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​Polarized sunglasses with cheaters?

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One more thing this aging paddler needs - reading glasses. Plural, as in a primary set and a back up set. And, as soon as I can find a pair I like, polarized sunglasses with “cheaters” at the lens bottom, so I can read the dang map.

Sunglasses with cheaters have been on my “To buy” gear list for too long. After years of buying nothing but cheapo sunglasses I finally came to appreciate the clarity difference quality lens and coatings make. Good sunglasses are another gear item I would (um, have) replace immediately if lost.

I carry two pair of sunglasses. I have been snow blind twice (well, one and a half times, just the right eye once) and can not deal with bright sunshine even with a broad brimmed hat. I’m screwed without sunglasses and carry a spare pair just in case.

But I’m still hesitant to drop that much coin on a pair with cheaters until I know if they are useful/tolerable to me.

Anyone use sunglasses with cheaters for map reading assistance? Anyone have a recommendation for a mid-range price point pair that will fit a fairly wide noggin?
 
My wife and I need reading glasses. After our first and only check-up, the optometrist led us out to the selection of frames on offer. I'm one of those guys who insists on peeking at the prices, even when the price tag is coyly tucked underneath. I remember untucking the tag and peeking, but don't remember much after staggering to the door. We wear cheap reading glasses bought off cheap racks in pharmacies. I'm a 1.25? Her eyesight worse and weakening. One of these days we'll need to stagger back to that optometrist. A couple winters ago she bought sunglasses at a dollar store, with the bifocal cheater thing you describe. We wanted to be able to read while on a southern beach vacation. The glasses were cheap but functioned okay. She liked them. I couldn't get used to using bifocal tinted lenses. I'll ask her where she picked them up, how much they cost, and try to find them.
 
She bought them at Costco, a pair in a package for under $20. Don't remember the brand name. Only < 2.5 available.
 
I can't get the link to work properly so you'll have to cut 'n paste.

http://www.safetyglassesusa.com/bf34.html

I quite like that idea. I think I will give them a try.

I really don't need glasses for distance, but do own progressives for working, as I found reading glasses to be a pain for anything buy stationary work. I have been wishing for sunglasses to have readers in them, rather than buying perscription sunglasses, but never bothered to look for any.


Jim
 
I'm a little surprised that nobody is talking about those Photo-Grey lens. I get my regular eye prescription made with them and I only need to take one back-up pair in case of breakage.
On the off chance you never heard of them: they look like regular glasses but expose them to sunlight and they rapidly turn dark. Go inside the house and then they turn back.
In practice I've found that I soon forget that there is anything different about them.
Even if you didn't need them I think it's wise to wear glasses in the shop or camping as a regular thing. Both are places where things can get flung up in your eye.

Best Wishes, Rob
 
Well I used to only need glasses for distance, but lately that has changed to where it sure is nice to be able to see print a little better. So my sunglasses are bifocals, but with only a center area on the bottom set up for closeup work. That leaves the lower peripheral areas clear so it makes walking (seeing the ground) easier.

When I was younger I used photo-grey lens, but felt they stayed too dark when I was in the woods, especially while hunting. I know the new ones are probably better now, so maybe I should look into them. Sure would be nice to have a single pair that did everything.
 
I had a pair of those transition glasses once. While nice to have sunglasses when needed, they were way too often dark when not wanted. On an overcast day, they would get real dark, and I would often have to take them off whenever I wanted to make something out, especially in the distance. And, when going outside briefly, then back in, it seemed they got dark fast, an cleared really slow. Driving is another thing, and a place where I mostly use sunglasses, and they did not darken in the vehicle.

Most people I know, especially the ones that need glasses for distance (including my wife) use two pairs now. I have not gone that route yet, as distance is not too much of an issue for me.

NOW, if they made glasses where I could control the darkness. :)

Jim
 
Thanks Holmes for that link. Interesting idea. I'm gonna peruse that site for glasses.
Wearing bifocals will take some getting used to for me. I prefer either wearing reading glasses or not. Since I'm seldom reading when I'm not sitting stationary, in camp or at home, the glasses stay safely stowed in a shirt pocket. As Mike mentions, quality sunglass lenses make a difference. I've rarely owned quality sunglasses. The nicest pair were washed off my face into the surf at Cape Hatteras 20 yrs ago. I'd owned them for about a day. I don't remember how much I paid for them. My memory is kind to me that way. Eventually I'll need quality prescription glasses, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Meanwhile I'll use <$20 reading glasses.
I first saw tinted prescriptions on a job site 30 years ago. I was leading paint crews on two sites. One day I was inspecting a fellows work, and was gently (I'm not an aggressively angry type of guy) criticizing his workmanship. I asked him to show me how he was managing to get the paint everywhere except where it was mean't to go. He said sure. I waited for him to remove his sunglasses (we were indoors) before starting work. When he calmly dipped his brush, stepped forward, squinted and started, I lost it!
"How the (insert construction site language here) can you (repeat you know what here) see what the (and again) you're doing?"
He calmly replied "They're prescription glasses. I can't see a thing without them." ( I could've sworn I heard a drum roll and crashing cymbals somewhere). He assured me they weren't so dark indoors as in the sunny outdoors. As we were in a gloomily lit kitchen, I took the bait and insisted looking through the lenses. Yup, they were prescription, but I was sure he might've been bs-ing me about the photo-grey part. I think they were prescription tinted.
We became good friends after that. I liked his good natured way of "seeing life".
For map reading while wearing sunglasses in the canoe, I like a card magnifying lens. I keep it on a lanyard with the map.
http://www.staples.ca/en/Merangue-Cr...G_2-CA_1_20001
 
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Oh, let me just add...I've tried those glasses retainer straps, putting glasses in pockets, perching them on top of hat or head...I always seem to fumble them, forget them or lose them. Years ago I worked in a steel mill, and my job foreman had a habit of holding the end of his safety glasses in his mouth, like you would a pencil. That has always been the safest place I've found for my glasses when I need to momentarily hold them. Weird? Yes. Childish? You're not the boss of me.
 
Suncloud , Smith Optics cheaper division, makes decent $50-$70 polarized sun glasses I've been wearing them for years. There are also some styles with cheaters. I find that I get 2-3years of daily use before sunscreen and bug repellant start to attack the plastic. At the price, I'm not disappointed and buy another pair. I also own some extremely high end polarized sunglasses, like in the $500 range. I hardly wear them because I'm afraid to lose them and while the lense quality is better than Suncloud , one thumbprint or smudge on a lease levels the playing field.
 
Another option for sunglasses; Go to the optometrist and get a pair made,. My wife does this, she gets "blanco" lenses (no prescription) with a bifocal section ground in (1.50) and polarizing added for about a third of the cost of designer glasses. $90 for the eye exam (Canadian) and $160 for the glasses- her insurance covered the exam and 1/2 the cost of the glasses, so they really cost $80, same as any middle of the road sunglasses, but much better lenses and frames
 
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