I'm at the point where I have to wear glasses for reading & also have a pair in the plane when I fly per my third class medical. I currently swap between my readers & sunglasses when I'm flying. My friend owns Method Seven & i just heard they now make bi-focals, so I want to get a pair.

For those with bi-focals, did you have the transition point between the bi-focal & sunglass portion made higher than you would for a pair of bi-focals used for reading so you could see the instrument panel better?

Thanks for letting me know what you do.

I have two pairs of Maui Jim’s. One pair is bifocal that I purchased off the rack. The location of the bifocal portion seemed to be just fine for flying. I could read everything on the panel without making weird adjustments. They were not as nice for general reading. I felt like I was looking to low to see clearly. I had another pair made later that have progressive lenses. I use those exclusively now. The transition point is higher on the lenses than the bifocal ones because reading is much easier. My panel is still nice and clear as well. If I was having a pair made, I would spend the extra for progressive lenses and do away with the bifocal line. Quality of glass will of course make a difference. You get what you pay for. Usually. I’m sure there will be comments about polarized lenses and why you shouldn’t have them. I’ve never had a problem seeing with them.

Check out Dual sunglasses too. I’ve got three pairs now. They work great and also have some nice styles. Just watch the metal temple arms as they can scratch the inside of the lenses if squished.

Thanks for the comments. I haven't heard of dual sunglasses and I'll see if my friend can make a progressive lens.

Symfony Lens, life changing.

https://www.austineye.com/intraocular-lenses/

Had Maui Jim’s with readers. Right now I’m using some cheap $30 Bass Pro sunglasses with the little magnifying readers clear instead of shaded. Looks kinda goofy, but damn do they work well for reading inside a car or cockpit. I keep them on a librarian string so I can drop them for extra depth perception landing off airport or any confined work with a helicopter.

I use the bifocal sunglasses from flying eyes golden eagle sport model. They work well for me and they are very comfortable.

I drive and fly and everything else, with the prescription Zeiss lenses I got from Walmart. The new coating that they have allows them to get dark behind the windshield when driving, and even darker when in the plane, or outside. Yes they are pricey, but it is a one stop, put them on and forget'em! As I get older I'm realizing that good glass makes a huge impact when shooting, welding, flying, and working.
My .02 : )

You can get stick-on reading lenses like these:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Hydrotac-Sti ... 0/38092965

I put them on my Ray Bans and they work great. The lenses are quite large (on purpose) so you can figure out where you want them located on your sunglasses, mark the bottom with a Sharpie or something, then trim them with scissors/xacto. When you are satisfied with the location, put some water on the glass and put the lens on the water pressing to make sure that the lens is fully in contact with the glass with no air bubbles.

They will never fall off, but you can (carefully) remove them if needed.

I had a set of progressive bifocal lenses made for my RayBans by a local glasses shop.
The first thing I noticed was, they impede looking down at the ground to see what the wind is doing without dipping my head more.
Might want to consider that before cutting the near vision higher on the lens.

buck_justice wrote:I drive and fly and everything else, with the prescription Zeiss lenses I got from Walmart. The new coating that they have allows them to get dark behind the windshield when driving, and even darker when in the plane, or outside. Yes they are pricey, but it is a one stop, put them on and forget'em! As I get older I'm realizing that good glass makes a huge impact when shooting, welding, flying, and working.
My .02 : )

Ditto for me.

The old "transitions" lenses didn't get dark enough inside a car to be usable here in Texas. But I find that the new lenses not only change MUCH faster, but they also get a lot darker in the car. Just about perfect, and I never have to think about what glasses I'm wearing.

I really like the progressive bifocals, because I can read truly fine print up close to my face, read books at normal distance, and focus perfectly on the instrument panel in the plane, all with the same glasses. It took me a couple of weeks to fully adjust to them the first time around, but now I never even think about them -- until I realize I need to clean them...

Thanks for all the comments and different options (more than I thought about when I posted). I'm going to check on the progressives and if I go with bi-focals I]m going to keep in mind the comment regarding looking down to see the windsock and not wanting to drop the glasses too far in order to see the sock.

Did Lens Crafters in Anchorage...two pair of prescription glasses...one with a progressive tint...dark at the top to near clear on the bi-focal. The bi-focal for both are full width with the top of the bi-focal at the bottom of my pupil... the bi-focal is perfect for the distance between me and the instrument panel. The entire panel is in focus. I DO NOT like progressive lenses simply because it requires you to tilt your head up or down to focus...it’s like tunnel vision...I’d rather have everything in focus and just move my eyes...


