Your Guide to Purchasing the Right Sunglasses

Have you ever wished you had help in purchasing the right sunglasses for you? Ever bought a pair that didn't fit when you got them home?

Ever bought a pair that broke within a week?

The trick to purchasing the right sunglasses is to follow this simple guide.

First, consider what sort of activities you will be doing in these sunglasses:

• Are they for active sports like cricket, baseball or basketball?
• Are they for water sports like fishing, sailing or golf?
• Are they for looking good while out on the town?
• Are they for driving?
• Do you need prescription sunglasses?

Each activity benefits from sunglasses designed with that activity in mind. Active sports ave different requirements than strutting on the boardwalk. Fishing is different to driving.

Looking Good

Fashion sunglasses must still have 100% UV protection in the lenses or they are NOT sunglasses and may do your eyes more damage.

Check the tag to make sure they have the 100% UV protection.

Beyond that, it is up to you: Do you want to be uber fashionable, or find something that suits you and is comfortable?

For great style and comfort and the ability to get your normal prescription in your sunglasses, you can't go past brands like Oroton, and Maui Jim. Check out the galleries to know what these brands look like or come into the store to try them on.

With any sunglasses, pay attention to how they feel at first, especially at the ears and nose. Most sunglasses cannot be adjusted very far so you need to choose a pair that are a good fit straight away. Look for a pair that curve gently over the ear, sit far enough away from your eyelashes and give your eyes decent coverage from the sun.

A new alternative biker style is Intimidate, from Justin Herald, who brought us Attitude Gear.

Purchasing the Right Sunglasses for Active sports

When choosing sunglasses, look for ones that wrap around the head with good grip at the nose and around the ears. They should be a firm fit. Test the fit by shaking your head and see if they move. The last thing you want to happen in the middle of an important game is for your sunnies to fall off!

The lenses need to be plastic, preferably polycarbonate. This has the highest impact resistance so that your lenses won't break if you get hit in the face by the ball. Under no circumstances should you wear glass lenses while playing sport!!

They should be light to wear. You don't want to be distracted by your sunglasses.

Many people prefer polarized lenses for their excellent reduction of glare. But don't wear them if your sport involves any kind of LCD screen. The polarization makes it difficult to see these screens well. For everything else, polarized lenses are brilliant.

Do your sunglasses need to fit underneath a helmet? Pay attention to the thickness of the arms over your ears.

Purchasing the Right Sunglasses for Water Sports

Polarized lenses are a must for any kind of watersport. They reduce so much of the glare from reflections off the water. You can see into the water, instead of seeing those reflections. It can interfere with LCD displays, such as some fishfinders. So pop them off to look at the screen.

For freshwater, it is recommended to choose a lens that is brown or copper in colour. For saltwater go for grey or green-grey. A mirror coating can also help to reduce overall glare.

It's a good idea to go for sunglasses that float, or can take a floater cord attached. That way, when you drop them in the water, you have a chance to get them back.

Driving

Polarized lenses are also excellent for driving. It reduces the glare reflecting off the road, off your bonnet and dashboard. They are also good in the wet, allowing you to see the road markings through the water on the road.

There are 2 main categories of lens for the road.

• Static tint
• Variable tint

Static tint stays the same amount of darkness no matter what the lighting conditions are like. When choosing sunglasses, you have the choice of brown or grey tint, whichever is your favourite. Brown can enhance contrast depending on the level of yellow in the colour mix. Grey darkens everything equally.

Variable tint is great for driving because they adjust to the circumstances. These are called Drivewear.

The tint varies according to the amount of UV in the light. They are lighter indoors or on low UV days. They get darker in brighter sunlight and direct sunlight.

I love them in my sunglasses. The tint colour gives an extremely clear view with great contrast. They always adjust for me to the perfect level of darkness for the conditions. Because they are polarized, they are very comfortable to wear, even in the rain.

Check whether your GPS display is visible with polarized lenses on.

If close objects are blurry, you may need reader sunglasses.

Not a fan of sunglasses? Here's the lowdown on UV damage and eyes.

Do you need more help purchasing the right sunglasses for your needs? Send me an email with your questions.