line vs progressive lenses for sunglasses

[Kevin Anderson]

Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance vision but now my
arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches and queasiness when
trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.

I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?

Thanks
Kevin
SGS 1-26 192

[Andy[_1_]]

Kevin Anderson wrote:
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?


I fly with both my progressive photosensitive glasses and with
suntigers with stick on reading correction lenses. You can get used to
either if the prescription is correct.

In general I use the progressives for power flying and the suntigers
for soaring. My next suntigers will be progressive.


Andy

[Kilo Charlie]

I agree with Andy. I have been wearing Maui Jim and Ray Ban progressives
for several years and they work great. It does take a bit of getting used
while looking over the side at someone below you....if you don't tilt your
head they'll be in your "reading area" which made me dizzy the first few
tries.

I tried the stick on ones and they were a pain.....fell off at inopportune
times but they are a whole lot cheaper ($30 vs. $400) and allow you to
purchase any sunglasses you want.

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

[HL Falbaum]

I have used progressives---the area of clear visiion at any distance is
smaller--but after a while you don't notice.

I have "sick-on" (Optx) lenses on my non-prescription Suntigers. The beauty
of these is that you can move the area, and cut them down to size.
Progressives and "ground-in" line bifocals are not adjustable. You will be
surprised to find that you don't want them exactly where you first stuck
them, and you will want to experiment. I moved my Optx lower and closer to
my nose than I first thought they should be. You use the lower-outer part of
your distance visual field more than you think.

For Power--especially instrument flight--you need a much greater range of
distances to focus---from switches and circuit breakers on the lower right
panel to IAP charts.

--
Hartley Falbaum
"Andy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Kevin Anderson wrote:
>>
>> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
>> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
>
> I fly with both my progressive photosensitive glasses and with
> suntigers with stick on reading correction lenses. You can get used to
> either if the prescription is correct.
>
> In general I use the progressives for power flying and the suntigers
> for soaring. My next suntigers will be progressive.
>
>
> Andy
>

[Fred[_1_]]

I've been using progressives for a decade or more. Suntiger
progressives for soaring, and though they're pricey, they're worth it
on a bright day of soaring. Progressives get some taking used to -- the
first Dr I went to insisted on calling them "fuzzy focus" lenses, and
many's the time I agreed with his assessment. But you do get used to
them, to "pointing your nose at what you're focussing on," as another
Dr told me, and I don't think I could go back to lines. You'll still
trip on steps and other items on the ground -- down in your "reading"
zone -- with progressives, but you don't feel like you're bobbing in
water, half above and half below. Fred

[Lorry]

Kevin Anderson wrote:
> Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance vision but now my
> arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches and queasiness when
> trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
> Thanks
> Kevin
> SGS 1-26 192

Hi Kevin,

I can understand your problem! My wife is a power pilot and wears
progressive lenses and is very satisfied. I have been wearing
trifocals for probably 30 years and find them terrific. However, I
have been told by several ophthalmologists that once you have used
bifocals or trifocals it is nealy impossible to go back to progressive
lenses. I find my trifocals perfect for everything but working on the
computer which took me some time to become accustomed. I use the same
glasses for driving, flying power and soaring and everythig else I do.
I also feel that blue blockers are a must! I believe the advantage of
trifocals, which gives a much greater field of view for a given
correction, is the best solution. If you are interested I will be glad
to give you some hints as to how to get the correction in the proper
location.

Lorry Charchian

[58y]

Kevin Anderson wrote:
> Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance vision but now my
> arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches and queasiness when
> trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?


I use both. I use tri-focal clear lenses indoors and progressive sun
glasses when flying. Neither is ideal, but I'm not going to get my 20/15
vision back, and I am used to this set-up. At first I didn't like the
progressives, especially for flying, but you learn to deal with each
type unconsciously. The lines in the tri-focals are more annoying to me
now than the progressives.

The optometrist just couldn't make up a pair of glasses that allowed me
to focus on my flight instruments, the overhead panel, the approach
chart, the center console, or the flight attendant -- using one pair of
glasses. Progressives solved that. They also made it possible to use the
same pair in my car and in my 182 and my glider, and still focus where I
needed to focus. A very versatile tool, progressives, if you are patient
with your own adjustment process.


Jack

[JS]

Kevin Anderson wrote:
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?

