Another thread on this subject was closed for what seem to be legal reasons.
However there seemed to be a suggestion made by the OP that off-the-shelf spectacles are a sensible option for driving. Actually, although cheapo readers may work in the early days of middle-aged long sight, for reading menus in dark Indian restaurants for example, the fact is that a lot of people's eyes are different from each other and when you need spectacles it's a good idea to get proper ones with two different lenses.
My own eyes are markedly different, and for a while I was hustled by a disgraceful local optician who didn't want to do the job properly. Fortunately there's another down the road.
Edited by Lud on 27/01/2008 at 21:24
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Not for legal reasons simply because the thread had died on the vine before a suspected freeloader tried to hi-jack it.
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I have just converted to contact lenses (Acuvue Oasys).
They have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years and are made of a floppy 65% water based material which doesn't hae the drawbacks of older ones. It is just like putting in a drip of water.
I always didn't like the thought of them, but recently tried them for free* at D&A. The great thing is that when driving, all your peripheral vision is clear too, rather than a framed area in the centre of the field of vision. I heartily recommend everyone who needs glasses try them.
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I'm 65 with classic old age long sight i.e I can see for miles without glasses but arms far too short to read the proverbial paper so around the house etc., I use a pair of varifocals with no prescription on top down to +2 at the bottom. I don't need the glasses for driving except that I can't clearly see a sat-nav or the little buttons on the radio (Before anybody asks yes, the speedo etc are quite legible!) so I experimented using the varifocals for driving but soon gave that up as found that, unless looking straight ahead, the amount of distortion when looking sideways (e.g. a Y junction) is positively dangerous . I know my peripheral vision is fine as I have had a recent flickering screen type test at the opticians.
There must be many other folk me with the same problem, and before further enriching the optician, I wonder if anyone has tried plain old fashioned bi-focals with the top part clear and a small magnifying area at the bottom and if so did they work?
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Pleiades - have you thought of contact lenses? I don't know if they would help, but I know that mine have been adjusted (ie power reduced in one lens) to help with near sight. It might be possible, perhaps, to get some lenses that would reduce your long sight. But (you will have gathered) I don't really know what I'm talking about, on this or on so many other topics.
BTW, Glasses Direct are good for specs: £15 for a pair. I've had 3 pairs, including a set of prescription sunglasses for £25.
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I wear varifocals all the time including for driving and now I buy my spectacles in the Middle East . Much cheaper than UK.
I had my eyes checked and got a prescription from Specsavers in January last year and then bought in Qatar at a reputable optician.
Rimless Rodenstock Varifocal Lenses and Gucci designer frames ( a la Sven Goran Ericcson or Herr Flick of the Gestapo) with the photocromatic option cost me around £300 , much cheaper than UK .They also checked the prescription and gave me another eye test.
Unfortunately I broke the glasses on holiday by taking off my sun hat and catching them , pulling them so they dropped onto a marble floor.
I checked with a number of opticians in our local town and none of them could BUY the lenses for the price they were sold to me. Estimated cost by local UK opticians to replace was £450.
I claimed on insurance and bought another pair of similar specification in Doha when I was there in November , prescription changed for reading, different ( still designer ) frames cost again around £300.
SWMBO wears lenses but also buys bifocal readers from the USA online and finds them a very useful help for reading and working on the computer but not for driving.
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I use bifocals after finding I couldn't get on with varifocals. When I explained to my optician (a local 'indie', rather than a national franchise) that I had a problem glancing in the door mirror with the varifocals, he suggested bifocals with the reading area stopping short of the outside edge of the lense area. They work a treat.
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I use bifocals after finding I couldn't get on with varifocals.
Me too.
When I explained to my optician .......... that I had a problem glancing in the door mirror with the varifocals
I had that problem.
he suggested bifocals with the reading area stopping short of the outside edge of the lens area.
Do you mean that the reading area is a sideways D (or similar) shape (which is what I have), rather than being completely the lower part of the lens?
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>>Do you mean that the reading area is a sideways D (or similar) shape (which is what I have), rather than being completely the lower part of the lens?
That's it.
The same as it was a couple of years ago. ;>)
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Like Helicopter I have just had an eye test, and I have bought a new set of glasses.
Jaguar titanium designer rimless frames, rimless nikon double aspheric progressive (varifocal) lenses with UV filter but didnt want the photocromic option. (again like Helicopter, think herr flic or himmler). These things weigh a mere 8 grammes
The lens design means you dont get the barrel distortion.
Bought in the UK for 390 quid.
I find photochromic or transition type lenses to be a pain in the arris and mostly useless for driving so I also bought online from speckyfoureyes.com a set of aviator style (yes so 70's I know) single vision prescription polarised 60% grey sunglasses for 50 quid.
I will let you know what they are like when they arrive,
Did you know, your driving license states if you have to have your eyesight corrected? I dont remember telling them I had to wear specs.
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AE said
I also bought online from speckyfoureyes.com a set of aviator style (yes so 70's I know) single vision prescription polarised 60% grey sunglasses >> for 50 quid.
Must have a look at that site and see what they offer. I find the modern fashion for small/letterbox glasses intensely irritating but none of the majors carry a true aviator style for prescription lenses.
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Apologies for that Pug, didn't check the dates before posting.
BTW I'd still recommend that drivers get their eyes tested properly before buying "off-the-peg" specs; as another poster has quite rightly remarked, your eyes work at different strengths and reading glasses do not compensate for this.
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