Scott Hersha

Scott Hersha

Well Known Member
Doug,
Since you've been 'bifocaled', you may be interested in this site:

www.safetyglassesusa.com

Not all of them offer bifocals, but many do, and the price is right - $9 - $12 bucks. I've lost more reading glasses than I can count, including prescription glasses, so getting a couple spare pairs is important. These glasses come in clear and tinted. I use the clear in my shop - they are safety glasses - and the sunglasses when Im flying. Check out the ELVEX RX-300, Radian Cheaters, or DeWalt Reinforcer. I found the Pyramex V2 to be the most comfortable for me, but you may want to buy a few different slyles to see what fits. Of course, stay away from polorized lenses if you have a glass panel.

Welcome to middle age.....

Scott Hersha
RV-6 - SOLD
RV-8 Fastback - in paint shop
 
My Optometrist recently upgraded my soft contact lenses to CooperVision Proclear MultiFocal. No need for reading glasses anymore. These things are GREAT!
 
gasman said:
Think PROGRESSIVE. If they are fitted correctly, they make life normal again.
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Yup - I've been wearing progressives for half a decade now....adjustment was immediate, and never had a problem!

And yes Dougie, age creeps up on us all...:p
 
I, too, have been wearing progressives for about ten years and love them. I just got my first pair of glasses from Zennioptical.com and they are great! I believe I first read about them on VAF. I decided to spend the $60 and hope for the best. I am very happy with them. Progressive lenses, titanium frame, anti-glare, etc.
It took several (4 or 5?) weeks for them to show up, but I am delighted with the product. My Chief Procurement Officer and Master Riveter is now going to order her first pair from them.:rolleyes:
 
Like David, I just got my first pair from zennioptical. I use the old style bifocals (progressive is just TOO CLOSE to liberal! Oh, never mind.) Anyway, I am totally happy with them, and I too learned about Zenni here. I do wish they had non-polarized clip-ons as the polarized ones screw up my view of some of the glass panel.
 
If you are going to go progressive do it BEFORE you get used to the bifocals. Adaptation is way easier.

I tried progressives after years of bifocals and just couldn't make the adjustment.


relax Doug you are just a youngster.

Several years ago I crossed into the trifocal zone.
 
From zennioptical I chose 80% bronze tint, progressive. They are non-polarized. work very well in my "9". The best shades I ever owned!
$41.95--and about 10 days to get here.:):):):)
 
Ironflight said:
Yup - I've been wearing progressives for half a decade now....adjustment was immediate, and never had a problem!

And yes Dougie, age creeps up on us all...:p
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I have been wearing progressive for a decade. Adjustment was almost immediate but there was a 4-day period that I would pause when something was in my side vision.

I also have a pair of bifocals that I like to wear when leading a formation flight. The bifocals has better side vision that is much clearer (in focus). I typically wear the the Ray-Ban bifocals for Oshkosh AirVenture but wear the progressive lens glasses in the evenings.

I find the bifocals almost impossible to use when sitting at the computer. The bifocal makes me move too close to the screen and the up distance section requires that I move too far back. Trifocals may fix this problem but the bifocals will always be my second pair and glasses of choice when flying lead with several newbies.
 
Fashion faux pas?

Not in my book...looks even better with an airline uniform!:eek:


I'm on my way to the zennioptical site now!


Joe:)
 
Ray Ban Bi-focals great performance

Hi I used progressives too fly with for yrs. but they won't transition to darken when the sun isn't shining on them and they were a pain to line-up the proper focal lens on the panel. So I bought a pair of Ray-Ban bifocal non polarized RX sunglasses with the focal length set for looking at the panel and NEVER wear progressives flying anymore. Now the panel is easy to see instantly and the sunglass part is always working. I still wear progressives elsewhere and I'm getting multi-focal contacts soon. In glasses you get what you pay for, I've never been satisfied with cheap glasses. I only had to pay approx. $100 for the Ray-Bans using an old set of frames I had. And clip-on or flip-down sunglasses were the worst thing I've ever tried to see through. That's my 2 cents worth. Gene
 
Go to Costco...

Doug,

Welcome to our world now, and yes, misery does love company:D While my reading vision went rapidly downhill over the past 5 years, my distant vision really only changed from a youngster's vision of 20/15 to a paltry 20/30 in one eye and 20/20 in the other.

I'm on my second pair of progressives and like these much better than the first pair I had. I think I made the mistake of having the frames a little too thin on those. The result of that is when you have progressives you then have too narrow a field of vision in each range of distance correction. My second pair were more normal sized, and made the transition much easier. I have found that for me, because my distance isn't all that bad, I don't wear them that much during the day. I wear them at night for driving and for flying. Progressives are absolutely the way to go when you're taxing around at night trying to read the taxi charts in my Jeppeson manual, and then looking up and out the window at taxi signage and at the gate numbers when trying to find my gate.

