OT: Dealing with glasses...

[Wayne02]

I know we had a big old thread awhile back on glasses, but I'm about fed up with using reading glasses. How do guys handle this? The constant on/off on/off... Do you carry one pair around with you wherever you go? Do you scatter multiple pairs everywhere you "might" go?

Every-time I need the glasses they are somewhere else. When I try to carry them with me I usually bust them up in the process or leave them laying somewhere. I shimmied under a trailer the other day to read the specs off one of the axles, and of course by the time I get positioned under there and find the tag, the font is microsmall, and naturally I didn't have my glasses with me.

I purchased a pair at the dollar store thinking if they worked ok I'd buy a dozen and put them in each room, the vehicles etc. However, the ones from the dollar store have huge lens that are near impossible to look over. I used them this morning to read some small stamped print on some metal parts. I would need the glasses on to read the numbers but then have to take them off to see well enough to write the numbers down on the piece of paper.

So what do you guys do? Do you buy a bunch of cheap ones and spread them out all over, or do you buy one or two quality sets and carry one with you at all times?

Thanks
Wayne

[PHiers]

Wayne,

I had the same problem. I went to a regular eye doctor and had glasses made, a bifocal, clear glass at the top and the magnifying part at the bottom. Now I just wear them all the time, I always have my "reading glasses" with me!

Your mileage may vary.

[Tom Buchanan]

Wayne,I used to perch them up on my head 'till I spent an hour looking for them.The wife told me where they were.Made her day.Now I just hook them in the neck of my t-shirt.They don't fall out of a shirt pocket that way.I used wallyworld readers for a long time,finally had to get the prescription kind.Still have the on again-off again problem though.Guess it comes with getting old..er.

[platypus2020]

I have a similar problem, but not with reading glasses, with tri-focals. Constantly in the wrong position, bend your head up or down, then everthing is blurry. All the time moving your eyes up and down trying to find the correct area in the glasses to see in focus. The only good part is I wear prescription safety glasses all the time in the shop, so I never forget to have safety glasses on.

Jack

[Sprocket]

Some years ago, a optician friend told me about Varilux Comfort lenses. No
line, multifocal lenses with a rather wide field of view. They are good enough that I don't believe Varilux has not been able to come up with anything better.
I wear them all the time, and so don't lose them. I had cataracts and lens implants, so I do all my focusing by tilting my head to look through the right part of the lens. Only place that doesn't work is someplace like under a car, where I can't tilt far enough. Otherwise, they have been great. Just one guy's experience.

[Terry]

If you want a pair of glasses that you will not take off until you go to bed,
buy a pair of quadrafocals. It has top and bottom bifocals, strenth adjustable between the two. I had my top ones made stronger than the bottoms for reading motor plates laying under a machine. The next lens above the bottom bifocal is to see two to three feet. The middle lens are either clear for distance or set just for your vision problems.
I have been wearing these for about fifteen years. Love them. I can stand back from a lathe or mill using the two to three feet lens and watch the tool cutting without getting hot chips or read a newpaper laying flat on the table without moving my head at all.
The only problem is 360.00 dollars plus every five years, but worth every penny. You just won't believe how nice it is to wear glasses that work.

[cybor462]

I was just thinking of starting a thread about this, as I too am fed up with it. I have asked over and over and I am told the same thing. This is what happens with age.

I too have tri focals and that is my problem. I do not see that anyone posted about the safety issue. When running the mill you need to do many things simultaneously. The problem is as stated the lenses do not allow you to do that. I find myself feeding the X with my right hand and using the oil dripper with my left while watching the cutter. this means I have to look left which gets me into the wrong lens and I have hit the cutter more than once with my hand since it looks either further away or closer than it really is depending on how you are turning or bending or trying to look.

I have had visions of taking my finger off this way and it scares the heck out of me.

This is a problem no matter what I do. I am actually wishing my eyes get that bad that I will need to wear glasses all the time and I would only have one lense to look out of instead of three.

[cybor462]

If you want a pair of glasses that you will not take off until you go to bed,
buy a pair of quadrafocals. It has top and bottom bifocals, strenth adjustable between the two. I had my top ones made stronger than the bottoms for reading motor plates laying under a machine. The next lens above the bottom bifocal is to see two to three feet. The middle lens are either clear for distance or set just for your vision problems.
I have been wearing these for about fifteen years. Love them. I can stand back from a lathe or mill using the two to three feet lens and watch the tool cutting without getting hot chips or read a newpaper laying flat on the table without moving my head at all.
The only problem is 360.00 dollars plus every five years, but worth every penny. You just won't believe how nice it is to wear glasses that work.

But doesn't the added lens make your viewing area even less than tri focals? That is also my problem the small viewing area.

[J Tiers]

Terry.......

I asked about exactly what you have..... was told it can't be done, all they can do is trifocals, "plumbers glasses" with the 3rd one at top.

That didn't seem like it would give enough options, so I stayed with the "plain" Varilux. You think yours are expensive...... Varilux with antireflective hard coatings etc are even more than that.

[Terry]

But doesn't the added lens make your viewing area even less than tri focals? That is also my problem the small viewing area.

No, after wearing these glasses for about a week, you don't even realize you have them on. It's like wearing no glasses. I buy the smallless frames I can.