Glasses

I just carry readers for when I need them. Old age is a witch. Mostly, I get along fine just watching the trail ahead of my feet by 2-4 steps. I can look around a bit provided the trail is not really rugged. In winter, of course, I need some sort of dark glasses, but these are really cheap ones, everything is a bit darker. They really don’t last long, though. I usually just close them and drop them on my collar.  In spring, summer and fall, I often have a set of polarized ones for fishing. These too hang from my collar. At night, they get wrapped in my bandana. Astigmatism I just tolerate. Sometimes, you have to look at things slightly off center to see fairly clearly. Not sure if this helps.

those polarized sun glasses that fit over a regular pair of glasses are very nice. they work great and keep any dust or spray off your regular glasses lenses.

sight is really important to me for backpacking. I wear progressives and don’t have Diane’s issue. I wonder Diane if your lenses were measured correctly when you bought them? Fitting is crucial for progressives. And this applies as well if your glasses slide down on your nose.

But maybe they just don’t work well for you! I’m unclear if you wear prescription sunglasses and still have blurred vision…? Maybe you need a new prescription?

My optometrist totally messed up a few years ago and told me I didn’t need a new prescription when I most definitely did. Two years of lousy vision was the price I paid.

Diane, fitting is a huge issue with bifocals. I went to a real optometrist rather than ordering online and it’s made a huge difference. That said, my daily glasses are less than ideal for hiking. I went back and purchased a second pair with the optical center slightly lowered (3mm, iirc) which allows me to see the ground in better focus when hiking. I also ordered these as transitions so they turn into sunglasses in the daytime and are clear at night. I’m quite happy with this solution.

Talk to an optician. It should be possible to grind lenses to fit your needs.

I’m struggling with vision extremes as I get older.

I mostly hike in sunny, high altitude areas, so I need sun protection – glasses in summer, goggles in winter.

I wear contacts, and then non-prescription glasses or goggles for sun/snow.

But with my contacts, I wouldn’t be able to read my phone/maps/kindle if I held it out as far as my arms would let me, so I need readers.

Worse, I need a different prescription of readers for computer use than for reading, so I’m actually looking at a progressive reader to wear with my contacts.

Ugh.

i wear photo-gray glasses when hiking. It is important to me to see the far-away gorgeous scenery. they are just in the way when using a camera, so i keep them on a string. they just fall to my chest when i take them off.

Why not get a second pair just for hiking that is not progressive, just the distance prescription? Easy and el-cheapo online.

You probably don’t want to hear this, but in response to my complaints about my (then) current progressive lenses, my Optometrist suggested some quite expensive lenses, Crizal I think.  They made a world of difference.  It’s hard to explain just how superior they are.  Of course $800 for lenses will make anyone clinch up, but I can honestly say they are worth it.

Of course Matthew’s suggestion of a task specific pair of glasses is also right on. Go to the best Optometrist in your area and have a frank discussion about what you want to achieve.  I think you will be surprised at what an experienced Optometrist can create for you.  Just be prepared to pay for it.

I understand Crizal is an anti-glare lens coating, not a lens type.

Like Matthew, I have been able to request progressives for my prescription sunglasses that lower the bottom “old people” reading portion and provide more space for the upper distance prescription part of the lens.  The optometrist at Costco and Shopko wrote “prescription lower for climbing” on the order to convince the companies that actually made the lenses the measurements were not a mistake.  They make a big difference when hiking so I don’t feel like I’m going to stumble.  I can still read maps and iPhone gps apps while wearing the sunglasses.  I’m not much of an evening reader in the tent, so getting climber’s glasses for just my sunglasses works for me.

Ophthalmologist.  Trifocals.  Lots of astigmatism and old eyes.  Progressives gave me vertigo.  Contacts?  They could never make a contact I could see out of.  Thin corneas, not a surgery candidate.  If I were going on water or snow (cf. Sierra) I’d need to spring for updated rx sunglasses.  Wide-brim hat in the meantime.  Doc says current trifocal rx is as far as it can go without creating gaps.  So far I’ve just gotten used to it.

@Diane, you might want to consider a bifocal or trifocal instead of the progressives.

I understand Crizal is an anti-glare lens coating, not a lens type

I beleive Crizal is a version of the Varilux lens that has an antiglare coating.  This same company also makes the Transitions lens that Matthew is fond of.

