Product Review: Costa del Mar 580 Lightwave Lenses

After 40 years of 20/20 vision, time has caught up with me and my eyesight isn’t what it was.
One thing that has deeply frustrated me of late, is that I have struggled to see well with my polarisers when the light drops or when I find myself fishing in shadows.
I have tried various brands and even invested in some photo-chromatic glasses (the ones that go lighter and darker). These did help, but I sacrificed a great deal of polarising power.
I had a chance meeting with Steve Chance ( I bet I’m not the first one to make that pun) of Costa del Mar and I began bemoaning the plight of my eyesight. Without batting an eye he suggested a pair of their new LightWave 580 lenses. Amid claims of outstanding clarity and maximum polarising power, he slipped in the fact that they were awesome in low light. He clearly can sell snow to Eskimos. I ordered a pair of LightWaves for fishing and a pair of prescription glasses for driving.
Prescriptions are not at present available in the 580 lens, so those were their standard amber lenses.
Finally I received my glasses and thankfully only a few days before I went fishing. I took the precaution of taking both pairs of Costa del Mar’s as well as two pairs of my old glasses, both from leading manufacturers.
I will start by saying that even the standard amber lenses of the prescription Costas totally out -performed my other glasses in terms of polarising and spotting fish. In fact the difference was quite baffling: amazing clarity in the water with excellent contrast and colour enhancement. Agreed these are prescription, so that obviously is a factor.
I can honestly say that I was sceptical to see if the 580 lenses could out-perform them. Well, guess what? They did! The qualities I mentioned above of contrast and clarity, went just that bit further than the standard lenses. In fact, the winning aspect of these lenses, which are the 580 Silver finish Copper , truly comes to light (yet another weak pun) as light begins to fade. I put my old glasses back on in order to contrast and they were simply useless. I couldn’t see properly into the water anymore. Back on with the 580s and there were the fish again.
I can sincerely say that these fishing glasses fall into the category of “How the hell did I manage before?” category.
I personally opted for the Wheelhouse retro design illustrated above, but some might prefer the more wrap-around, keep the light out models.
Top marks and very highly recommended.