Gear Review: Maui Jim Sunglasses

Fishing Glasses Worth the Look

Kipahulu Polarized Glasses from Maui Jim

So a number of years ago, Cheech somehow snaked a pair of Maui Jim glasses from our buddy Bryan Gregson and I remember his surprise at the quality and effectiveness in terms of polarized fishing lenses. Fast-forward to a few months ago, as I'm looking around for some back-up or alternative sunglasses to use with my normal Costa's. I knew the general color and style I wanted, but decided to look outside of the Costa lineup. After a few days of searching, I decided on Maui Jim's since I'd always wanted to try a pair myself.

So when I first tried on the glasses (I ended up with the Kipahulu model), I had a similar experience the first time I gazed through my Costas. "Wow, that's crazy clear and sharp". So yeah, these are killer glasses. I won't go into any sort of direct comparison of Costa's vs Maui Jim's because I like both and will be using different glasses for different situations, but these glasses are downright awesome.

Next, was the on-the-water testing for some marathon fishing sessions. Now if I have one gripe about my Costa's is that, because they are glass, they are heavier and tend to become a bit of a burden on my face after being out and about for 6 to 10 hours. Maybe I'm just a wuss. But because these Maui Jim sunglasses are a polycarbonate, they're much lighter and I was stoked about being able to wear them all day with no issues.

Beyond just the normal sun and glare protection for your eyes, the most important part of the polarization on lenses is seeing fish. These did not disappoint. Of course lens color, water color, lake/stream bed substrate and sunlight play a part in what you can and can't see, but I'd say these passed muster on both rivers and lakes.

So all told, I'm pretty happy with the MJ's and given that I've heard some great things about their customer service, I think this is a brand I can hang my hat on.

Me sporting my sexy MJ's with a little rainbow I lucked into