By: Andrew Ragas
As everyone likely stumbles into the 2013 fishing season with sun stroke, I would like to provide a review on my positive experiences thus far with Solar Bat sunglasses. For my 2012 fishing season, I placed an order for three models. All three were related to fishing in some specific way. Each served a specific purpose in performance, and fared best in certain settings and scenarios. The weather during the 2012 season was harsh. Excessive heat and painful sunlight was not kind. I feel that without having these sunglasses protecting my vision, I’m confident to say my year of fishing would have fared much worse.
As you will learn, lens type and its effectiveness for my fishing has more importance to me over frame style and design. Everyone’s eye sight is different, and each person’s eyes respond differently to lens types and frame designs. Also, what you make out of the lens and frame, which are chosen individually as you order, play a substantial role in the performance of the Solar Bat eye wear.
The following has been independently written by my visual perception and eye sight only.
Kokomo
PNVX – Mossback Lens
All PNVX models including the Kokomo features special base curve alignment and thickness variations to eliminate all eyestrain and enhance your visual acuity. Their lenses are injection molded with a thickness of 2.0mm.
I originally ordered the Kokomo glasses for fashion purposes but once I saw how dangerously effective the mossback lens was for sight fishing, picking apart weedlines, and seeing fish from long distances, they were hard to wear anywhere else but in the boat.
The mossback lens is specifically designed and advertised for sight fishing. When you glance through them, the mossback lens has a bright green effect which enhances the brightness of all green and darker colors whether it’s in the water or on land. On the lakes, reservoirs, and rivers I predominantly fish, majority of them feature stained to dark water environments. When fishing these places, in which anglers need everything they can get in order to see underwater cover and fish, the mossback lens is a phenomenal asset.
The ability to differentiate the outline of a fish with a green back over green weeds, can be critical when sight fishing. This lens will help you see those fish. For sight fishing on any water, and especially on darker, murkier bodies of water, and every day musky fishing, I highly recommend the mossback lens. On a scale of 10, I give this particular lens a perfect score in overall effectiveness and performance.
As far as frame is concerned, I don’t rate it that high. I’ll give it a seven for comfort. Its frame is designed to follow the contour of moderate to high cheekbones, and is made from a durable TR90 frame with TCG (Total Comfort Grip) temple boots and adjustable nose pads (TCG grips more as the temperature gets hotter). Because the Kokomo’s feature a slightly narrower frame in comparison to my two other models, it took my face about a week to acclimate to them. The shape of the frame features one benefit, however. It allows lenses to breathe, which reduces lens fogging as you sweat in the warm outside temperatures. The temple styling with co-injection molded TCG always keeps the Kokomo’s hugging my face without excessive pressure.
Despite my critical views on the frame, it’s a little ironic I wear the Kokomos most often for my fishing. They are always worn for muskies in every condition, and are HUGE when seeing fish follow from long distance. In addition, they are worn 50% of the time for bass.
Captain
PNVXD – Mossback Gradient Lens
All PNVXD Series sunglasses including the Captain feature a refined base curve alignment and thickness variations to further enhance visual acuity with extra definition. The Captain lenses are injection molded with a thickness of 2.0mm
Per the recommendation of Solar Bat, I ordered the Captain due to its high level of comfort. The Captain is a universal fit. It’s advertised that 90% of the people who wear it say it’s the most comfortable Solar Bat fit they’ve ever experienced. In my opinion, it does fit the best of my three pairs, and they are the most comfortable sunglasses I’ve ever worn. Thanks to the wrap of the frame and TR90 material, the Captain encases my eyes in comfort, and gives them total protection from sunlight. My only complaint about the Captain is it does not feature the total comfort grip as it could further improve comfort. If these glasses ever slipped off my face and into the drink, this omission would be an issue but luckily it isn’t.
The lens I chose for my Captain is the highly acclaimed mossback gradient. Per the recommendation of friend, Travis Crosman, owner of Stankx Bait Company, I elected to give this lens a try. He swears by the mossback gradient’s efficiency in sight fishing and picking apart underwater cover, as do several other anglers whom I know.
On the lens itself, the top 55% of the lens is mossback tint while the lower 45% is a high contrast yellow. As light conditions change, removing these glasses in favor of something else is never needed. As your head is tilted to look up or down, color brightness and the definition of objects changes at the expense of the gradient colors; the yellow brightens while green darkens.
I wear my mossback gradient Captain’s exclusively when fishing clear bodies of water. They perform best when fishing water less than ten feet deep, and work best for shallow water sight fishing.
I’ve learned that seeing through the mossback gradient lens is an acquired vision. At first I didn’t like them, as I had never seen through a gradient lens before. Its effectiveness on me has improved since, but I feel they still aren’t good enough for all around sight fishing, especially on all water types, and they definitely aren’t as effective as the original mossbacks for open water fishing and seeing fish and underwater objects from long distances.
If you will be a first time user like I was, it takes some time getting acclimated to the mossback gradients. In effectiveness and performance, I give them a score of 7.5 out of 10.
The Captain frame is awesome. Its mossback gradient lens I paired with it, not so much. I’ll give it some more time until I settle on any score.
Batitude
PNVXD – Gray Polarized w/ Blue Flash Mirror Lens
All PNVXD Series sunglasses including the Batitude feature a refined base curve alignment and thickness variations to further enhance visual acuity with extra definition. The Batitude lenses are injection molded with a thickness of 2.0mm.
The Batitude is a new release for 2012. I had ordered these glasses for fishing but they quickly became a pair I wore daily in every setting whether it’s driving, going out, hitting the beach, and more… A lot of this decision has to do with stylish frame and unique lens type.
The Batitude features an extreme facial wrap design, and oversized lenses that create a frame fit that blocks the sun and elements from all angles. Due to these features, they are a good unisex model, meaning it’s not only a good pair for men, but also women. Like my pair of Kokomo’s, the TR90 frame material gently hugs the face and is lightweight and rugged. The co-injection molded TCG and nose pads keep this pair of shades on my face at all times under the most extreme heat and humidity. If you want to look good, this is a frame that must be considered.
I paired these frames with a blue flash mirror lens. All this does is enhance the cosmetics of the sunglasses. The lens features a base of grey, and the blue flash mirror coating applied to the polarized lens surface. Ultimately this decreases light transmission of the grey lens by 5%. Although the flash mirror doesn’t benefit my fishing much, it is a great lens for those who are light sensitive, and suffer from exposure to sunlight. I haven’t worn these while fishing yet, but I could see them working exceptionally well for offshore fishing (on oceans, off beaches), and out on the crystal clear waters of the Great Lakes and places I fish up north.
The glasses and lenses of all Solar Bat products serve a purpose in every outdoor activity from the extreme athlete and professional angler, to beach bums, as well as the average person who is interested in looking attractive. Although high quality pairs of sunglasses typically cost more than traditional pair of sunglasses, take a further look at the benefits of owning eye wear that has been researched and developed with technological advances, and constructed with protective measures for your vision.
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Solar Bat ® Enterprises, Inc.
3628 East County Road 600 North
Brazil, IN 47834
Phone – 800-761-8228
