If you don’t wear glasses then this blog post isn’t going to be of much use to you, but judging by the amount of comments and messages I got when I first posted about fitover-type polarised sunnies a couple of months ago here (slightly oversized polarised sunnies that fit over/on top of your reading or varifocal glasses), I think there are more of us in a similar boat than I had realised. My profound thanks goes to a very kind reader of this blog who read that blog post and went out of his way to put me in touch with the Cocoons UK people…………

You’re probably not going to consider fitover type polarised sunnies if how you look matters to you, because there’s no getting away from the somewhat “bug-eyed” look you end up with. Fitover sunnies have to be fairly large because they need to fit over your existing pair of glasses. I would think it’s fairly obvious that trying to impress people is way down on my list of priorities, so how I look when I wear a fitover pair of polarised sunnies doesn’t matter a jot. I wear varifocal glasses and the whole polarised sunnies thing is an issue. Or rather was an issue, because it isn’t anymore. I am completely sorted now. I blogged about some cheap fitover sunnies a while back and they work fine, but these Cocoons are so much better and so much more comfortable to wear for hours and hours on end. That easy to wear that I forget I’m wearing them, except for when my wife and two girls have a good giggle at bug-eyed dad!

There are various options if you need to wear glasses but you also need polarised sunnies - prescription sunnies, clip-on, fitover etc. I can’t personally see the point in wearing sunglasses that aren’t polarised, regardless of whether you are out fishing or simply walking or driving or spending the day on the beach, but that might be a personal thing. Polarised sunnies are vital for my fishing - even more so the more sight-fishing type bass fishing I do - and needing to wear varifocal glasses all of the time has presented me with various problems I needed to solve. Those problems are now solved but my needs might be different to yours so check here for my thinking behind all of this.

In a perfect world I’d still be wearing a pair of Costa del Mar polarised sunnies in the Permit frame with 580G Green Mirror lenses, but those days are over for me. I can’t help but be drawn to polarised lenses with more of a warmup colour to them because I think they literally make the world look better on those big blue sky days like we are experiencing at the moment. Thanks to a really interesting and kind contact at Cocoons UK, I have been wearing and testing four different lenses in these Pilot frames. To find out which Cocoons frame will fit best over your current pair of glasses, simply go to their website here and enter the measurements of your glasses. I find these wraparound style Pilot frames incredibly comfortable to wear for long periods and I am always after wraparounds with polarised sunnies because I don’t want any glare coming in from the sides. It’s so easy to wear and then remove these Cocoons if you put a retainer on them. I wear them when I need to, then simply remove them from over my glasses and let them sit on my front when I need to use my varifocal glasses for photography etc. I am completely used to doing things like this now so these fitovers feel totally natural and miles better than the clip on/flip up or down things I had been using for a while.

**Thanks to Dave from** **Labrax Mafia** **for the use of this photo of me**

Let’s talk about the four different polarised lenses I have been using in these Pilot frames (check out the specs on the different lenses here). I can’t really compare and contrast the actual quality of the Cocoons polarised lenses compared to say the Costa del Mar ones because it’s so subjective, but I have used them enough to have got my thoughts together - and I think these Cocoons are absolutely bloody brilliant. They are “professional grade scratch-resistant Polaré® polarised lenses” (plastic) and not glass like the 580G Costas, so I guess they might scratch a bit more easily, but so far so good for me and for the money I think these Cocoons are awesome.

Copper - My out and out favourite Cocoons lens because I think they are closest to the Costa 580G Green Mirror lenses. Fishing or driving or whatever on big blue sky days and I seriously love how these Copper lenses give such a warmup boost to the world. This “look” might be too much for you, but I love it. If it is too much then check out the next lens. These Copper lenses are my favourite, but that doesn’t mean I think they are the best for UK saltwater fishing (hint, check out the fourth lens further down).

Green Mirror - If you are after a subtler sort of “boost” to the world then go for these Green Mirror Cocoons. Not as out and out contrasty or warm as the Copper lenses or the Costa Green Mirrors, I could see these Cocoons Green Mirror lenses being the perfect polarised lens for most people. Very easy to like.

Blue Mirror - My least favourite of the four lenses I have been trying, mainly because they are more neutral and I like some “punch” to my sunnies. A mate of mine who bought some Cocoons after I told him about them has gone for these Blue Mirror lenses and he loves them. To me they offer a touch more boost or punch over the very neutral Gray lenses, and I end up being perfectly happy with these more neutral Blue Mirror lenses when I wear them for a while and end up getting used to them.

Yellow - Absolutely bloody awesome for the sort of fishing I do the most. I can’t prove it, but I am convinced that these Yellow Cocoons polarised lenses are the best of the four when it comes to seeing into the water and spotting fish and features and so on. Especially in estuary water where you need all the help you can get when the water is not crystal clear. This might have something to do with these Yellow lenses letting in most “visible light transmission” of the four lenses I have used, and with them being Yellow, there is a noticeable yellow colour cast to the world when you wear them - which I really like. For sure it can take a bit of getting used to on big blue sky days, but for those changeable days and/or lower light situations, these Yellow lenses are perfect. If I had to choose one pair of polarised sunnies for the sort of saltwater fishing I do in the UK and Ireland and the endlessly changeable conditions we tend to get (current heatwave notwithstanding)? Without a doubt I would go for a pair of Cocoons in the Pilot frame with the Yellow lenses.

My profound thanks to two very kind people specifically, I am so glad I got there in the end with my polarised sunnies issues. The easiest way to buy these Cocoons fitover polarised sunnies is on their website here, and I really like that you get a proper neoprene case and cleaning cloth included with each pair. My needs might well be different to yours, but I am so pleased to have stumbled across these brilliant fitovers which allow me to wear the varifocal glasses I (annoyingly) need to wear these days - but not have to compromise when it comes to really good polarised sunnies………………

Review - I need to wear glasses and these brilliant Cocoons polarised fitovers have completely sorted out all of my polarised sunglasses issues

© Henry Gilbey 2023