New Sun Glasses help

[PALongbow]

Yes my main glass's I believe are also Trivex. I have a thick lens on my right eye so glass is not an option for me. Prescription sun glasses are a whole other thing versus non prescription. Even the Costa frames had to be right to fit the thicker lens. I choose the Cut frames because they would work with the thicker lens. The wrap around Harpoon frames would not work which I really liked.

Ron

 

[DGC]

Technical input much appreciated, pcray.

As far as I know, the Smith Chromapop series is strictly plastic lens, though apparently Trivex. However, they have complicated things by separating that out between "Chromapop" and "Chromapop+" without doing much in the way of clarifying what that means, at least by my limited searching.

 

[pcray1231]

That's ashame on the frame. I hate base 6 curves in fishing glasses. But you gotta do what you gotta do. Certainly better than no glasses!

Note that in your circumstance, if you ever buy another pair, it may help to shop around. If your prescription is crazy strong, nobody will do an 8 base curve for you. But since you were able to do 580P instead of 400P, it looks like you're kind of on the border there. Every company has different specs over how strong of a prescription they can do in different frames.

i.e. it's very possible you go to a Costa dealer and they get your prescription and say, nope, you can't do an 8 base curve, but we'll give you a 6. Then you go to a, for instance, Maui Jim dealer and they say, sure, we can do an 8 base with your prescription.

(Just using Costa and MJ as examples, I don't know their specs, just that each company has different specs).

Also, it's common for opticians to think that wanting a specific brand of lens is about the frame and style rather than the lens. The eyewear world is often fashion based instead of technical performance based. It's possible your optician won't actually order your lens through Costa and will instead make their own lens and put it in a Costa frame, and they can use whatever quality polarizing films they use at that lab, whatever coatings, etc. So when you get your glasses make sure there's the costa C etched on the lens itself, which will mean it was made in a Costa lab and ordered through them. Otherwise you don't really have Costa sunglasses, just a frame with random sunglass lens put in.

Since he turned down a base 8 frame, I'm guessing he checked it against Costa specs and said it's a no go, cause otherwise he woulda done it. Thus you probably will have Costa lenses. Just something to watch out for, that's all.

 

[pcray1231]

Smith Chromapop series is strictly plastic lens

Sorry, when I said "glass", I should have used the word lens. i.e. the fancy absorbing element doping can be performed on all lens materials.

"Chromapop" and "Chromapop+

Looking at their site, I don't think there is a difference. It's "ChromaPop^TM" vs. "ChromaPop^+".

But many of their glasses use both designations somewhere in the description. It doesn't look like they intend to mean there's a technical difference, it's just the trademark/patent labeling stuff going on.

 

[PALongbow]

Yes on the border with my lens configuration pretty much sums it up. I had to do 6 base frames to properly fit my prescription. They told me an 8 base frame would probably have the right lens due to the thickness touching my eye and possibly fogging up the lens.

Yes my eye glass dealer is doing their own lens in house. Not real concerned about them doing in house because the specs are exactly the same.

Ron

 

[pcray1231]

Yes my eye glass dealer is doing their own lens in house. Not real concerned about them doing in house because the specs are the same.

That is EXTREMELY unlikely. Specs are the same on curvature and so forth. The lens itself in no way is the same. Ask him who he buys the polarizing film from.....

Unless they're ordering a costa lens and just grinding it themselves. Which is possible.... In that case the polarization and lens tech will be the same, though the coatings certainly would not be. But Costa isn't exactly known for great coatings anyway, so it might even be better, depending what your optician uses....

 

[724flyfishing]

Go on steepandcheap.com. They always have good deals on sunglasses, especially Costa, Smith, and Native. I bought 2 pair of Costa glass lense, one green mirror I forget the name, and a blue mirror double hauls, for less than the price of one pair off of the Costa website.

 

[PALongbow]

Yeah not too sure what they are doing with the lens. It's a US lens company that they deal with. I was just was told the lens were the same specifications as Costa?? I just ordered a brown polarized lens with no mirror coating.

Ron

 

[pcray1231]

Well, if it's through a US lens company, that means they aren't buying Costa blanks and grinding them. And if that lab isn't Costa itself (which is in Florida), it's a 3rd party.

