I’ve been reviewing the new Costa Rooster Sunglasses with Sunrise 580P lenses the last few weeks. Here are some of my thoughts on the new sunglasses geared towards anglers.
What’s unique
These new frames offer maximum side glare blockage, venting for less fogging, easy rigged arms for sunglass straps, and wide coverage for maximum visibility when peering into the water or identifying obstacles on the water.
The Rooster frames feature side plates to keep sun from shining in from the sides of your sunglasses, a common problem with most sunglass frames. The side plates, however each have 3 small holes to allow airflow on your face behind the lenses. This will reduce or completely eliminate fogging from sweating or hot faces on cold mornings.
The arms have pre-drilled holes in the ends of them for quick clipping sunglass straps with swivels to the frames. This is a much better arrangement than the conventional straps that slide over the ends of the arms.
Applications and experiences
The lenses I test were Sunrise 580P lenses. These are specifically made for lowlight conditions when it is often hard to see into the water with conventional sunglasses lenses. Early morning, late evening and very dark cloudy and rainy days are typically not conducive to fishing visually where you have to look into the water all day. Especially for techniques like sight fishing. You often have to wait until later in the day and pray for sunshine to be able to see into the water. But that wasn’t the case with these lenses.
I actually found the lenses made spotting on the water obstacles easier on early morning runs. There was a lot more contrast than with my conventional polarized sunglass lenses.
The vents and side plates worked great. I never had any issues with my lenses fogging, even on cool morning runs the past couple of weeks. They fit very comfortably thanks to their no slip tread on the bottom of the arms and around the bridge and nose of the frames. Cutting down on the side glare seemed to help with eye fatigue from straining or having to squint from sun coming in from the side while straining to look into the water.
Obviously I wouldn’t recommend the Sunrise 580P lens for bright sunny days, but it was pretty awesome on morning and evenings (when I often get to sneak away for a few hours to fish). It would be nice to have a pair with both regular polarized dark lenses for brights days and one with these Sunrise lenses. But I would definitely recommend the frames if you like full coverage, have a larger face, and have had issues with side glare with your shades.
Costa did a good job rolling a lot of features into one frame with the 2015 ICAST Best of Show winner Rooster Sunglass frame. You can purchase these frames at Tackle Warehouse, Costadelmar.com or local retailers that carry Costa Sunglasses.