I've been wearing photochromatic progressives for a few years. Can't
be bothered with multiple sets of glasses.
Yes, progressive takes some getting used to. I noticed that the
peripheral vision of progressives isn't as good as single-prescription
lenses. My suggestion for getting around SOME of that:
> Get the strongest prescription you can deal with in the upper (distance) lens.
> Get the lowest additional magnification in the lower lens that works for you.
This seems to give the lens a wider horizontal usable area. My
earliest attempt at progressives gave me worse vision while turning
eyes to the side than if I had no glasses. So you end up as Fred says:
"pointing your nose at what you're focusing on". Not what most of us
thought the eyeballs were for.

Jim

[P. Corbett]

Kevin Anderson wrote:
> Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance vision but now my
> arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches and queasiness when
> trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
> Thanks
> Kevin
> SGS 1-26 192
>
>
Kevin

I am going to assume that you are between 45 and 50 years old.

First, most people who are faced with their first pair of multifocal
glasses cannot bring themselves to wear glasses with lines. Thus they
usually prefer progressive lenses. Progressive lenses are easiest to
adapt to if you have never worn conventional bifocal lenses so you will
likely do well with them. If you are closer to 45 than 50, trifocals are
not required.

An important consideration is where the top of the reading segment is
placed and it can get expensive if the lenses have to be remade if this
is not done right the first time. To help avoid this problem, select a
non-prescription sunglass that you like, buy a set of the stick-on
reading segments and experiment with the placement of them while sitting
in your glider. Then take the glasses to the optician and let them note
the placement of the segments.

If you will tell me your age, and the distance from your eyes to the
panel and the PDA, I will tell you what strength of stick-on segment to buy.

Cheers,

Paul

[Vaughn Simon]

"Kevin Anderson" > wrote in message
...
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?

I have been flying with progressives (both powered and soaring) now for
several years. For sunglasses, I use those magnetic clip-ons. I like the
ability to instantly take off my sunlenses without fumbling and without the
temporary blindness of switching glasses.

The progressives are a compromise, but in my opinion the best compromise
short of surgery. I did find a slight problem lining up with a runway on "long
final", but it goes away with practice. You will notice that nothing looks
"square" for a few weeks(which is why the runway is a problem), but eventually
your brain will put everything together so it looks normal.

Vaughn

[Ray Lovinggood]

Kevin,

I use lined bifocals in my Suntiger sunglasses and
lined bifocals in my clear glasses. I've never had
progressives, so I can't compare, but I don't have
any problems with the lines.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
(And for those of you wondering where Carrboro is,
it is located to the left of La La Land...)

At 22:30 23 August 2006, Kevin Anderson wrote:
>Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance
>vision but now my
>arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches
>and queasiness when
>trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.
>
>I would like to hear back from others on what decision
>they made on
>progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
>Thanks
>Kevin
>SGS 1-26 192
>
>
>

[Graeme Cant]

Kevin Anderson wrote:

> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?

I found progressives to be too distorting. The countryside swims at the
edges as you move your head. Also, progressives have a very narrow
width for reading - about the width of a newspaper column.

I've happily flown with bi/trifocals for over 15 years. They're not
hard to get in sunglasses or use magnetic-type clipons over your normal
clear lenses. I found some good Pentax clipons with lenses larger than
the current miniature fashion. Be very particular about where the line
is put. If he doesn't ask, bring up the question yourself.

GC

>
> Thanks
> Kevin
> SGS 1-26 192
>
>

[[email protected]]

Lots of action on this thread. Soaring's demographics are showing. We
probably wouldn't see the same interest in this subject among the
youthful readers of, say, alt.skate-board or rec.skiing.snowboard. The
next thing will be someone on RAS wanting to know how safe it is to fly
the morning after taking Viagra. :)

I have no opinion on that particular subject, but I've used contact
lenses and regular sunglasses with the stick-on reading segments and I
agree they work fine. But I prefer not to fly with contact lenses so I
use prescription sunglasses: bifocals when I was in my 40s and
trifocals now that I'm 55. Mine are definitely soaring specific: the
reading segment is for maps (in my lap) and the middle segment is for
the instrument panel, mainly the PDA (almost in the line of sight).
Chip Garner (Glide Navigator II) is of a certain age but I guess all
the other software developers are in their 20s because the fonts keep
getting smaller and smaller as they pack more functionality and data on
a PDA screen. :)

Don't bother relying on the optician to correctly position the lines
between segments. Sit in your cockpit and experiment with pieces of
tape on your lenses (eyeglass lenses, not contact lenses!). Best is to
fly with the stick ons for a while, because you'll probably discover
you want the line higher than normal to read the PDA and any other
displays on the panel but you want it as low as possible to be able to
look down out of the canopy. No matter what you do it won't be perfect,
and you may find you want to modify your cockpit a bit. I discovered
it's easier to use my handheld Garmin GPS receiver mounted on the
cockpit wall close to me because it's low enough that it's nearly
always in the middle or lower segment of my sunglasses. I will probably
move my PDA/moving map to that location this winter.

