Hi all, can anyone recommend REALLY GOOD sunglasses to kite with - i.e. no fogging up, no coating over, no speckled droplet vision etc!?
Thanks

I guess this topic was discussed multiple times :) Fpr me and many others the best option for kitesurfing is LIP :
www.lip-sunglasses.com/products/watershades/typhoon/
www.lip-sunglasses.com/products/watershades/surge/

Typhoone uses ZEISS lenses, the materials are good, the retention system is secure, the fit is good but it is individual. Also good choice of lense and frame colours.

Aside from the brand decision, I'd give some thought /testing to polarised vs non polarised. I rode with my normal sunnies one day which are polarised. I found it really difficult to pick waves. With so much reflection being cut out it hard to read the wave/water. I only wave ride but would imagine this is just as big a problem (maybe even more) when spotting landings.

Maybe you get used to it but I fail to understand using polarised lens for kiting.

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kiteguy said..
Aside from the brand decision, I'd give some thought /testing to polarised vs non polarised. I rode with my normal sunnies one day which are polarised. I found it really difficult to pick waves. With so much reflection being cut out it hard to read the wave/water. I only wave ride but would imagine this is just as big a problem (maybe even more) when spotting landings.

Maybe you get used to it but I fail to understand using polarised lens for kiting.

Yeah polarised, very difficult to pick if a wave is about to break as you basically look right through it.Gone back to non polarised.

Interesting... the LIP lenses recommended above, made specifically for water sports, are polarized. I've been wearing an old cheap pair of polarized, but I'm new at this, so not nuanced. I think the lenses in my cheap pair are starting to delaminate. Polarization only allows light waves that are in one direction (glare is light waves angled in many directions), so maybe it matters which angle the polarization is set in the lens, but I haven't heard of having different options for that angle. You can tell the angle by holding two polarized lenses together and rotating one - when the polarization of the two lenses is at 90? no light will pass through the combined lenses. If you rotate and nothing happens, one or both lenses aren't polarized.

Sunglasses that leave a gap between cheek and bottom of lense(between nose and sunglass arm) will not fog up.

scratches on lenses impair vision and hold water or sunscreen.

i have one pair of sunnies, wear them on land or kiting. If they get scratched or lost, I buy a new pair.

I use the seaspecs polarized ones, they definitely aren't perfect as they can fog up sometimes and they can get coated (specially if you put lots of sunscreen on your face I think), but they are the best value for money I found.
I don't ride waves and the only time I had trouble to spot my landings was when I kited earlier than usual so I guess the inclination of the sun was more problematic at that time.
I tried the lips, they are good but they are marginally better in terms of vision (still gonna fog up and get coated sometimes), and I didn't use the neck thing to attach them (never needed to with the seaspec), so one day I got it by a wave and lost them (they don't float).
I tried recently a cheap pair (40$) I found on FB market place, I used them for a couple session shook them off after one to get rid of the water and both arms broke...
One small detail with the seaspecs, if you take the red or blue they lose their color after a while and turn a transparent purple/pinkish.

Has anyone with stigmatism on one eye, ordered prescription sunnies from shopping center optometrists and been happy with them?

I use an old gath helmet with the visor pulled down just far enough to keep the sun out of my eyes. Scratches, fogging and water drops are not really a problem. Works well when the sun is high, not as effective at dusk.

^^^with the added bonus of looking like a total baddass

remember Garrett mcnamara wearing a visored gath out pipe in the mid 90's

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theDoctor said..

^^^with the added bonus of looking like a total baddass

remember Garrett mcnamara wearing a visored gath out pipe in the mid 90's

I like that so much better than my wife's opinion, which is that I look like a Power Ranger...