Anyone have any suggestions to good sunglasses that will not only stay on my head but protect my eyes from salt water. I have a pair of Seaspec which are great for staying on my head but are not so great when they actually get wet. Any suggestions appreciated thanks,
Dan
Depends on your head shape somewhat too.
One word…
MAUIJIM … you only have one set of eyes.
Couple with a chums.
I paddle with a pair of recspecs…
…basically the same kind of glasses the NBA guys wear.
They are 'script and fit with a wide elastic band that keeps them on.
helmet
For serious sea kayaking, I wear my old whitewater helmet. Great for rolling to protect head and glasses. I like a visor under helmet.
I don’t wear pricey glasses for paddling
I buy inexpensive tinted safety glasses and attach a retaining cord to them. The lenses are optically correct and shatterproof, and the frames are durable. If I lose or damage them, I don’t care.
I agree
I agree with Onnopaddle Maui Jims may be pricy and you’d hate to lose a pair, but water glare is painful and they are the best I know of. My eyes are relaxed at the end of a day on the water instead of burning when I wear the Maui’s…the cheap stuff encourages my eyes to complain at the end of the day. Might depend on how sensitive your eyes are, but if glare makes sensitive eyes complain it likely isn’t good for anyone’s eyes. B’sides, a good cheap strap has kept mine with me for some 7 years now.
Best,
Brian
Native Eye Wear
My very favorite glasses that I am never on the water without are my Native Eye Wear Low Ryders. When on the water, I use the gator lock temples which have never come off even in surf. They have these little vents on the top of the frame and they rarely fog either on the water or skiing.
Bought my first pair over three years ago and have replaced them 3 times under their full replacement warranty. Once I had to pay the $20 as I misplaced the warranty card. Their replacement warranty is SOOOO GOOD that they replace the replacements under an additional 1 year warranty. I had them replaced each time due to fractured lenses. Not only that, the replacements come quickly - last time within 9 days.
All styles are polarized and I use these both on the water and skiing. They also do prescription lenses.
I will never buy another brand of glasses again. Can’t say enough good things about Native Eye Wear.
Suzanne
rec specs
– Last Updated: Jan-14-05 3:06 PM EST –
I've started thinking about looking into those. Do you mind if I ask what model you have and did you get them tinted? Although I wear glasses 90% of the time, I switch to contacts when I'm paddling so I can wear good coverage sunglasses, but I worry about losing a contact if I flip. Do you roll with these rec specs?
Although I always carry a back up pair of glasses with me, I always worry about losing a contact or breaking my glasses because my vision is so bad that I would literally need to be led out if I didn't have my glasses or contacts.
Thanks
Alot of good suggestions. I am going to check them all out. Thanks
Dan
Learned The Hard Way
I lost one pair of $300 prescription Raybans on the river when I dumped in a easy rapid. Just wasn’t paying attenion. I lost another on the ocean is calm conditions. Just dropped them overboard.
Now I just wear off the rack sunglasses for paddling.
Do they resist fogging?
How well do the rec specs resist fogging?
They sound like a good option that I hadn’t considered.
Protect the eyes
It pays to wear a sunglasses, it pays even more to wear good quality sunglasses to help prevent eye injury, sun and weather condition damage to the eyes. Those of you who are native to the tropics and sub tropics, of fare skin and eye color, spent a great deal of time inthe outdoors workin gor playing likeley already have experienced eye damage, as in my case, I don’t know the proper medical spelling but it’s pronounced t-gerium. Its a cateract or growth from the corner of the eye to the cornea and form because of exposure to the sun, wind, dust etc.
Avoidable by wearing good sunglasses over a lifetime. Glasses never a bad idea paddling around bushes or mountain biking, a must in these parts.
Brian
Fort Laud
sunglasses
I cant say enough about Oakleys if you can keep from loosing them. That hurts when it happens but they are great sunglasses.
unclear
as to the original posting. what do you mean when they get wet?
In reply
In reply to the last posting. My seaspecs fog up and spot when they get wet. That is what I was reffering to.
Thanks Dan
i see,
and yet can’t add anything constructive as i have the same problem with my sunglasses. maybe these MauiJims have some fancy coatings that makes water run immediately off without streaking or spotting. i’m leary of any claims to that effect however, as fogging, spotting and streaking are natural products of physics which i suspect are hard if not impossible to prevent.
cheers, jbv
Fogging Etc
I’ve tried two pair of glasses with coatings on them that are supposed to make water run off better, both a decent brand. Once in salt water they last one season before there is frequent cleaning and recoating involved to keep that feature. I suspect salt water has the same effect regardless of manufacturer.
The best thing I’ve found to prevent fogging is to get glasses that are vented at the top, similarly to what I have in my biking glasses. Native has vented glasses, as does Serrengeti or whoever makes the H2O Optix series.
Campmore (www.campmor.com) is a great source for good sunglasses at very reduced prices.
Celia
DAN_YPU’RE NOT GOING TO GET NON-SPOT
– Last Updated: Jan-19-05 12:13 AM EST –
specs, generally speaking.
Spots occur when the salt water hits the lens, evaporates, and leaves the various water-soluble chemical compounds ("salts", hence 'salt water'), which DON'T evaporate, behind. That's that darn translucent "spot".
Minimizing those kinds of spots is facilitated by Rain-X(R)-type silicon-based coatings, which make the lens chemically "wet", which encourages the water drops to slide off the lens instead of staying on, drying out, and subsequently spotting.
Like 'Cuda used to, I still wear my $250 prescription bifocal polarized shades out on the water -but I use a floating headband to hold them tight, and have swum with them, and it's fine.
They spot -but that's life. As a near lifelong wearer of glasses, I guess I'm used to not seeing the spots & specks on the lens and focusing on seeing what's beyond. I'm not bothered by the spots -and because they're "regular" glasses, they don't fog up, having decent room to breath around the edges of the lenses at the top, bottom, and sides.
Good polarization is a GREAT help -even the best non-polarized shades won't appreciably cut the glare, just the light volume. You'll still end up with tired eyes or a headache on reflective waters or sand even if you wear good sunglasses that aren't polarized shades.
I would echo Brian's caution as well: get good, alpba & beta UV-blocking shades.
Cheap sunglasses are WORSE than no sunglasses, because they shade the eye from light volume, allowing the iris to open more widely. But not blocking the UV actually allows more UV into the eye than going without shades and squinting -and therefore shutting down the iris diaphragm diameter.
A wise word to the wise when they, in bright conditions,
Paddle On!
-Frank in Miami
Dan, You NEED the most expensive…
High priced, over quality, ugly looking glasses you can find! That will sove the problem… Just ask (almost) anyone on p.net… They will suggest the same.
Paddle easy,
Coffee
Good news
The days of cheap sunglasses that block no UV are gone. All glasses sold as “sunglasses” must by law state how much UV is blocked. Only the stupid fashion specs (rose, purple etc) won’t provide protection.
That said, I must wear Rx glasses, so I always have a floating band attached.
Jim
blind in WV