Polarising Glasses for Fish Spotting

[John Wood 2]

I am on the lookout for a decent pair of non-prescription polarising glasses.

A few people have recommended Optilabs but as far as I know they only make glasses with prescription lenses. AND they're very expensive.

Can anyone tell me if Optilab do non prescption glasses, or can anyone recommend another good brand? Preferably one that won't break the bank!!

 

[Fred Bonney]

They do John, they are sturdypolycarbonate lenses, none of your flimsy plastic!

The frames are good and solid too, I've got the Blackbird style and despite sitting on them a couple of times I've worn mine for fishing and driving for 3 years and had a pair before for a number of years.

Optilabs

 

[John Wood 2]

Thanks Fred - I take it the Ultra 2000 lenses are the ones for fishing? A bit pricey at £205 though!!

 

[Fred Bonney]

Not necessarily John, I have the brown £124.95

Brown

 

[John Wood 2]

do they do as good a job as everyone tells me?

 

[Fred Bonney]

They do for me!

"I've worn mine for fishing and driving for 3 years <u>and had a pair before for a</u><u> number of years."</u>



I'm sure Graham M.reviewed them on here a while a go, and Bob R(spit)/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif said had a pairvery recently.....

 

[Eric Hayes]

John, if your interestedyou can have my Bolle Vanadium 2's for £60 + P&P. They cost me £125 but I now have to wear prescription glasses so they are surplus to requirement. I've tried a mates Optis and I believe the Bolle's have a better lens. Although now I am considering getting some pescription Optis for the summer. but it wont be the big black ones with the leather bit on /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

This is a bit of info on the bolle's:

POLARIZATION enhances visual acuity by eliminating extreme glare and reflections. 100% UVA/UVB PROTECTION. CARBO GLAS COATING protective lens coating provides superior scratch-resistance. POLYCARBONATE (PC) LENSES Ultra-lightweight and virtually shatterproof. ANTI-REFLECTIVE (AR) COATING applied to the backside of Boll sunglasses lenses eliminates annoying backside glare and ensures crystal clear optics. Polarized Sandstone lens. Includes Quality Case & cleaning cloth.

They are in VGC with no scratches or marks. If you are interested Email me.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I have had a pair of Optics for many years, I would say for about10 years now.

Three years ago, a lens fell out. I sent them off to Optics to be repaired. They rang me up and said the frame needed replaceing, but that frame was no longer made, Thats how long Ihad them.

they asked me to look on the website and pick a frame, then let them know, so I did.

Two weeks later I got them back, new frames and they had polished the lenses for me.

What was the cost i hear you ask, well, Nothing, yep Nothing.

Optic was so happy that they had lasted so long, I got it for free. I have the Amber lens.

Costly, not when you get service like that.

 

[redalert06]

what's the difference between a ?10-20 pair of polarised sunglasses and these ones costing hundreds? are they that much better at removing the reflections?

 

[Ray Roberts]

I bought a pair of the Optilab's and they were superb.

The company also do normal prescription glasses as well. I was really surprised at how cheap these were, I had been to my local optician to get a prescription and a new pair of specs and I then visited the optilabs showroom to get some prescription sunglasses when I was there I noticed the exactly same frames for less than half the price that I had been quoted by my optician. I cancelled and had optilabs do both pairs. The normal glasses were over £200.00 cheaper. If you live within visiting distance then I would suggest that you get your eyes tested by them as well. That way they are responsible for the whole procedure.

I will have to buy a new pair now as some worthless scrote broke into my car and stole mine. The eye test was the most thorough that I have ever had and as Mr Daywalker said their after sales service is brilliant. I had the brown lenses and they were fine for the uses that I put them to. I think the more expensive lenses are photo-chromic Polaroid lenses, which I would think makes them even more versatile.

 

[keith rid]

still no one has said if there is any real difference between the cheap lenses and the optilabs.....there must be , but price doesn't always guarantee....i bought cormoran optix clip ons at £30 (would be the equivalwnt of £50 now) and they were no better whatsoever than the £5 john wilson ones......

caveat emptor!

 

[Fred Bonney]

We don't buy cheap, we buy to do the job and to last.

How many cheappairsget broken, my current prescription pair have cost me £40 a year so far, non prescription would be£30 on the same basis!

Still many years in them, if my prescription doesn't change

 

[Fred Bonney]

burp!

 

[Laurie Harper]

Agree with Fred. A bargain priced alternative will often do the job OK until you mistreat, sit on or dropit. Then you find you can't source spareparts or locate a repairer and you have to buy again. "Buy cheap; buy twice" as the saying goes.

 

[John Wood 2]

Thanks for the advice everyone, but buying twice at £5 is still cheaper than once at £124.95!

 

[Tee-Cee]

I am on the Mailing List of Sportfish UK and recieve a catalogue(mainlygame fishing items)every quarter.Do get one sent to you-some great bits for coarse fishing and well presented!!www.sportfish.co.uk

Now,I don't know too much about polarised glasses or what might be best but this catalogue always shows several pages of glasses of various types(and obviously for fishermen)ranging in price from a few pounds to some hundreds!It would seem on the face of it that they do a fair amount of homework around this subject so it may well be worth a look....

I can tell you this same company had a sale on glasses some years back and I bought three pairs(in different colour lenses)at£9 each and fully polaroid-they have been great and I still have them.The technical description looked okay to my untrained mind and,if my optician is anything to go by,my eyes are absolutely fine....

NOT to say they will last longer or that they are better than those mentioned above,but they suit me just fine and for a minimum cost........can't be bad!!

ps...great for fish spotting but no bloody help in catching them!!!)

 

[John Wood 2]

Eric - thanks for the offer on the Bolle glasses, but I can get a new pair on Ebay for £65.

 

[Eric Hayes]

OK John, but there is a chance they could be moody, and I don't think they will have Sandstone lenses. I got a pair of Bolle Meanstreak (non polarised) of Ebay a few years agoand theywhere fake. I wasn'tto bothered, the price wasOK and I only wanted them for wearing when out and about. My Ladhas them now.