No matter what type of boater you are, you should consider a quality pair of polarized sunglasses to be essential safety gear. Not just for how they reduce glare, but for how they protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful UV rays as well. Sunglasses-makers now offer myriad lens colors to choose from, but you shouldn’t pick based only on style. The different lens colors provide different benefits depending on how and where you boat. We picked just three different lens colors from Bajio Sunglasses selection, paired with the new Darien frames, to illustrate the differences.
Blue Lenses
The Clear: These are best for bright, sunny days offshore. They are ideal for offshore boaters who spend a lot of time roaming far outside the inlet, especially for long days in glaring sunlight. Designed, in Bajio’s words, to “spot fish in 50-plus feet of water,” they’re also great for helping to spot other boats, hazards and offshore markers in the distance.
The Glare: They block more light than other choices, so they’re not ideal at dawn and dusk, or in overcast situations where you still need eye protection.
Price: $259 (for glass lenses); bajiosunglasses.com
Green Lenses
The Clear: Green is a more all-around lens that works in a variety of boating situations, but it is ideally suited for the coastal boater running in “greener” inshore waters. It has an amber base to help make out changing water depths and partially submerged hazards that you can encounter. They work well in various light conditions and can offer more contrast in low-light situations.
The Glare: They still reduce glare and protect against eyestrain, but they don’t block as much light as the blue lenses.
Price: $259 (for glass lenses); bajiosunglasses.com
Read Next: Tested: Bajio Darien Sunglasses
Copper Lenses
The Clear: Copper is often the choice of long-haulers for road driving because they offer a lot of high-contrast polarization. These work the best in low-light situations at dusk and dawn, and are preferred by many freshwater anglers in small river and lake situations. So they’d be well-suited for freshwater boaters. Anglers like them because they help in spotting fish in less-than-clear water. They’re also good on cloudy days.
The Glare: Copper doesn’t create the same “HD pop” as some of the other lens colors.
Price: $259 (for glass lenses); bajiosunglasses.com