So there's really 2 possibilities.

1. Your guy is having some lenses made for you and putting them in Costa frames. i.e. you bought Costa frames, not Costa sunglasses. This does happen a lot. And the lenses he has made could be great or terrible, there's no way to tell ahead of time. But they're not Costa's, and he would not be able to sell them to you claiming them to be Costa lenses.

2. Your guy is going through a lab that Costa has licensed and approved to make Costa lenses to full Costa specs. Many companies don't allow this at all. But Costa does, I think. And Costa would bless them as true Costa lenses.

He can't be having 3rd party lenses made to the "same specs" as Costa because that would be illegal. Costa has it's specs and process and coatings patented. Nobody else is allowed to do it without Costa's blessing. Unless by "spec" he is just referring to a "polarized, brownish pair of sunglasses with a anti-scratch coating on the front and an AR coating on the back". In which case the quality of the polarizer and coatings could range from poor to very good, the tint may not be similar to anything Costa sells, and the processing could leave that polarizer stressed and ineffective.

Anyway, the proof is, when you get them, whether there's a C etched in the lens and a card saying authentic Costa. If not, it's #1. If so, it's #2.

And even if it's #1, it's not to say they'll be bad sunglasses. But how good or bad they are is a reflection on your optician and not of Costa.....

FWIW, Costa does not make a brown lens, per their terminology. Although "Copper" could be described as brown. Reddish brown.

 

[krayfish2]

Pat,
I have cataracts, congenital cystic macula and am slowly losing my vision.

 

[JoeE]

I like costa del mar but I like glass not poly Oakleys are okay but poly is poly! Joe E

 

[pcray1231]

Visual Light transmission:

Smith Techlite Polarchromic Copper: 13-20%
Smith Techlite Polarchromic Amber: 15-30%

As mentioned earlier, historically photochromic lenses have somewhat inferior polarization. I cannot say whether that is the case with Smith. No experience with them.

The one thing I will say is that most photochromic lenses are activated by UV, not visible light. It's common, for instance, in cloudy weather, for UV to fully penetrate the clouds, hence darken the glasses, but visible light does not, so it ends up too dark. Likewise, when driving, since windshields block UV, so the glasses stay in "low light mode" and get clearer, even though you have sun blaring in your face. i.e. UV is not a great measure of how dark you really need it.

The alternative to photochromatic is to run with 2 pair. Most get a bright and low light pair. You could continue to use your current pair for bright conditions and pick up a non photochromatic low light pair for the cloudy days and under canopy.

Options:

Maui Jim HT: VLT in mid 20's (varies slightly by material chosen). Yellowish green.

Smith Low Light Ignitor: VLT = 40% (amber)

Smith Yellow: VLT = 31% (yellow)

Costa Sunrise: VLT = 30% (yellowish pink)

Kaenon C28 (28%, Copper), C50 (50%, Copper), G28 (28%, gray), and Y35 (35%, yellow)

Those are just a few examples. If quality doesn't bother you, you could also go to Walmart and just hold them up to the light and pick a lightly tinted one. Obviously higher VLT's means lighter lenses that will take you into darker times. I have the MJ HT's. They are fine for any "daytime". Clouds, canopy, heavy fog, in the middle of a T-storm, etc. But they aren't so clear as to be useless in sunny conditions, either. It's true, though, that higher VLT's would take me a few extra minutes into the spinner fall as it gets dark. Polarization is pretty ineffective at that point anyway as the light angle is too low, so I don't care much. i.e. for me get it above 20% and it's almost never too dark to wear glasses. I suspect the same is true for you too, but your Smith's just aren't lightening up to the 20% they are capable of, as in cloudy whether the UV is keeping them at 13% or not much more... If that's true, the ambers are going to be closer to the 15% in the same situations.

My costa's are 10% and really for blaring sun only....

 

[pcray1231]

poly is poly

Optically, it's true glass is best. But be careful with the "poly is poly" stuff.

Polycarbonate is indeed among the worst, optically speaking. However, Costa does not make a polycarbonate lens that I'm aware of. They do make some CR39 and Trivex lenses, which are plastics. All polycarbonate is plastic, not all plastic is polycarbonate.