Regardless of variation, I stand by my statement that high-end lenses deserve consideration.

Changed to progressives last year – great for general use but they didn’t work out for me on the trail.

For a casual hike the progressives are ok but for moving faster especially on technical terrain I just couldn’t deal with the ground at/very near my feet being out of focus with my head in any kind of normal uprightish position.

For trail use I went back to my distance only prescription with photochromic lenses in sunglass frames and have been very happy with that solution.

I had read online about people having success with the moving the center line of progressives downwards as a solution/compromise – but I wanted to optimize for great view of the trail, I occasionally find myself holding things at awkward distances and stopping and taking off my glasses to read something but not enough of either that it bothers me.

I told the lady at the optometrist about my problem and she suggested bifocals but I said that’s the same thing. The magnification will be where I’m looking down and won’t be able to see my feet or the trail when I’m walking down hill. I told her what would be great would be glasses without the reading magnification at all so I can just see where I’m going. She thought I was nuts. Maybe I was on to something.

There are people who move the bifocal up to the top of the lens…I got a pair of stick on bifocals from Amazon and experimented with this for my golf sunglasses.

I can’t wear my progressive lenses while playing golf as they interfere with my view of the ball at address, but I still want to be able to read my golf gps/scorecard etc.  The bifocal at the top helps, but it can be a little annoying when walking and looking up.

You can trim the stick on bifocals with scissors to adjust them for size.  I’ll probable do this to make them smaller from top to bottom.  Glasses with good lens height from top to bottom are helpful as well.

Luckily, when I’m hiking I’m able to wear my regular glasses.

Diane,

Here is the link to a thread on a golf message board I belong to that has some photos of what I did with my golf sunglasses.

http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1634624-sunglassesprogressive-lenses/

I told her what would be great would be glasses without the reading magnification at all so I can just see where I’m going. She thought I was nuts. Maybe I was on to something.

Diane, this is what I was saying above. I wear progressives and bring one pair of clear and one pair of tinted/polarized when backpacking, and while they don’t bother me on the trail I can understand how this may bother some people. I guess I’m able to see where I’m placing my feet well enough through the reader part of the lens at the bottom.

But I did get a pair that is only my distance prescription with no reader magnification for lying in bed and watching TV, which is rare but got a cheap pair just for that anyway, and it works great.

I use safety glasses on jobsites that i call “poor man’s bifocals” – clear lens with a 2.0 reader bit. At first i had issues walking on the irregular footing often found on a costruction site, but i seem to have gotten used to it. You might have a similar experience if you give it a longer trial?

On the trail I just carry readers for the map, dont need anything for the rest of the time.

For a casual hike the progressives are ok but for moving faster especially on technical terrain I just couldn’t deal with the ground at/very near my feet being out of focus with my head in any kind of normal uprightish position.

At least in my case, the inability to move fast over technical terrain because of tendon issues hit me at about the exact same time as I needed progressive lenses.

In my experience there is not a great solution.  I prefer contacts to progressive lens or bifocal glasses precisely because my feet are a blur.  But as Ryan noted I need readers too.

That said, my new eye doc recently fitted me with bifocal contacts, my left eye is optimized for distance and my right eye optimized for reading.  Not sure how this will play out on the trail, but day to day in the office seems to be working well.

I kind of blew it with my vision insurance. I thought I get two pairs of glasses per year but I only get them if I buy them together, not separately, and I bought some for wearing at work already. So I’m going to have to pay full price. Glasses are way cheaper online if you have to pay full price, so we’ll see what happens.

It has really sucked to figure out the best combination of glasses. it’s looking like the best combination is 1) progressives for every day, 2) single-vision for sitting at the computer at work, 3) non-progressives for hiking.

You could try Zenni for a radically lower price. The quality of the optics is fine, They can do quite complex prescriptions too.

Yes, both my wife and I use them.

Cheers

I use progressives for hiking, don’t have an issue with them at all. I’m rarely looking straight down, so maybe that’s why, usually looking ahead a few feet like James with a glance down every now and then.

I tried progressives for a week and gave up on them.

My vision beyond my fingertips is good enough that I just live without any sort of correction, and has improved for reasons unknown, so YMMV here.

For readers, I like the clic reading glasses.   For those with a Sputnik sized cranium like I do, size up to their XXL version.