Sunglasses case

[Bob Gross]

For years I've worn prescription sunglasses for backpacking, and they never seemed to get broken. The actual lenses were mostly flat, so they slipped into an ordinary flat eyeglass case for protection. Now, however, I have shifted over to prescription sunglasses that are much more three-dimensional and windswept. Although they will barely fit into the ordinary flat case, the frames will not withstand crushing there.

I found a commercial eyeglass case for protection, but it had all sorts of heavy metal springs and parts. I didn't need that.

So, I built myself an ultralightweight case that goes a little less than one ounce. I had a #1 clear plastic food package that I repurposed. I cut it down in size and then taped parts together, with a rubber band around the outside.

It passed the test. With the sunglasses inside the case on the ground, I could roll over on it without bending or crushing anything.

–B.G.–

[Jennifer Mitol]

Picture please!! I broke my eyeglasses on my last trip. Very expensive error.

[Greg Mihalik]

drifting…..

"Very expensive error."

Zenni Optical (yes, China)

$15 for basic glasses

$45 for my Rx, brown tint, polarized, +2.75, with cylinder for astigmatism, includes delivery to my door, in about 2 weeks.

…end drift

[Bob Gross]

Obviously the whole secret is in finding the right food package to repurpose. This happened to be one for organic quinoa. I reduced its size by about one-third.

I can store this, as is, inside the top of my backpack.

–B.G.–

[Delmar O’Donnell]

You can roll on top of that and not crush it? Wow.

[Bob Gross]

First of all, when I first start to roll onto it, the flimsy plastic starts to deform, and it makes a racket. But, there is enough spare volume inside that it would practically have to flatten in order to damage the sunglasses.

On my normal trips, I am wearing sunglasses about ten or twelve hours per day, and I remove and store them only after sundown.

–B.G.–

[Benjamin Evison]

I've made several glasses cases using a piece of HDPE plastic sheeting, scored and folded into a rectangular or triangular tube.
I then insert this inside a kind of long thin stuff-sack with a drawstring on the end.
The plastic attempting to straighten out against the fabric maintains a kind of rigidity.
In these examples I used scraps of momentum 90 taffeta.

They only weigh around 15-20 grams each and are reasonably robust.
If you get the profile right the lenses will not directly contact the inside surface, preventing scratches – this works better for the triangular example (lower in photo).

But "in case" you were wondering, those wooden Sagawafuji glasses above are definitely not my backpacking ones ;)

[Jennifer Mitol]

I wear progressive lenses – and it's the darned lenses that cost so much. I wear my prescription sunglasses most of the time, so I need to protect my regular glasses; but then at night I swap them out and wear the glasses and need to protect my uber expensive prescription sunglasses (expensive because of the lenses).

I can't (won't?) wear contacts because I just don't want to do the one-eye-close-one-eye-far bit – so for me I need protection all the time – either for my sunglasses or my regular ones.

I've tried a few things, including having Chris Zimmer make me a really nice padded pouch that straps to the shoulder strap of my pack, but actually that's where I broke my glasses! I need something with hard sides. I like these ideas so far, thanks!

[Greg Pehrson]

I got this from my cat's vet; it's used to hold prefilled oral syringes:

[John S.]

My hard side container is from the dollar store and weighs 1.0 oz.

[Marko Botsaris]

This has been an issue with me for some time so I'm going to watch this with interest – not withstanding it probably the 30th thread on BPL on the topic. None of those past one fully resolved the issue for me though.

I use a prescription pair of Julbo Colorado's (a.k.a. giant bug eye sunglasses). This is like a double whammy – the prescription part makes them too expensive to neglect with my usual stuff-them-in-a-sock method, and short of full on safety goggles it is hard to think of anything that could take up more space. They don't fold at all flat. In addition to being harder to pack, the 3D form factor make it all the more likely of getting damaged if Bob Gross rolls over on them. BTW, I think we should use this as a standard metric for protection (e.g. this case has a hardness of 1.3 BG).

