Looked long and hard. Think I found a good value.
Received my order for these glasses overnight as promised. They were packaged in the standard "plastic" Amazon shipping bag. Inside this bag was another zip lock type bag in which was a Carrera branded hard case. In this hard case was the Carrera Ca5039/S Rectangular Sunglasses packaged in yet another fitted zip lock bag. Loosely thrown in with the glasses was an unpackaged cleaning cloth. I inspected the glasses and found no defects. The glasses appeared to be genuine Carrera's but then what do I know. The hard case also looked genuine. The glasses themselves seem to be well made and finished. So far I am happy with my purchase with none of the sad surprises I read in so many of the one and two star reviews of other glasses. These glasses are comfortable to wear and fit just tight enough. I like the look of them in the mirror. They are solidly made with the plastic at the bridge, hinges and around the lenses being thick enough that I do not expect them to break. I will probably lose them first. The color of the lenses is as described, brown gradient, and the frames described as Havana Matte Black are to me a dark reddish brown tortoise shell. The lenses are polycarbonate which are much tougher than regular plastic. Wearing them outside, I don't notice any color change, just a reduction in light. Medium at the top and light at the bottom. These are not polarized but then I don't think that is needed for driving or general outdoor wear. If you are near water, boating for example, I would purchase polarized sunglasses. How much better are these than say $20 glasses? Hard to say for sure. I think they are less likely to break, they fit and look good but only time will tell. A good value for the money. Now I do have something negative to say. The case is solid piece of work with fairly strong closing force. However it is a big case and it will very likely not fit in your pocket. Which isn't a bad thing because these glasses do not fit into this case. This case was designed for "aviator" style glasses. You can put these glasses into this case but it will then not close completely. Almost, but there is a small gap. For me this is not a deal breaker because I never use the case that ships with the glasses I buy. I suppose that I intend to but never actually do. One last thing. I bought these glasses from the "Carrera Store", handled by Amazon. However I noticed that when you are looking at an item that has numerous small boxes showing different colors, styles and bundles and occasionally with different prices, beware that some may be offered by stores different than the one listed at the top of the page. These may be the real thing but may also be used, may not be the same, or may not be genuine. Cheers. Read more