jimanchower
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2013
- Messages
- 177
- Reaction score
- 36
In the past several years I've owned a couple of pairs of Maui Jims and most recently I've been wearing the Costa del Mar "Pumphouse" model. I decided that I wanted something a little different this year, and my search led me to Persol. After much searching on the forum and elsewhere, I settled on the 714 in a 52mm size because the 54mm seems comically big, but deciding on a specific pair took a bit of trial and error. These are their stories.
I've got a somewhat light complexion and brown hair with a bit of gray (I'm mid-30s). My Maui Jims have always been in a tortoise color, but I didn't want a brown-tinted lens this time around, so I settled on the 95/31 glasses: black frames and green(-ish) lenses. A safe bet. Ordered them and they were on their way. I should have stepped away from the Internet at that point, but like a kid with money burning a hole in his pocket, I kept looking at sunglasses. Those Steve McQueen edition glasses looked so cool. The honey brown frame and blue gradient lenses look great, but I knew I couldn't pull them off. Then I found the darker tortoise frames with blue lenses (24/56) and kind of fell in love. Before I knew it, those were purchased and on the way too.
I figured I'd try them both on and send back the pair that I liked second best. When they arrived I was really taken with the McQueen glasses. I held on to the black pair since I had a window in which to return them. I had left the sticker on them and everything, but occasionally I'd try them on, and they started to grow on me. The black/green is more classic and subtle, while the tortoise/blue is unique and of course has the McQueen style flair. Eventually I decided that I liked them enough to keep them both.
The standard pair come in a standard box with a basic soft case.
The SMs have a bit more panache, and include a much nicer leather case.
The colors of the SMs are very rich and vibrant, as seen side-by-side against the black glasses:
The primary distinguishing feature of the McQueen edition glasses is that the temple pieces fold inwards rather than underneath.
As a function of that, the hinge on the temple piece is more prominent on the McQueens.
Of course there's the Steve McQueen badging on the inner part of the temple piece.
They're both great-looking glasses.
As far as the differences go actually wearing the glasses, there are a few. The obvious one is that the 95/31 has polarized lenses. I thought this was something that I didn't want to do without. But these aren't fishing sunglasses, and in practice I didn't find myself missing the polarization when wearing the 24/56 glasses. In fact, as someone who likes to work on a laptop outdoors, I found the 24/56 to work better in that capacity. I really like the blue tint that the lenses give. It's a nice contrast to what you get from most sunglasses.
The 95/31 seem to wear a bit more snugly around the ears, and I think that's partially a function of them being more rigid in the temple piece due to the way the temples fold. There is of course room for adjustment in the temple pieces themselves, though I haven't messed with it. These fit pretty well out of the box.
After a couple of weeks of owning both pair, I decided that I should let one pair go, and those are up in the classifieds. Why that pair? Simply a matter of which look best on me. If they don't sell I'll probably hang on to them at least for the summer and enjoy them. So yes, if you made it this far you did basically read my advertisement, but hopefully the pictures and words will help guide others in their own sunglasses quest.
I've got a somewhat light complexion and brown hair with a bit of gray (I'm mid-30s). My Maui Jims have always been in a tortoise color, but I didn't want a brown-tinted lens this time around, so I settled on the 95/31 glasses: black frames and green(-ish) lenses. A safe bet. Ordered them and they were on their way. I should have stepped away from the Internet at that point, but like a kid with money burning a hole in his pocket, I kept looking at sunglasses. Those Steve McQueen edition glasses looked so cool. The honey brown frame and blue gradient lenses look great, but I knew I couldn't pull them off. Then I found the darker tortoise frames with blue lenses (24/56) and kind of fell in love. Before I knew it, those were purchased and on the way too.
I figured I'd try them both on and send back the pair that I liked second best. When they arrived I was really taken with the McQueen glasses. I held on to the black pair since I had a window in which to return them. I had left the sticker on them and everything, but occasionally I'd try them on, and they started to grow on me. The black/green is more classic and subtle, while the tortoise/blue is unique and of course has the McQueen style flair. Eventually I decided that I liked them enough to keep them both.
The standard pair come in a standard box with a basic soft case.
The SMs have a bit more panache, and include a much nicer leather case.
The colors of the SMs are very rich and vibrant, as seen side-by-side against the black glasses:
The primary distinguishing feature of the McQueen edition glasses is that the temple pieces fold inwards rather than underneath.
As a function of that, the hinge on the temple piece is more prominent on the McQueens.
Of course there's the Steve McQueen badging on the inner part of the temple piece.
They're both great-looking glasses.
As far as the differences go actually wearing the glasses, there are a few. The obvious one is that the 95/31 has polarized lenses. I thought this was something that I didn't want to do without. But these aren't fishing sunglasses, and in practice I didn't find myself missing the polarization when wearing the 24/56 glasses. In fact, as someone who likes to work on a laptop outdoors, I found the 24/56 to work better in that capacity. I really like the blue tint that the lenses give. It's a nice contrast to what you get from most sunglasses.
The 95/31 seem to wear a bit more snugly around the ears, and I think that's partially a function of them being more rigid in the temple piece due to the way the temples fold. There is of course room for adjustment in the temple pieces themselves, though I haven't messed with it. These fit pretty well out of the box.
After a couple of weeks of owning both pair, I decided that I should let one pair go, and those are up in the classifieds. Why that pair? Simply a matter of which look best on me. If they don't sell I'll probably hang on to them at least for the summer and enjoy them. So yes, if you made it this far you did basically read my advertisement, but hopefully the pictures and words will help guide others in their own sunglasses quest.