What I have atm is a modded 3.1 oz hard shell case (estimated hardness of ~ 10 BG) that the Julbos just fit into if I uncurl the bendable earpieces. It has a loop where I can attach it to my pack in oneof the side pockets so it doesn't stealthily fall out, and I added the Velcro strap to make sure it stays closed. This is the one I got:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QXT0SU/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I removed the plastic clip. There is enough extra room that you could put an extra pair of normal size glasses in there at the same time with room to spare.

The solution is perfect for everything but weight. I suppose I could start drilling holes now! These cases are probably cheap enough for most people to try some more extended DIY mods. I think I will try Bob's idea if I can find the proper container.

The medicine bottle idea is great for me since I have a bunch in this size that will fit my reading glasses, but not the Julbo's.

[Nico .]

If I'm not wearing my sunglasses, I usually just wrap them up in a piece of clothing that's not being worn… beanie, glove/mitten, mid-layer, bandanna, etc. and place it at the top of my pack or in the front stretch pocket. Stays sufficiently padded and protected from scratches. You just have to remember where you put them…

[Bob Gross]

"a standard metric for protection (e.g. this case has a hardness of 1.3 BG)"

I understand hardness, and I understand density. For a long time people have been telling me that I was dense.

If you start drilling holes in a plastic item like that, it may develop a weak line and crack there. Instead, I would try many holes that are not in a straight line.

"I think I will try Bob's idea if I can find the proper container."

I've never seen a giant medicine bottle before, which is why I used the food package. Besides, how do you buy your organic quinoa? Or do you just buy vegetarian free-range quinoa?

–B.G.–

[Ben H.]

The case that came with my glasses is cheap molded plastic. It fits the glasses perfectly and is quite robust. At 33 grams, I wouldn't trust anything lighter.

The glass that go inside are polarized and tinted, cost me ~$45, and weigh 12 grams. They also came with a nice light cleaning cloth weighing in at 6 grams. I am a big fan of Zenni

[Roger Caffin]

+2

Cheers

[David Scheidt]

Zenni is fine if you have a high tolerance for poorly made, unfitted eyewear. (And a lot of people do, because sadly, the stuff from many dispensing opticians isn't any better, and people don't burn the shops down.) But regardless of how cheap your glasses are, it's impossible to replace them in the woods, and if you need them to see, it's worth a decent case.

[Matthew Hurdle]

I've been using this idea for the past few years, after breaking a pair in my pack. I couldn't find the thread or remember who posted it. It weighs only .95oz.

[Roger Caffin]

> Zenni is fine if you have a high tolerance for poorly made, unfitted eyewear.
Sorry, but both my wife and I will have to disagree with you.

I have several pairs of glasses from Zenni, and they fit well and are optically just fine. Perhaps that is because I was careful to follow all the instructions about parameters. It may be worth mentioning that I am familiar with specifying lenses for science applications.

However, it is my wife who is the better test case. She really does not believe in 'cheap Chinese stuff', and it was with great reluctance that she consented to trying one pair. She is now convinced, and has bought more.

As to the latest Zenni cases – i used mine while walking for 2 months in Europe a couple of years ago, and they were just fine – and very light too.

Cheers

[Jeffrey Wong]

I am the cheap in Chinese. Cheap brings out the gambler in me like nothing else. I also bought a pair of Zenni specs, progressives, with a brown tint for driving, etc. They surprised me in how I had no issues with them whatever. I took a dare on the $100 for the Zennis. Compared to the $300-500 I would have spent around town, I made out like a bandit.

Verily, your mileage may vary very much.

[Nick Smolinske]

Matthew – what's that case made of and where did you get it from?

[Matthew Hurdle]

The tube is Tenite Butyrate Tubing. I ordered it and the end caps from US Plastics.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=22858&catid=0&clickid=popcorn

[Kelly G]

Jennifer,
Seriously, try the Zennis. They are a steal. And they come with the hard, lightweight case to protect them. They have titanium frames, frameless, and lightweight plastic lenses and frames.

