Costa Del Mar Corbina Sunglasses

June 02, 2009

By BENJAMIN ROMAN

Whether you’re crossing a glacier or just biking to the grocery store, the right pair of sunglasses can protect your eyes and let you see details you never knew you were missing. Ocean glare and fast-changing weather are among the toughest conditions for any sunglasses, so I brought a test pair of Costa Del Mar’s just-released Corbinas ($149 to $249, depending on lens type) on a recent dive trip to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

Costa Del Mar (www.costadelmar.com) has long appealed to a core market of boaters and fishermen, and they offer a range of lens materials and tints for different sports and conditions. My test pair featured the Costa 580 lens, made of the company’s LightWAVE glass, which has a silver mirror finish on a polarized copper lens. According to the manufacturer, this lens is the most versatile, making it good for water sports, skiing, and everyday uses like driving.

Costa Del Mar Corbina Sunglasses.jpg

Costa Del Mar Corbina Sunglasses

I’m pretty picky about my sunglasses, and I found the Costa Del Mar optical quality to be truly excellent. The polarized lenses did well eliminating even the worst glare, such as looking toward the sun over water. The 580 lens cuts yellow light and brings out reds, blues and greens, providing excellent color definition and contrast. They offered great definition of shallow and deep water when viewing the ocean surface from a boat — particularly helpful for divers and fisherman.

The Corbina is a medium-large frame, suitable for most face sizes. The lightweight nylon design has flexible rubberized tips integrated into the temple arms for comfort, and Costa Del Mar lined the entire frame with a no-slip material. The Corbina’s durability was also good, as I (accidentally) confirmed when my pair survived a forehead-to-pavement fall with no ill effects.

A minor drawback of the Corbina sunglasses was their weight with the glass lens (compared to Costa’s polycarbonate lens options, which are much lighter). But a little extra weight is the tradeoff for the optical quality of glass, and the frame’s good fit meant the sunglasses never felt clunky or bothersome.

The bottom line: Costa Del Mar’s Corbina sunglasses provide excellent optical quality with lens options for sports and all-around use, as well as a comfortable and durable lightweight frame design.

—Contributor Benjamin Roman is a writer and design consultant from Venice, Calif.

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Commenting on post : Costa Del Mar Corbina Sunglasses
Posted by TODD PERRY - 10/26/2009 01:59 PM

Do not trust Costa Del Mar and their life time warranty.
Their warranty only covers glasses they carry parts for.Once the stop making your glasses and they do not have the parts they will only offer you a small discount on a new pair of glasses.
Leaving you stuck paying for a new pair or using the old ones if you can.
They should replace the glasses if they don’t carry parts but they WILL NOT.
Basically their warranties are not lifetime as they falsely advertise. Feel free to ask me I know first hand.
TODD

Posted by Rock - 11/26/2009 04:17 PM

I just recently purchased a pair of Corbina’s. Costa’s have been a long time favorite of mine and now, after many years and Severe Photophobia, I have found the Corbina’s with the 400/Blue an exceptional pair. My eyes no longer hurt when going out into the outside world. And more importantly, to be back on the water again, doing what we like to do is absolutely terrific.
Always a Costa Fan.
Rob in Winter Haven

Posted by Cameron McDermid - 01/17/2010 12:51 PM

Best warranty on the planet….period. My last pair served me for 13 years. Then I stepped on them. I don’t expect Costa to fix my 13 year old glasses for free. I just ordered the Corbina 580s. I am sure they will last a long time. If I have a problem, I suspect Costa will take care of it. Luv me some Costas.

Cam in Texas

Posted by james - 02/08/2010 05:36 PM

After much online research I purchased a pair of Grand Catalinas.
I was pursuaded by the professed quality, strength, and lifetime guarantee.
They were great glasses until the arm broke off at the frame after TWO MONTHS!.
And Costa Del Mar REFUSED to honor its ‘lifetime warranty’ despite an obvious manufacturing and/or design defect.

COSTA DEL MAR ENGAGES IN DECEPTIVE AND FRAUDULENT TRADE PRACTICES.

Posted by Jennifer - 04/05/2010 03:23 PM

I hate the harpoons that costa sales, there warranty is also a joke. My husband bought 3 pair the first pair flew off his head when the cord bought from costa broke. 2nd pair he was playing tennis and the lens came out to see the frame cracked they wanted to chg me 85.00 for 20.00 more bought new pair and months later the cord broke from costa broke again and the glasses hit floor and shattered, would not cover I have a paair of rincon and they have fell billion times and never shattered lenses. but the lenses are peeling. Terrible co and product

Posted by jack the fisherman - 07/02/2010 05:12 PM

purchased del mar 580 lens. Wife sat on them. After pleading with costa del mar ranting and raving that they should fix it for free THEY STILL CHARGED ME OVER $30 BUCKS! All it needed was a .25 cent bracket. Great glasses horrible warranty if you can call it a warranty!

Posted by Chris Carella - 08/02/2010 10:09 AM

Their warranty is nothing short of hoops for you to jump through. wat they call a temple (the arm) broke on mine 3 times at the same place and they charged me. Even the “warranty proccess fee” of $11. would more then cover 95% of repairs.

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