How do you carry your glasses?

I carry two bandanas. One for food/plate/etc One for snot, cleaning up, etc. I use the food one to wrap my glasses in my ditty bag. (Diagonally, BTW. First corner goes into the nose piece, Roll something less than halfway, then fold the ends over the glasses and continue rolling.) The 4 – 8 layers of cloth make a good soft case, and, I never need my glasses till I get to camp anyway.

My base weight is under 12 lbs but still carry luxuries like a chair and bourbon.  I use my standard glasses and sunglasses cases because breaking something that expensive, and critical, in order to save an ounce or two is stupid light.

Forgot to mention that my glasses are $10 reading glasses.

I once carried extra glasses in a cheap 500ml water bottle that I cut the top off of. I wrapped the glasses in a small microfiber cleaning cloth. The bottom of another bottle served as a cap to contain the contents of the kit. This has dual-use potential gathering water in a low stream, perhaps. I think I still have this in a drawer if anyone wants a weight/photo. It’s not much. It’s also not crushproof…

I used to carry reading glasses in a tiny metal case in my shirt pocket.   Now that I am older I carry my graduated lenses on my nose.

My sunglasses stay over my eyes unless it’s downright dark outside; that’s the blessing and the curse of light-sensitivity.  When it gets dark they get propped up on a hat brim or left around my neck on a leash.  At night they’re in a clean soft case.  I also don’t mind a lightweight hard case: I can use it for sunglasses if I need to, or regular glasses if I have to ditch my contacts for some reason.  Overall, I don’t mind the weight of glasses protection: my eyes can’t be replaced so I try to take care of them.

I got these from Amazon when they were sold as a pair, rather than 5. Weighs about an ounce and works. Use a small microfiber cleaning cloth to wrap them.

OP, when do you need to carry your glasses? I just wear mine all the time (with Croakies) and then put them in a small microfiber pouch at night and immediately stash them in my inner tent pocket. When I get up in the morning, I put them on my face again.

I got one of these—light and protective.

I wear my glasses most of the time however take them off at night and don’t want to risk them getting damaged in the churn of the night. And in the woods, the photochromic progressives I have are perfect but in the desert I sometime want a second pair that are true sunglasses.

Meant to mention the weight—1.12 oz.

Seen elsewhere and haven’t yet tried but plan to do so – a Crystal Light beverage container to hold glasses. Reportedly lightweight and very sturdy.

I’ve used Crystal Light containers. They work pretty well, but have a limited lifespan. See this earlier thread for that idea and others:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/ultralight-sunglasses-case/

— Rex

I used to carry a case just like that and soft cloth inside like you do. Now I have had cataract surgery I no longer need to wear glasses.  However because of a very old eye injury my eye doc. wants me to always wear some sort of safety glasses.  On one occasion bushwhacking last week I had a branch slap me in the face and was glad I took his advice.

I also used to use a “Croker” around my neck so I could put my sun glasses on and off in different situations. So they were not in my pack much.  Cheap readers and sun glasses are my best answer to losing or stepping on them accidentally.

Guess i should have mentioned that both my glasses and sunglasses are over $800 each. Silly on the surface of it, but I quite enjoy seeing the terrain I’m hiking through.

I’ve settled on this lightly padded thing I got at Walmart.  I clip that little mitten hook to a spot on my pack’s shoulder strap so they’re easy to grab.  The foldover top keeps them from falling out.  Surprisingly, they’re much better protected like this than with any system I’ve tried involving a pocket or inside the pack.  I hate things flopping around on my pack, but put up with it for this.

I am most concerned about glasses getting crushed or bent from some kind of impact but also just the pressure of a full pack. So my solution is very similar to Brad P’s — I have a hard plastic case that weighs under an ounce and keep a cleaning cloth wrapped around inside.

Not necessarily part of this discussion but I also have a tiny screwdriver in my repair kit specifically for eyeglass hinges.

I wear contacts, but my uncorrected vision is so poor that I need to carry a pair of eyeglasses as an emergency backup in the event I can’t use them (maybe a scratched cornea from a branch to the face). I put the glasses in a small Ziploc bag to protect the lenses from scratching, and then attach them with a rubber band to the concave side of my Deuce of Spades trowel. It cradles the glasses, protects them pretty well from bending or crushing, and saves the weight of a case.

Great responses thanks

Sunglasses are needed in open country but not in long green tunnels. I only wear prescription glasses to read a map or bird guide. Other than that they compromise my vision so they are on and off all the time. Crushing and loosing are the risks and clip on cases only work when carrying a pack. A shirt pocket has been my most used method and hooked in the center of my shirt when carrying a pack or not wearing a pocket.

I’ll add a hard case to my pack strap and see how that works.