Clear Shot Lens Cleaning Kit

Sometimes I learn about new products in the most unlikely ways. For instance, on a recent trip out to Port Townsend, I stopped at the CB’s Nuts roastery. I love CB’s dry-roasted peanuts, which cost fully twice the price of the other brands, and are worth every penny.

I had the kids along, and there was the roastery, complete with gift shop, so we stopped. We met co-owner Tami Bowen, we sampled some nuts, we bought some to take home. It was fun.

So what does any of this have to do with boating gear? During my conversation with Tami, one topic led to another, and it turned out she has a friend who has launched a new product intended for all kinds of outdoor sports enthusiasts, including boaters. I left her a business card, and she put me in touch with her friend Charlie.

Charlie King is the inventor of the Clear Shot Lens Cleaning Kit. If you care at all about your binoculars, camera, glasses, spotting scope, FLIR thermal imaging camera, etc., then give this product a look.

According to the website, “Clear Shot is an all-in-one lens cleaning kit, perfect for cleaning and maintaining all of your eyewear and performance optics.”

Charlie sent me a sample, and it’s the real deal. The fluid works great, and the two cloths (one for cleaning, the other for polishing) appear to work well. The rugged case keeps it all together, should be easy to find in a storage locker, and seals up to keep the cloths clean.

If anything, the case is a little bit TOO rugged. Charlie, dude, it’s just lens cleaners!

That was my initial assessment, until I went to replace the lens-cleaning cloth already stowed in my boat, and discovered it filthy and neglected in the bottom of a storage bin. No way was I going to use THAT thing on my precious optics! It immediately became clear (get it? “Clear”? It’s a lens-cleaning joke.) why Mr. King chose to devote attention to the storage case. Hey, good idea!

As with CB’s Nuts, Clear Shot isn’t the cheapest product of its kind on the market. Quality never is.