The Hobie Eyewear Snook Sunglasses offer anglers a terrific pair of wrap around sunglasses with a medium footprint but because of the design will work well for larger framed heads as well. They are stylish, offer great protection and most importantly see into the water very well.
While Hobie Eyewear has been making sunglasses since 1982. Although most folks in fishing haven’t seen sunglasses from them until a few years ago when they started making sunglasses specifically for anglers. Before that they were focuses on beach goers, sailing aficionados and adventurers. But now they are producing high quality sunglasses at a terrific price point for the angling community.
I’ve been wearing the Hobie Snook Sunglasses this season and love them so I thought I’d share a quick experience review with them since their $89 price point will be very attractive to a lot of avid anglers!
Tackle Warehouse / $89
Amazon / $89
REI / $89
FRAMES BUILT FOR BEST VIEW
The thing that stood out to me about these frames was the way these frames seemed to contour to the face and block top, side and bottom light from entering in and obscuring your view into the water. The arms have a curve to them as does the temple and lens area so the frames wrap around your head.
The frame is very malleable. It’s not rigid at all. So it’s not pinching or giving you headaches wearing them all day like harder frames can that curve on your temple. The arms, nose bridge and upper eyebrow area of the frames all conform nicely to your face.
Because the frames are so light they really snug on to your face and you forget you are wearing them.
FACE GRIPPING ARMS
The arm design features very flexible and shapable limbs with contoured pads on the inside to keep them from slipping when you sweat or while running in wet conditions. So they sit comfortably on your ears, don’t pinch or bind and don’t slip off. A very nice design for sunglasses under $100.
The arms are small look nice, but yet because of how the eye piece is designed, there’s really no side light getting in. Those that have fished a lot know that if light comes in from the sides or underneath, it makes looking into the water a lot harder and this leads to eye strain at the end of the day. When you see guys covering their sunglasses on either side with cupped hands when they are sight fishing, it’s because their frames are letting in side light and they have to physically block it with their hands to spot fish under the water.
These frames have small arms but the cupped, wrap around shape, keeps the side light to a minimum.
SIGHT MASTER LENSES
The Sight Master lenses have been out for several years on Hobie frames, but these lenses are dynamite early and late in the day where seeing into the water is a lot harder because the sun is not directly over head illuminating everything under the surface. Also on overcast or rainy days, you can still see into the water a good bit with these lenses.
Check out the comparison. I was watching small bluegills and minnows swim around an old bed on the dock when I launched the other day and decided to put my sunglasses lens over my camera and see if I could show you the difference in the water. This was pretty late in the afternoon and the difference and how much glare it cut down was remarkable.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE WITH SNOOKS
I’ve worn the Snooks this season and have used them a bunch to find shallow pieces of cover to pitch to holding bass as well as finding bluegill beds in the backs of shallow pockets. They have been terrific for both bass fishing and bluegill fishing.
In fact, I was on a small lake this past weekend, and I figured out that the bass were guarding fry on isolated pieces of wood. So I would run around and look with my eyes for stumps, laydowns under the surface and if I saw the piece of wood far enough out and it had fry on it, it was a guaranteed bass. Including this nice jumbo largemouth that was guarding fry off the bank on a laydown on a 4-foot flat in large pocket.
I often search for bluegills in the backs of shallow pockets with my eyes. I go back farther than most guys will scan and look for them and just start looking with my eyes. Usually when you get back in those pockets, it’s real shaded and I was able to use the Sight Master lenses and the Snook wrap around design to detect the darker areas before getting to them to catch a bunch of jumbo bluegills and shellcrackers the last few weeks.
I love these sunglasses. I’ve been very impressed with Hobie Eyewears sunglasses. We reviewed a few different models in our Best Sunglasses guide and we will be adding a few more of this year’s favorites soon. The Snook will definitely be in there as it has quickly become one of my favorite frames and lens combinations. And easily one of the best combos I’ve tested under $100.
You can find Hobie Eyewear Snook Frames and Sight Master Lenses at these online retailers:
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