Welcome to middle age.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I have worn contacts for 30 years, and have been wearing reading
glasses for about 5. I tried progressive sunglasses made to order for
flying, but they tended to create so much distortion in the transition
zone from the uncorrected top area to the bifocal area, that they made
me a little queasy. I also didn't trust my depth perception in that
zone. I ended up exchanging them for standard bi-focals, but asked
that the corrected area start a little lower than normal. That way I
have a clear view right above the instrument panel (where most of the
action takes place) and while looking down and to the side. I can
look down my nose a bit or push the glasses up on my nose if I need to
get a larger corrected field of view for the instruments. In a pinch,
you can buy "sunreaders" from the drugstore for $15 also.

I know this one will be controversial, but I also like flying with
polarized bi-focal glasses. You can order them this way, but I have
never found them "off the shelf". They make it much easier to pick out
other traffic against a darker blue sky, and I can still see all
instruments in the cockpit, including my iPaq and L-NAV just fine. I
don't fly power, so that might be different.

Matt Herron Jr.


Graeme Cant wrote:
> Kevin Anderson wrote:
>
> > I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> > progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
> I found progressives to be too distorting. The countryside swims at the
> edges as you move your head. Also, progressives have a very narrow
> width for reading - about the width of a newspaper column.
>
> I've happily flown with bi/trifocals for over 15 years. They're not
> hard to get in sunglasses or use magnetic-type clipons over your normal
> clear lenses. I found some good Pentax clipons with lenses larger than
> the current miniature fashion. Be very particular about where the line
> is put. If he doesn't ask, bring up the question yourself.
>
> GC
>
> >
> > Thanks
> > Kevin
> > SGS 1-26 192
> >
> >

[Frank Whiteley]

Not quit the same issue as fortunately I still don't need anything but
1.25+ cheaters for PC and reading. I found Personal Optics 'Twin
Vision' just the ticket. Brown-yellow tint (my preferred), small
cheater lenses (great for maps and PDA), and spring hinges. $12.00 a
pair at the time, so I snagged about six pairs for this season and have
only scratched one so far and haven't stepped on any. Looks like I may
have enough for next season also.

Frank Whiteley

Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> I have worn contacts for 30 years, and have been wearing reading
> glasses for about 5. I tried progressive sunglasses made to order for
> flying, but they tended to create so much distortion in the transition
> zone from the uncorrected top area to the bifocal area, that they made
> me a little queasy. I also didn't trust my depth perception in that
> zone. I ended up exchanging them for standard bi-focals, but asked
> that the corrected area start a little lower than normal. That way I
> have a clear view right above the instrument panel (where most of the
> action takes place) and while looking down and to the side. I can
> look down my nose a bit or push the glasses up on my nose if I need to
> get a larger corrected field of view for the instruments. In a pinch,
> you can buy "sunreaders" from the drugstore for $15 also.
>
> I know this one will be controversial, but I also like flying with
> polarized bi-focal glasses. You can order them this way, but I have
> never found them "off the shelf". They make it much easier to pick out
> other traffic against a darker blue sky, and I can still see all
> instruments in the cockpit, including my iPaq and L-NAV just fine. I
> don't fly power, so that might be different.
>
> Matt Herron Jr.
>
>
> Graeme Cant wrote:
> > Kevin Anderson wrote:
> >
> > > I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> > > progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
> >
> > I found progressives to be too distorting. The countryside swims at the
> > edges as you move your head. Also, progressives have a very narrow
> > width for reading - about the width of a newspaper column.
> >
> > I've happily flown with bi/trifocals for over 15 years. They're not
> > hard to get in sunglasses or use magnetic-type clipons over your normal
> > clear lenses. I found some good Pentax clipons with lenses larger than
> > the current miniature fashion. Be very particular about where the line
> > is put. If he doesn't ask, bring up the question yourself.
> >
> > GC
> >
> > >
> > > Thanks
> > > Kevin
> > > SGS 1-26 192
> > >
> > >

[SAM 303a]

I just had to get glasses myself. The heartbreak of presbyopia.
I got progressives for general use and I've noticed that they work best when
you are looking directly at something--ie glancing at something doesn't give
good correction.
For this reason, I got lined lenses for flying. I want to be able to glance
at something without moving my head and see it sharply. I want to take
advantage of my peripheral vision and I question that too with progressives.
Got the Maui Jim's that have a rose/brown tint. Very good for spotting haze
domes & wing glint, minimal color distortion.

