Transition Lenses

I am needing a new pair of glasses. I broke my sunglasses and now wear a pair of cheap-o 'over' sunglasses that fit over my Rx glasses. Talk about looking GOOFY. Anyway, it is time to visit the old Eyeball Doc.

I was wondering if those Transition lenses work with plastic faceshields. I had a pair of them several years ago in my pre-riding days and I was sorely disappointed that they didn't work in my car.

Anybody have experience they could share before I make my appointment for my Eyeball Inspection?

I held off getting the transition lense for several years due to fear that I wouldn't be able to use them, so every time I wanted to read a map or something I would have to stop change to reading glasses, read what I wanted and then change back to my distance glasses for driving. I finally got the lenses about 4 years ago and love them. Have them both in clear and sunglass rx. There was really no "getting used to them" I just started wearing and using them. About the only time I don't wear them is at the computer so I don't have to tilt my head back to read. Good luck

rgvilla said:

I held off getting the transition lense for several years due to fear that I wouldn't be able to use them, so every time I wanted to read a map or something I would have to stop change to reading glasses, read what I wanted and then change back to my distance glasses for driving. I finally got the lenses about 4 years ago and love them. Have them both in clear and sunglass rx. There was really no "getting used to them" I just started wearing and using them. About the only time I don't wear them is at the computer so I don't have to tilt my head back to read. Good luck

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Took me a minute to figger out what you were talking about!! I don't mean the bifocal lenses, no-lines, progressive or whatever the technical term is. I wear those and I love them generally, but they can be a bit of a pain riding. What I am asking about is the plastic Rx lenses that turn dark in sunlight automagically. I think they work off of UV rays, or so I was told and windshields in cars filter UV out. What I am asking is will tranistion (clear to sunglasses) turn dark under a full-faced helmet with the faceshield down?

If they do work, I'd get them for riding and use my GOOFY cheap-o over glasses for driving the cage.

Mine kinda work. If your visor has UV protection they don't seem to ever get dark enough, just about 1/2 dark. Always flipping between the sun and changelings.

Behind the faceshield they're much better than clear glasses, not as good as 80% sunglasses. They do get darker without the helmet. I wouldn't be without them, or yellow lenses for night use.

"transition " lenses

Check out Tifosi brand Eyeware. they are available in many bicycle shops and online. Have 5 grades of "transition" lens they call Fototec. also have couple Fototec polarized. nearly all their eyeware fit and the transition lens works under bicycle and MC helmets. Several can be fit with w/RX lenses, and one model allows for RX insert behind the lens. I have been using for about a year now and love them. I had to have local eyedoctor make custom bifocal RX inserts with the close lens part is adjusted so my dash is in focus, and all the rest of the lens is standard vision.
Anyway. check them out.
www.tifosioptics.com

oops my bad, I was talking about progessive lenses, sorry, I misunderstood you!

I have a pair of prescription sunglasses to go with my regular eyewear. They're Maui Jim "wraps", which do a great job of keeping wind out of my eyes. They're much better as sunglasses than my regular glasses, which are transition lenses.

There's no substitute for both. Your optometrist can make virtually any pair of glasses sunglasses by tinting the lenses. This might be a great use for your old frames.

I have them, have used them for years and won't get anything else. They get plenty dark including with a face shield on full face helmet. I have the plastic ones now instead of the glass lenses I used to get. I also do not get the anti glare coating, just the scratch resistant coating. I buy them from the optical department at Costco and find them to be just as good as the ones I got from my old optometrist years past. The only complaint I have is that they do take a bit to go back to clear when I go back and forth from outside to inside when making repeated trips.

I wore them for years until last summer. I found they distort some colors. On one pair, white Fords looked light gray. Also, going from bright light to dark doesn't work well (such as going through tunnels) and the amount of darkening depends on what you are looking through. They don't darken at all in my 3 late model cars but they darken when I drive my 62 Fairlane 500 with tinted windows. It also takes them a long time to lighten when you go inside (the optometrist said they get slower as they get older).

I elected to get clear glasses this time because I couldn't see when I went into unlighted tunnels such as on the Blue Ridge Parkway (about 50 miles from me). I thought I would miss them after wearing them for 15 years but I haven't. I have a pair with my current prescription but I don't wear them.

I had them and didn't use them because they didn't tint nearly as dark as they should have.

I'm assumed that there was some kind of UV protection already on my shield causing them to react that way.

One of my coworkers found an optometrist that is also a Panoptix dealer. The company vision plan is paying for his shades.