing out all of the fish I can see in the water, but she can't see any. So I give her my glasses…"Oh, look at all the fish!"