Polarized Eye-wear From TackleBargains

16 February, 2003 02:00:00 Julian

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Specimen angling can be a hard game at the best of times, and as such, it never fails to amaze me the amount of anglers who will happily pay hundreds and hundreds of pounds for top of the range rods, reels, bivvy’s, and alarms; yet they often overlook the simplest of items which are essential for improving ones watercraft skills.

For me, packing polarized glasses when going fishing is as important as taking the rods! The benefits are clear for all to see (no pun intended) as the design of the lenses allows you to see clearly underwater.

The way the lenses work is to reduce the glare on the surface of the water, which increases visibility below the surface so you can spot the fish. There are various types available to suit all budgets and over the weekend Martin Johnson and I put a few pairs through their paces during a session on Capesthorne.

Martin tested the 90584 Tacklebargains frames in grey with the anti-reflection mirrored lenses;

“The glasses are a great fit, which is important for me as I’m always climbing trees or sticking my head through the undergrowth on the bankside. I found them really comfy and the lenses gave very sharp vision and reduced the surface glare dramatically. The lenses have a UV400 rating which means they also block out all the harmful UVA and UVB rays”.

“At Capesthorne you spend much of your time up trees watching the carp movement in the shallow clear waters and I found the lenses gave excellent all round underwater vision during the extremely sunny conditions throughout our trip which allowed me to keep in touch with fish movement. They retail at £14.95 which I reckon is a proper steal, or you can pay around nineteen quid which includes a sturdy zip-up carry case, and a proper cleaning kit with airless spray cleaning fluid and micro fibre cloth; again excellent value for money… Oh, and did I mention they look really cool:-)”.

I tested the 8850 Tacklebargains clip on frames with brown lenses;

As a wearer of prescription lenses, my choice of polarised eyewear is rather reduced and somewhat pricy! So the first thing I must compliment these lenses on is the price. Retailing at just £9.99 they are an excellent low cost alternative to prescription polarized lenses.

When I first saw them I was a little concerned about how robust they would be, but after returning from a three day session where they were pretty much in constant use, I can happily report they easily stood up to the test. Like the pair Martin tested, these are also rated UV400 and have 0.75mm thick scratch resistant lenses.

I found the brown lenses gave excellent all round performance and really opened up all the features under the surface cutting out the surface glare brilliantly.

The clip on system is also really good as they will fit any type of frame, even the tiny frames I wear. Once clipped on you can also flip up the front to switch to normal vision, and then flip down again for polarized vision.