Last Fall my kids got a hold of my polarized glasses and that's about all she wrote for those babies.

As I'm rather new to the wearing of glasses in general (20/20) and polarized in specific, is there really that much of a difference between, say, a $20 pair and a $60 pair other than style? The dumb little display picture where you don't see the fish until you put the glasses on isn't exactly a good test, so I'll put it out to the experienced members of this community.

What? You thought that I was going to post about hooks? Why would I do a crazy thing like that? I'm not THAT nuts. :p

Good post I have been wondering the same thing. Man am I glad this was not a hooks post!!!!

I have heard tales of this "sun" you speak of. A firey ball in the sky they say. I've got friends who say they see it all the time - sometimes not even hiding behind clouds. But they come from a land of flatness with little running waters.

Ahem. Yes, I think there is a difference between the gas station glasses and something a step or two up. Sierra Trading Post usually has a couple pairs at very good prices in every mailing I get from them.

Both the cheapies and pricier ones break the same way and have the same tendencies of ending up in other people's trucks and boats.

I thought it was a setup for the horse!

FJ...out.

The sun? Heck, I'm not gonna buy glasses for the sun in the event that ever shows up. I just wanna know if the $60 jobbies are going to make THAT much of a difference in helping me see fish over the $20 numbers.

I am willing to accept the idea that those $5 blue-blockers aren't a quality product, though.

I like the $14 pair I got from the "sunglasses guy" at the sportsmans show last year. I broke them this year and wanted to send them back, but I had lost my lifetime warranty card. I saved them until this years show and took them out to him and he replaced them anyway. I was impressed...but I don't know if they are better or worse then an expensive pair, especially under the cloudy conditions we have here.

I'd spend between $40 and $80 for polarized glasses. Just like regular sunglasses, you get what you pay for. I've found if you pay a little more for the glasses, not only are you getting better quality, but your more apt to not leave them in someone elses boat. Every time I've bought a cheap pair of glasses, they always seem to either fall apart or get easily scratched.
Fish-On!

I would have to agree that you get what you pay for. I prefer Ray bans myself and pay around $100+ for mine. I have found that the cheapys has more distortion and start to bother my eyes after a little while and give me a headache. Just my .02

Its the difference between optical quality glass or plastic and not. Your vision through a lense depends on the quality of the medium including the quality of the polarization. Cheap optics, poor vision.

DJ,

I bought a pair of Smith SL2 Slider frames with interchangeable lenses. $100 The polarized lenses were an addtional $50. Ouch! Do they make a difference? Depends on what color polarized lense you use. I had both grey and brown polarized lenses, but the wife lost one of the greys up in the Antarctic. It is nice to be able to swap out lenses as the conditions change. That *will* make a difference.

The Smiths are great sunglasses and I wear them fishing, skiing, driving, shooting, etc. I'd highly recommend, but....they are pricey.

When I snapped my SnapiGlass in half last year while downrigger fishing, the top half of the rod whipped back and hit me in the face/eye. Fortunately, I was wearing my sunglasses, which took the brunt of of the blow. The hit was so hard (and embarassing) that the glasses frame snapped! Smith replaced the frames for free in 3 days, no questions asked.

I'm pretty sure that a cheap pair of shades would have done little to protect me and I'd be known as One Eyed Parker these days.

I've also been with The Kid when he was playing Bassmaster 2001 and decided that steelhead grow in trees. So, after casting his gear in the trees, he decided to pull as hard as he could to get it back. After the leader broke, the piece of pencil lead shot back and hit him in the face, hard. Like bleeding kinda hard. About 2 inches below his eye. He couldn't react fast enough, and no one can.

You get what you pay for. They are your eyes. You can use one, but I'd think you'd want to keep both. Personally, I like my eyes. Don't be cheap on good shades. Not only do they proect your eyes from harmful UV and all that other stuff, a good set of frames and lenses will protect you from high speed objects and impacts.

Always spend the extra $5 and get a set of "Croakies"...or whatever brand they are called - the straps that attach to your frames and keeps the glasses around your neck when not in use. My sunglasses seem to always really want to jump off my face and in to any body of water.

Just my .02 cents worth.

I bought a pair of Smith`s polarized glasses (with real glass) and they are a bit pricey,,junk too.
Mine after about 16, 18 months clouded up for reason`s beyond me.
I called them and talked to them about it and they are warranted for a year
so it was basically tough luck.. (I won`t get into the pleading part.*L*)
One of the girls on my soccer team jumped and gave me a hug after scoring a goal
and snapped both, yes, both of the earpieces off. They were around my neck on a
croakie at the time. which I figure now was a good ending to them as by then they
had definite smokey hue to them.
I bought a cheaper pair of Bolle`s polarized and they seem to work to just as good
as the Smith`s for a about 1/3 the cost.
Just my .02

Celebratory hugs after goals scored in coed soccer games? *slapping forehead* Why on EARTH did I quit playing soccer?!

Good quality sunglasses make all the difference.
You are talking about protecting your eyes from more than an errant Lami-SNAP!(I can attest to Parkers' impact testing. He got pretty lucky on that one!)...You are protecting your eyes from UV and eye strain. Night vision is significantly impacted by not shielding your eyes properly.
I make a conscious effort to take care of my glasses...keep them in the case...use the right cleaning solution and cloth. Windex causes clouding! Paper towels and Kleenex cause scratches!
I buy premium(Maui Jim, Vuarnet, Ray-ban, now Action Optics) in polarized GLASS. You can pay alot for polycarbonate lenses and they just don't stand up if you really use them.
Good polarized lenses can really help you see structure under the glare of the water and really help your river fishing.
I just got Action Optics in all-hours brown and can use them on cloudy low-light conditions and they change to darker tint in bright light. Great investment in fishing optics.
Ted's has an excellent selection.

I think it was that really bad case of jock itch you had. Damned spread everywhere and they had to amputate your legs off. I think that's a pretty good reason as any to quit playing coed soccer. :p

have a good un. hopefully the wife will let you skateboard down to your river this weekend. good luck bro.

I have couple of Action Optics and one get darker as it gets brighter and I use that for driving as well. On the frame it says Action Optics by Smith. Bought them long ago. Pricey but they are good. You need them for dry fly fishing or to see the bottom wading across other than that a regular sun glasses will do.