Smith’s Longfins are a rare find in the angling world: they offer excellent performance, outstanding durability, and extreme comfort, while remaining stylish enough to wear to a marina-side restaurant in the afternoon.
We’re big fans of Smith’s sunglasses at USAngler, and Stephen’s been wearing the Longfins on the water and around town for more than a month.
He’s been comparing them head-to-head with his Smith’s Guide’s Choice, and after weeks in the sun, he’s decided that the Longfins are the better option overall.
Let’s get into the details.
Construction and Options
Smith manufactures the Longfins frame from ultra-durable TR90 thermoplastic. It’s a lightweight material that’s tough as nails, and it flexes easily, enhancing comfort and reducing impact damage.
The Longfins are available in Matte Tortoise, Matte Black, Matte Cement, and Black.
Smith uses polycarbonate lenses that feature their proprietary ChromaPop technology, enhancing color perception and improving visual sharpness. Our experience with these lenses reaffirms that polycarbonate is a great choice, and that Smith really understands how to enhance color contrast.
A wide array of lens colors and styles are on offer: they’re available in polarized Opal, Green, Blue, Brown, and Black colors, with additional mirrored options in Green and Blue.
The Longfins in Black.
These tough lenses vary in the degree to which they reduce glare and block sunlight, with the polarized Green allowing the greatest amount of light through to your eyes and the polarized Black the least.
The Longfins are available in three frame sizes: small, medium, and large.
Performance
Sunglasses that are more than a fashion choice need to do many things well.
They need to block glare, enhance color perception, and protect your eyes from both UV exposure and hazards like hooks.
They need to be comfortable to wear and stay put even when your head gets sweaty.
And they need to be tough enough to take the licks Mother Nature can dish out on the water.
Stephen’s been wearing his on the water and around town for weeks. His previous fishing sunglasses were the Smith Guides, and he loves everything about them but their aesthetics.
Smith’s Guide’s Choice are great fishing sunglasses, no question about it.
When he compared these two sunglasses in terms of glare reduction and sunlight blocking while fishing, he found the Guides to be slightly superior.
That said, the Longfins were only slightly worse on this front, almost rivaling the Guide’s Choice in terms of sun protection from the side.
Aesthetics
Where Stephen found a noticeable difference between the Guides and the Longfins was in their respective aesthetic merits.
He told me that given the choice of only one pair, he’d go with the Longfins over the Guides because they look better off the water, allowing him to wear a single pair of sunglasses throughout the day.
I agree.
If you’re looking for a pair of comfortable, effective durable fishing sunglasses that won’t leave you looking like you dress yourself at BassPro, the Smith Longfins are an excellent choice.
Source: usangler.com