I love contact lenses but carry prescription glasses as backup and evening reading. I only need single vision but they are so cheap that if something happens to them anyway, no big deal.

Kelly

[Marko Botsaris]

On the side – official zenni cleaning cloth also included with purchase – WOOT! What a score! Weight without the cloth 1.4 oz.

Making the clamshell talk to you like a puppet – priceless.

[Patrick Canterbury]

Possibly my favorite is what I call the donut-hole case by Arnette, at ~73 grams.

Thrift/charity shops typically have a bin with loads of random sunglass cases for 99c.

Also you can get used cases of all kinds from eBay typically for 99c to $6.

[Marko Botsaris]

Because ever since I stopped trying to solve world hunger I have way too much time on my hands. My accumulated "research" projects (and lets be honest rip-offs from you folks)

So to reply to Patrick first, there are a lot of nice ones in that style on Amazon and elsewhere. I initially rejected them (sounds like for the same reasons Bob brought up in the his first post) because they have a zipper that is heavy and usually of low quality that can fail on its own pretty quickly, or else get grit in it and fail. Plus there is the usual UL mentality that something so technologically sophisticated and heavy as a zipper should not be used for such a mundane closing task. :-) I don't know what the actual size of the case you show there is, but at 2.6 oz they are pretty heavy – though pretty. They are not nearly as heavy as some in this category, and many of them are over-designed in terms of features, or else strong enough to drive a car over. For regular-sized glasses there are good solutions in the ~1-1.5 oz range. My problems is that for more "mountaineering" style sunglasses bigger cases are required. For example, my big Julbos already come (pictured above) with a zippered semi-hard case. Weight 3.1 oz with a huge volume. The zipper on that one is crap though.

Pictured above: First row – pill bottle (1.2 oz), Julbo zippered case (3.1 oz), DIY Butyrate Case sized for Julbos (2.7 oz). Second row – Zenni small case (1.4 oz), Redesigned hard shell case with bungie closure (2.9 oz). Third row: "normal" sized glasses (fits in pill bottle and zenni), Mountaineering style (fits in the 3 bigger ones together WITH the reading glasses).

For the small glasses I feel like the pill bottle wins on a number of levels. BTW these are 60 dram bottle and you actually can buy some in moderate quantities here:

http://www.amazon.com/60-Dram-Amber-Pill-Vial/dp/B00AO7SPLK.

I already had some. I looked for > 60 dram but I don't think they exist in this in this style. Perfect fit for normal size flat glasses, orderless and the plastic does not shatter. For smaller glasses (the weight here would go like the square of the required tube radius) the butyrate tube idea that has been floating around here for a number of years would probably give you similar weight. As you can see, the minimum radius for the Julbos gets the DIY butyrate weight up equivalent with the heavier solutions. By the way here I have used the thinnest 1/32" plastic on the tubes.

Also I would just like to say that even though the butyrate tubes look cool, they suffer from 3 downsides. First, the caps are very tight, so pretty hard to remove. I am a klutz and I can easily picture trying to get my glasses out on a cold morning and having the cap pop off all at once, and having my glasses plunge to the ground disastrously – much like opening the box containing my first iPhone, but that is another story. Secondly, the failure mode of the butyrate under stress (such as dropping them on Sierra granite) is to shatter like glass. Third, the plastic has a bad smell – and not that kinda pleasant "new plastic toy" smell. More like a "skunk died in a refinery" smell. Not sure if this would ever go away, or if the smell would get transferred to your glasses.

FWIW I'm still leaning toward my modded clam-shell (now 2.9 oz). I ordered a zenni style case with larger dimensions from Amazon so we will see if that one is potentially an improvement. However I think it is actually coming from china so I will have to wait a few more weeks to find out.

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