Picture polycarbonate and glass as the extremes. Glass is optically the best, and most scratch resistant, but it's not impact resistant, and will shatter fairly easily. Polycarbonate is the optically worst, least scratch resistant, but essentially bulletproof in terms of impact. That's why safety glasses are made of the stuff. And virtually all Walmart grade sunglasses.

But there exist a whole bunch of plastics that fall somewhere in between on all levels. Some will be closer to glass and others closer to polycarbonate. Standard materials in this category include Trivex and CR39. Many individual makers also have their own, proprietary mixes. Maui Jim has "MauiPure", Kaenon has "SR91", etc. As far as optical clarity, the ABBE value is one measure. Higher value meaning less chromatic aberration.

Glass: 59
CR39: 58
Maui Jim "Maui Pure": 50
Trivex: 43
High index glass: around 40
Kaenon SR91: 40
Oakley's "Plutonite": 32
Polycarbonate: 30

There's more that goes into it than just the abbe value, but that's a start. Poly may be poly. But don't assume all plastic is poly....

 

[krayfish2]

I was going with amber as my second pair. I did consider the low light ignitor which look quite yellow. I feared that they would see minimal use due to the percentage of light transmission. By going straight Amber in color, I'd still gain 10% or more vlt.

 

[pcray1231]

Well, if you stick with polarchromic, no, I think you'll probably gain more like 2% in VLT in the conditions you're having trouble with....

i.e. your current pair is supposed to adjust itself from 13-20%. 20% should be light enough in most true "daytime" situations, cept in the worst of the worst conditions. i.e. you should not have much of a problem with some clouds or tree canopy with 20%.

I don't believe your Smith's are getting to 20%. I'm guessing they're pretty sensitive and anytime you are outside, they are essentially staying around 13%. In which case, getting Ambers would take you from like 13% to 15%, cause they are activated by the same UV levels.

I could be wrong. It's just a guess based on your description here. When you are outside in the clouds and it seems too dark, and you jump in the car, do your glasses lighten up more? If so, then they weren't at 20% when you were outside....

 

[krayfish2]

True. A fixed lens would be better. At least I'd know what I was getting when I put the on in clear or cloudy conditions

 

[pcray1231]

I think in your situation, I'd go looking for something in the mid 20's VLT, fixed. That'll handle your cloudy and canopy situations just fine, without being ridiculous when the sun pops through.

You could go crazy the whole way to the 30's and 40's if you wanna wear them an extra few minutes when fishing after dark. But they'll be pretty bright if you get any sun at all.

If you go to the jam you are welcome to wear my MJ's for a while and see how you like them. They are 24%. I'm guessing you'd like the 28% copper Kaenon's, but I don't have a trial pair of those. The problem with Kaenon is finding somewhere that stocks a bunch of frames to try em on.

 

[PALongbow]

Not sure what they are doing with the lens. I just ordered them. I'll know more when I receive them. I'm sure the lens are not Costas but some other US made lens.

Ron

 

[krayfish2]

Found a deal on low light ignitors and picked them up. Should be good for overcast days golfing, fishing, drinking and when the sun drips behind the mountains.

 

[DGC]

Presuming a good frame fit, I am fairly sure you will like the LLI. Tint is very light golden olive, not yellow. Some of the images I have seen of them online are simply wrong--way too bright yellow.

pcray echoes what I have read about about UV triggering the photochromic aspect of the Smith and other glass (though not the LLI which is fixed) which can make them too dark in cloudy conditions. However, hats also interfere with that, so there is some balancing of the effect. At least that is what I have read elsewhere.

Carrying two pair, one for bright, one for low light, both fixed as opposed to photocrhomic, is the way to go--for me. If only one pair is your preference, then the ones that change seem reasonable, but certainly a compromise.

Some of the Serengeti and others use color temperature (or something-IDK) to trigger tint change vs. UV, but I have not tried them exept the Julbo Falcon lens mentioned above. They do this since many windshields already block UV, which would deprive your UV triggered glasses from working right. Again, just what I have read.

I am 100 percent in agreement on the importance of protecting aging eyes. I wear sunglasses at every opportunity.