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The Maui Jim Lighthouse is rimless: no border around the lenses, with the arms and bridge fixed straight onto the lens edges. It’s the lightest way into Maui Jim’s lenses, and the pair owners describe as the one they forget they have on.

We haven’t travelled with this one ourselves, so what follows is the spec and what owners keep saying about it.

Rimless, MauiPure lens, 63mm

The lenses are MauiPure, which Maui Jim rates close to its SuperThin Glass for clarity while being far lighter and much harder to shatter. That matters on a rimless pair, because the lens is doing structural work. PolarizedPlus2 is the same as on the rest of the range: polarization against glare, 100 percent UVA and UVB block, and a colour layer that makes water and sky read richer. It’s a medium fit with 63mm lenses in five frame colours: Rootbeer, gloss black, shiny black, shiny transparent light grey, and translucent smoke grey. The nose pads and temples are replaceable and Maui Jim supplies them free. Two-year warranty, and a bifocal reader element is available in +1.5, +2.0 or +2.5.

Eight hours on, and no mark on the nose

A full frame makes itself known by the evening. This one weighs so little that most owners stop noticing it by mid-morning, and it packs flatter than a chunky frame when everything has to fit in one bag. The people who fish and sail keep coming back to the same two things: the lenses hold up in punishing light, and they don’t feel the frame. If you want the crispest optics Maui Jim makes and don’t mind more frame, that’s the Starfish.

What keeps coming up

Weight, comfort and how clear the view is, in that order, and owners on their second pair say the first one lasted years. The people who fish and sail are the most enthusiastic, because the glare control holds up in the hardest light. On the frame itself: rimless means the lens carries the mounts, so this is a delicate pair, not one for sport, and the lenses show smudges and want wiping more often than a framed pair.

Capture the trip

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a different thing altogether. A camera and open-ear speakers built into a Wayfarer frame, so you can film the walk or the view without reaching for your phone. If that’s more what you’re after, take a look.