"Kevin Anderson" > wrote in message
...
> Help. I am at that age. I wear contacts for distance vision but now my
> arms are getting too short also. Causing headaches and queasiness when
> trying to read my instruments, especially the PDA.
>
> I would like to hear back from others on what decision they made on
> progressive vs. lined lenses for sunglasses?
>
> Thanks
> Kevin
> SGS 1-26 192
>
>

[Bill Daniels]

"Frank Whiteley" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Not quit the same issue as fortunately I still don't need anything but
> 1.25+ cheaters for PC and reading. I found Personal Optics 'Twin
> Vision' just the ticket. Brown-yellow tint (my preferred), small
> cheater lenses (great for maps and PDA), and spring hinges. $12.00 a
> pair at the time, so I snagged about six pairs for this season and have
> only scratched one so far and haven't stepped on any. Looks like I may
> have enough for next season also.
>
> Frank Whiteley

URL for Personal Optics?

Bill Daniels

[Matt Herron Jr.]

I went to the Maui Jim factory in Maui last month, and they told me
they don't make corrected optics. How do I get them?

Matt

[[email protected]]

I just checked the Maui Jim factory website and they do offer
prescription lenses. Look here:

http://www.mauijim.com/mjweb/public/rx/rx_run.jsp

Regards,

Patman "CQ"

PS: For soaring I prefer the Serengeti Driver non-polarized glasses.


Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
> I went to the Maui Jim factory in Maui last month, and they told me
> they don't make corrected optics. How do I get them?
>
> Matt

[Surfer!]

In message . com>,
writes
>Lots of action on this thread. Soaring's demographics are showing. We
>probably wouldn't see the same interest in this subject among the
>youthful readers of, say, alt.skate-board or rec.skiing.snowboard.

Of course they don't use PDAs for their sport... :)

> The
>next thing will be someone on RAS wanting to know how safe it is to fly
>the morning after taking Viagra. :)

LOL!

<Snip>

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

[Surfer!]

In message >, SAM 303a
> writes
>I just had to get glasses myself. The heartbreak of presbyopia.
>I got progressives for general use and I've noticed that they work best when
>you are looking directly at something--ie glancing at something doesn't give
>good correction.

Your best distance correction might well be with contact lenses - no
distortion at all with them and peripheral vision is maximised (until
you start wearing shades!).

However you can get problems with dry eyes.

<Snip>

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

[Roger Worden]

I fly with contacts and have had no problems at all with dry eyes. I was
concerned about it at first, but my contacts actually do better in the
dry-but-clean air in and over Hemet (CA) than in the smoggy Orange County
basin. This enables me to use regular aviation sunglasses... at least until
presbyopia sets in.

"Surfer!" > wrote in message
...
> In message >, SAM 303a
> > writes
> >I just had to get glasses myself. The heartbreak of presbyopia.
> >I got progressives for general use and I've noticed that they work best
when
> >you are looking directly at something--ie glancing at something doesn't
give
> >good correction.
>
> Your best distance correction might well be with contact lenses - no
> distortion at all with them and peripheral vision is maximised (until
> you start wearing shades!).
>
> However you can get problems with dry eyes.
>
> <Snip>
>
> --
> Surfer!
> Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

[Surfer!]

In message >, Roger
Worden > writes
>I fly with contacts and have had no problems at all with dry eyes. I was
>concerned about it at first, but my contacts actually do better in the
>dry-but-clean air in and over Hemet (CA) than in the smoggy Orange County
>basin. This enables me to use regular aviation sunglasses... at least until
>presbyopia sets in.

Yes, polluted air upsets my eyes as well - and my lungs. Had no
breathing problems at all when I visited the US earlier in the year once
I'd left Las Vegas on a tour of the area. I use daily disposable lenses
and don't get as good a correction in one eye due to astigmatism, but
that's the case with glasses as well. However my eyesight seems to be
quite good enough. So far (51) I have very few problems with losing my
near vision and the optician hasn't suggested varifocals yet - last eye
test was 6 months ago.

>
>"Surfer!" > wrote in message
...
>> In message >, SAM 303a
>> > writes
>> >I just had to get glasses myself. The heartbreak of presbyopia.
>> >I got progressives for general use and I've noticed that they work best
>when
>> >you are looking directly at something--ie glancing at something doesn't
>give
>> >good correction.
>>
>> Your best distance correction might well be with contact lenses - no
>> distortion at all with them and peripheral vision is maximised (until
>> you start wearing shades!).
>>
>> However you can get problems with dry eyes.

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net