I have also found that if I don't wear them that often and leave them in my shirt pocket, they have a tendency to get scratched and irreversibly damaged, and it's usually right in the middle of the lenses where your eyeball looks through. Try and make it a habit of either wearing them all the time or having a decent case to put them in when you're not.

The other thing I would suggest is to go to Costco or Sam's and get a couple of three packs of fixed correction cheaters, and then place them in strategic places around the house. You know...places like the shop, the library...er..uh..I mean the bathroom. You'll be happy you did! Welcome aboard:D
 
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To each his own....

I had to go to bifocals about 15 years ago. For the first couple of years of flying I noticed a significant shift in the runway ranging when it crossed the line in my field of vision which occasionally resulted in a "firm" landing. About five years ago I went to progressives and they took all of about a day to adapt to. The landings now (especially in the RV!) are 90+ % greasers. I'll never look back (pun intended)! I can already see at the next LOE fly-in everybody will be studying each others spectacles!
 
This is my second set of bifocals where I have asked that one eye be stronger than the other. One is 1/4 diopter weaker than what I would normally use, and the other 1/4 stronger. It is like trifocals. It took about a day to adjust, IIFC, but I can read things closer and have fine focus at any distance. Works for me, YMMV.

Bob Kelly
 
There's usually somebody at fly-ins selling bifocal sunglasses. I use my photogray progressives for everything else & fly with the bifocals. Only problem--with either--is taxiing a taildragger, as I crane my neck to see forward & end up looking thru the bottom of the glasses.
 
If you don't need glasses other than for reading correction you might consider AvSun Readers...
http://www.airplanethings.com/

I've been using them for several years now and LOVE 'em. Having the bifocal line lower than normal is just the thing for cockpit use. If you're considering them go for the classic aviator, I've tried the titaniums and the lenses are too far from your eyes and don't provide as wide a field of view.
 
Pirep on Zenni Optical glasses

I have two pairs of glasses from Zenni. One is progressive clear and the other is sunglasses progressive. They are great in the daytime but I kept having trouble driving at night because of every light and even reflective road signs made vertical light shafts in my vision. In town where there are a lot of lights it really was bad. I finally broke down and bought my new glasses from the local optomitrist and paid dearly for them. They are no different than the Zenni glasses in the daytime but a whole different story at night. No annoying vertical light shafts coming off headlights and streetlights. Big difference. I wonder if the Zenni glasses are molded and not ground and that may be causing the issue. I guess you get what you pay for in the end. I still use the sunglasses in the airplane during the day and they work great for that are are super cheap. Just thought I'd share.
 
rv9aviator said:
I have two pairs of glasses from Zenni. One is progressive clear and the other is sunglasses progressive. They are great in the daytime but I kept having trouble driving at night because of every light and even reflective road signs made vertical light shafts in my vision. In town where there are a lot of lights it really was bad. I finally broke down and bought my new glasses from the local optomitrist and paid dearly for them. They are no different than the Zenni glasses in the daytime but a whole different story at night. No annoying vertical light shafts coming off headlights and streetlights. Big difference. I wonder if the Zenni glasses are molded and not ground and that may be causing the issue. I guess you get what you pay for in the end. I still use the sunglasses in the airplane during the day and they work great for that are are super cheap. Just thought I'd share.
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If you are going to use them at night you need to get the AR (Antii Reflection) coating. This is especially true if your prescription is not very strong, which effectively makes the two lens surfaces more parallel.

$4.95 at Zenni Optical as an "add on".

I am guessing your Zenni ones were not AR coated.
 
Duluth Trading

These guys have some great shades.

Some are better and more expensive than others.

Non polorized and work great.
 
rv9aviator said:
I have two pairs of glasses from Zenni. One is progressive clear and the other is sunglasses progressive. They are great in the daytime but I kept having trouble driving at night because of every light and even reflective road signs made vertical light shafts in my vision. In town where there are a lot of lights it really was bad. I finally broke down and bought my new glasses from the local optomitrist and paid dearly for them. They are no different than the Zenni glasses in the daytime but a whole different story at night. No annoying vertical light shafts coming off headlights and streetlights. Big difference. I wonder if the Zenni glasses are molded and not ground and that may be causing the issue. I guess you get what you pay for in the end. I still use the sunglasses in the airplane during the day and they work great for that are are super cheap. Just thought I'd share.
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I bought a couple pairs of progressive glasses from Zenni recently. I have never seen the reflection problem at night but I order the glass lenses, not the polycarbonate. I also don't bother with the anti-reflective coating. My first pair of Zenni progressives were polycarbonate with anti-reflective coating but I can't tell any difference between the two types of lenses. I assume the glass lenses will be less susceptible to scratching....and they cost less. The Zenni's are an incredible value if you get the prescription dialed in correctly.
 
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