The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Happy New Year All;
I just had my vision checked and my perscription adjusted and am shopping for new optics (minor near sightedness only, I don't use perscription glasses for driving or reading, but do appreciate lazor vision for the sport).

I've been using Smiths Ation Optics for years, and am considering using them again but thought I'd ask about your experiences before I pull the trigger.

What I have had were Perscription Photochromatic (where the tint adjusts somewhat to the light level) and they are good but;
- Problem: the moderate tint is way too dark near dusk or even in heavy canyon shadows.

So I'm now thinking that what I need are two pairs;
1) moderate to high tint for high light levels.
2) a very light or near zero tint that I'd switch to late in the day.
Both with high quality polorized lenses of course.

Any thoughts or experience with other brands wolud be appreciated. One of the guides I've know for years uses Hobbi brand.....and thety have great polorized lenses. But I have limited experience with other manufactures.

PS: My wife recently broke one of the lenses on my non-perscription Action Optics Guides Choice glasses and when I asked Smiths if they could replace it, they told me to send it in under warranty (limited lifetime) and they "deny my claim" and offer to relace them for $60. More than fair for $150 glasses. I'll see how that works out....they have been sent in.

Thanks in advance,
MK

I have the action optics and I dont think they are worth the money.

MK,
I used the Action Optics products for years (both single vision & bifocal Rx) and all 3 pair that I had were photochromatic (either copper or brown lenses). When they became part of Smiths or Hobie or whatever, the frame styles changed and I could no longer find a style that fit and/or remained in place.

Last year I picked up a pair of Guideline (used to be Fisherman's Eyewear...maybe still is for another part of the product line) with the "Rogue" style fram...it fit my particular facial structure (fat) better than the available frames from the new Action Optics, Maui Jim, Habervison, and others. The bifocal and distance correction was exact, according to my eye doc, the transaction took place over the phone, I had the new prescription sunglasses (brown lens-not photochromic) delivered to my door in 6 days for a cost of $170...no problems.

http://www.glpolarized.com/

Good luck,

Paul

no/msg

Paul;
Thanks for the input. How do you deal with low light conditions?? Those look prety dark.

PS: Great looking fish in your photo; what river is that? The Pit maybe??

MK

I've been wearing Action Optics for years now and love them. I had a nice pair of Costa Del Mar before that and I think that the AO are just as good.

I go cheap and then I don't mind if I break them or lose them... I'm not throwing good money after bad...

I have contacts that I pretty much only wear when fishing these days.

B-

malibumlk wrote:
How do you deal with low light conditions??


MK,
Low light, as in overcast/rain has not been an issue...after sundown, I dump the sunglasses and go to my regular specs...I even had to do that with the photochromatic types because they didn't go below 20% tint.

The fish in that photo is an Upper Sac fish.

Paul

I use 2 pairs of non-prescription Maui Jims "Volcano" model. Check out their website-I believe they will fill prescriptions. I went with the two pair thing, gray (bright light) and bronze (low light). Also, I went with glass lens as the poly gets scratched too easy.

If ya can try a pair of Kaenons do it. Pro sailors use them almost exclusively. We look straight into the glare to read the difference in wind all day and these work great. You can get them in varrying shades of darkness, although I have found the lightest shade to be fine even in full glare(read: quality lenses). They come in all sizes, colors, etc. Also very popular with snow folks.

I have a pair of the Kores and they are great. Very light on the face. I hate wearing sunglasses but these are comfortable.

Thanks for all the input guys.......much appreciated.

I'm narrowing the problem down; the challenge is finding high quality polarized lenses for very low light/near dark conditions.

The lowest I've found are 31% (block 31% of the available light).

Anyone got a suggestion or idea on a very, very lightly shaded polarized lense source??
Thanks,
MK