Sunglasses case

[Delmar O’Donnell]

My humble submission, puncture resistant (plastic shield sandwiched between fleece in oval section) but nowhere near crush proof. You folks are making me nervous that I need a much more robust option for my sunglasses.

Regards optical glasses, those pretty much stay on my face, or get hung from my tent ridge-line at night. Not sure those need a case, they're always in use.

I have contemplated getting a monocle as a back-up emergency option!

[Marko Botsaris]

Delmar, your design (I followed the other thread) there is sweet, and it makes me want to try one myself – if only so I can add it to my sunglasses case museum. For me, and I suspect some of the fellow klutzes above, the issue is the unintended stresses, the most prevalent of these is having something big try to make them 2-dimensional. I don't think your design is proof against that kind of abuse, though I do agree that if we "just took care of them" things would be fine.

As I mentioned I used a sock for most of the last decade or so. I suppose I started down the slippery slope the first time I decided to use a DEDICATED sock for my glasses! I have broken off an arm, but never shattered the glass doing this. On the other hand I have damaged the cheap ones while backpacking and had to replace them many times. The thing that got me thinking/worrying about the issue more is a longish 40 day trip I'm planning for the summer, in addition to the fairly new expensive prescription sunglasses (opticus!).

All of this raises some profound philosophical issues about having "stuff" that goes way beyond sunglasses. If you have fancier stuff, then you may feel you need MORE stuff to protect THAT stuff. As George Carlin would have it, the definition of a home is "a place for my stuff". Is a terrible law of feedback, similar to the cascade that can happen with pack weight, pretty soon you need a bigger pack to hold all that stuff. Likewise if your protection for your fancier stuff is itself fancy, you may need more stuff to protect the stuff that is protecting your stuff. I'm sure even cavemen worried about, and had some solution for, protecting their sharpened arrowheads. All of this to say is that the question of how to do this is of the utmost practical and philosophical importance. ;-)

Anyway, I'm still looking for a BG style food container of the right size, as this may provide the sanest way out.

[Bob Gross]

"Anyway, I'm still looking for a BG style food container of the right size, as this may provide the sanest way out."

At least the price is right.

–B.G.–

[Marko Botsaris]

As I know you all have been holding you breath waiting for this, I think I actually finally have my eyeglass case nirvana for my huge sunglasses. I read a one-star review on amazon for this thing where the guy was ranting about how it was so thin that a burger container from McDonalds would be better and I thought "Damn, that sound perfect!" Its 1.4 oz with my biner loop and bungee strap mods. Fits my bug-eye Julbos AND my reading glasses all at once. Most importantly while it is probably not as light as a quinoa container from the grocery store, it is really tough. Even the closure is nice as it is an actual hook so it it doesn't close with just friction. Easy to open one you know the trick. Still will use the bungee mod for extra closure insurance.

The only downside is it is made by a cottage company (China) and the delivery took more than a month. On the other hand, free shipping!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AKWQU7K/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are out of the clear ones at the moment.

[Dave Ayers]

Thanks for the link!

I ordered one of those and also one from here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AKWQU7K/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_3p_M3T1_ST1_dp_1

The one from the 2nd link is a couple bucks more at $6.67 (including shipping), but I got it in ~3 days. It is tinted lavender and weighs 1.5 oz on my scale. They include an almost weightless pad inside that might help prevent scratching.

[Marko Botsaris]

Yeah, I order another and noticed it now comes from the US. Too, bad – not as fun as watching the tracking information across china. Quick is good though. :-)

I removed the pad since I was going to use a cloth. Anyway, only on BPL do people waste so much time on this stuff. LOL

[M B]

flexon frame eyeglasses go in ziplock bag for me.

Prescription sunglasses , will stay on my face or around my neck pretty much. They were insanely expensive, even with 40% insurance discount.

[Marko Botsaris]

Yes, being careful is the best and lightest option. But a few of us ( we know who we are) are always just one brain fart away from squashing anything. I know from experience that if it is physically possible to break something I will find a way. So far luckily has not applied to too many body parts .

[Delmar O’Donnell]

I was examining some glasses cases at REI and I noticed that some cases take an interesting approach to crush protection.

They reinforce the heck out of the center of the case with a plastic A-shaped frame that fits below the bridge of the glasses–and that's all. So there wouldn't be any crush protection around the hinges, but you could stand on the center of the case without crushing the contents. I thought it was an interesting compromise. Very light weight.

Seemed to follow the UL ethos with a balance of protection and lightweight. Not crushproof, but not heavy, either.

[Jason R]

Hi Matt,

I wondered if you could tell me what wall-thickness you ordered for your  Tenite Butyrate tubing? Thanks in advance…

 

 

[Ben H.]

It looks like Matt hasn’t posted in three years, so you probably won’t get a reply from him.

My guess is he bought the thinnest available 1/32″.

*edit*: Here is an older thread that does indeed mention 1/32″ tubing: https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/44465/

[Jason R]

Thanks Ben!

[Sam Farrington]

Found out the hard way that I must wear polarized sunglasses above timberline, but did not want to carry two pairs of glasses.

So opted to take only one pair of prescription glasses for trekking, and bought cllip-ons of the type that have hooks that attach to the outer perimeters of the glasses and are spring loaded at the top so the clips hold tightly.  Zenni sells them, but only on a couple models now, and you have to buy their glasses also.  And Zenni glasses have broken apart on me a couple times.  Fine for street wear, but for BP?

I bought better quality polarized clip-ons at an App Mtn Club (AMC) store in NH for under $20, and will now find a frame perhaps on EBay that fits them, and then get lenses to fit the frames from a local optician.  Similar clip-ons are also sold at the large truck stops on the cross-country interstates.

If one still needs a case for the one pair when it is not being worn,  a semi-hard shell case called the AccuCase is still shown on the web at:  https://www.sierratradingpost.com/accucase-wrap-sunglass-case~p~75754/reviews/    The company appears out of biz (they made the cases in the USA), but there are similar ones on EBay, Walmart and Amazon..

Also, the clips on the Zenni clip-ons seem a little dorky, but with the AMC, not so much, as the clips do not project outside the perimeter of the frame.

Of course, one then needs somethings to protect the clip-ons.  They are slim and quite sturdy, so a small slip on leather case might do.  Depends on your packing style and how the pack is treated.

 

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Sam

Yes, Zenni had problems with some frames. The wire used for the bridge across the nose was either not what it was sold as, or it had been wrongly heat-treated. It broke after a while. Zenni no longer sell those models. (Replies from Zenni.)

I repaired the bridge on a pair for my wife: they are still going strong years later.

All our other Zenni frames and lenses are also going fine. They get bashed around in the bush and overseas, as well as at home. We will buy them again.

Case: Zenni now supply a very nice and light but quite robust case with every pair of glasses. Quite suitable imho.

Cheers

[Jerry Adams]

“My humble submission, puncture resistant (plastic shield sandwiched between fleece in oval section) but nowhere near crush proof. ”

That’s what I do.  Put it in my extra clothes bag so it doesn’t get crushed.

I hate clip-ons.  4 surfaces to keep clean.  Extra weight on my nose…

[Author]

Posts