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Been using progressive reading lens for years. Takes a little bit to get used to them. My current ride has a complicated panel, G-500, 750/650, radar and complete right side 6-pack co-pilot panel. Do not have any trouble reading any instrument quickly and never think about focusing or lens adjustment, whether reading pilot side at 14-18" to co-pilot side at 24-28". Its automatic to adjust to correct lens power needed. I do not use transition sun glass lenses. They get to dark in the cold WX and difficult to transition back to clear lens, when I go inside. Dave B

Progressive lenses require two dimensional physical movement to see both close, ahead, and to the side (level or down). For those of us trained to move our eyes it becomes a new task to act like an owl and point where you want to see (and hear). Moving only the eyes left or right will in turn displace the corrected vision off to the side with progressives. Tried a few times and never got it to work.

As a result I stayed with tri-focals and use the $0.25 size group of middle lens for the panel, lower for close, and upper and side distance for that. If the close and middle occupy the central lens then the distance is available across the top and down either side of the glass. Looking sideways only requires eye movement.

I prefer photo-brown changing lenses. The yellow-brown color helps resolution of snow covered terrain in winter.

Gary

Bifocals are expensive. I don’t need correction for distant vision, but arms aren’t the right length any more. I use stick on readers on my sunglasses.

A friend flew Black Hawk helicopters, which have “stuff” overhead as well as on th panel. His ophthalmologist suggested getting a couple sets of stick on readers of different powers, cut them to shape (scissors work fine) and place them in different arrangements on his corrective lenses. They’re easy to move, so he could experiment to find the best orientation.

Once he figured out what worked best in the helicopter, he took his glasses to the ophthalmologist and had them make permanent lenses just like the ones with stick ins. Saved a bunch of $$ and he got just what he needed, including readers on top of his distant vision lenses.

I really like the stick on readers.

MTV

I had to "transition" from single power lenses to bifocals at age 37, and less than 2 years later, to trifocals. My friendly optician persuaded me to try progressive lenses, which I did, for a year. Hated them. There are too many places in progressives which are nobody's prescription, and I'm not a very good owl. So I went to regular trifocals.

But at the time, I was flying a Mooney a lot, and its panel is closer and at a different height than a Cessna panel. So the method was to sit in the cockpit and use a Sharpie to mark where I wanted my lens segments to be, and then use a tape measure to measure from my eyes to the panel to decide how powerful to make the middle segment. My optician followed what I wanted. Worked like a charm.

Now, though, since I fly Cessnas pretty much exclusively, I have no need for customizing, other than to make sure that the top of the middle segment is where I want it--the rest falls into place. So I have 3 sets of glasses, my normal everyday pair, my night-flying pair which stay in the airplane, and my sunglasses. All have the segments in the same place, but both the night-flying and sunglasses are larger lenses, which I prefer in the airplane. My sunglasses have gradient lenses, darker on top and lighter on the bottom, so that I can see to read charts and the instruments easier.

Everyone's experience is a little different. From my perspective, having glasses that work well are worth the extra cost, instead of trying to modify off the shelf Walgreens specials.

Cary

Interesting comments on eye glass needs. It's all what you used too, I guess. I appreciate everyone's comments and prospective. Dave B.

My problem is the opposite of everyone else's-- I'm near-sighted.
I've worn glasses (and for a while contacts) since I was a kid.
Never had any trouble until maybe 10 years ago, when it started getting hard to read through my glasses.
Looked over them or took them off for a while, then decided to get bifocals.
On the advice of friends, I tried the progressives but hated them.
Kinda hated bifocals too- esp for work, too easy to miss a step coming down a ladder.
Also discovered that they didn't work too well when tilting my head up and back to see over the panel / cowl when taxiing a taildragger.
Struggled along with them for a few years, then went back to single vision (distance) lenses.
I just look over (or under) them to see the panel, and take them off to read.
Not the ideal solution, but it works for me.
I know people who have readers (sometimes several sets, with different power), sunglasses, etc , and they're always misplacing them.
Personally I don't think I'd like having two or more sets of eyeglasses for different modes- flying, driving, working, whatever.
I have one pair of glasses now and I've always got em on me.
Can't see well enough to do much of anything except read without them,
so itd be pretty hard to leave them behind somewhere.

Great tips from everyone & I'm also going to try the stick on bi-focals so I can mess with the location on the sunglasses