lkraus
New member
Starting a new thread rather than taking another thread off-topic:
In a thread over in the Wethead section, AlanColes mentioned a problem that I am all too familiar with:
I've been experimenting with what I'll call a partial solution to this problem.
My hard contacts are perfect for distance vision, but I use various cheap readers to clearly see anything within three feet. Usually a +1.25 pair for the computer, +2.0 for books and cell phone, +2.25 or +2.5 for some shop work. On the bike, I'm using a zumo 590 GPS, RAM mounted to my clutch reservoir cover. At that distance, details on the 590 are mostly large enough for navigation, but small fonts used for the current road name and the media player were unreadable - info that's not necessary, but nice to know.
I found Hydrotac stick-on bifocals at Amazon. These soft plastic lenses are intended for use with ordinary safety or sun glasses, and adhere with plain water. Before ordering, I experimented a bit, wearing my helmet with the visor up and holding my various readers at the normal position of the visor to determine what strength I needed to see the GPS clearly. +1.25 worked best for me. I've ended up with one lens inside the visor on the left, so I can glance down and left to see the screen, without moving my head. The water adhesion made adjusting the lens position easy, and it's still holding securely after four months. It is as low as possible without interfering with closing the visor. I never found a position for the right lens that would give me a clear image with both eyes, due to the angles and distances involved. For a centrally mounted GPS, or a tankbag map holder, both lenses might be usable.
Using just the left eye works OK, though a simultaneous blink of the right eye helps in bright light. The viewable area is limited as putting the lens on the visor moves it further from my eye, and area in focus becomes smaller. I can see the entire screen but the very corners are cut off unless I move my head from side to side a little bit.
The lens does not obstruct my usual field of view at all. Last week I ran an errand without the GPS, afterward I went back out to the garage to make sure the lens had not fallen off since I could not remember seeing it.
I find that I get 90% of the info I need from the GPS screen (map and speed) by looking at it directly, but the stick-on lens really helps with the smaller details. Having the lens on the visor means that I don't need to fuss with glasses when putting on my helmet. (Still have to carry a pair for off the bike, though.)
I've recently learned that there are similar stick-on magnifiers for scuba dive masks. Though some I see on Amazon are flat ground glass glued in place, these seem to be larger versions of the Hydrotac lenses: Aqua Dive Optx Flexible Dive Mask Magnifiers. With a 1.6" width, these will provide a wider field of view than the 1.2" Hydrotac lenses and will probably be my choice when I inevitably need more magnification.
In a thread over in the Wethead section, AlanColes mentioned a problem that I am all too familiar with:
I've been experimenting with what I'll call a partial solution to this problem.
My hard contacts are perfect for distance vision, but I use various cheap readers to clearly see anything within three feet. Usually a +1.25 pair for the computer, +2.0 for books and cell phone, +2.25 or +2.5 for some shop work. On the bike, I'm using a zumo 590 GPS, RAM mounted to my clutch reservoir cover. At that distance, details on the 590 are mostly large enough for navigation, but small fonts used for the current road name and the media player were unreadable - info that's not necessary, but nice to know.
I found Hydrotac stick-on bifocals at Amazon. These soft plastic lenses are intended for use with ordinary safety or sun glasses, and adhere with plain water. Before ordering, I experimented a bit, wearing my helmet with the visor up and holding my various readers at the normal position of the visor to determine what strength I needed to see the GPS clearly. +1.25 worked best for me. I've ended up with one lens inside the visor on the left, so I can glance down and left to see the screen, without moving my head. The water adhesion made adjusting the lens position easy, and it's still holding securely after four months. It is as low as possible without interfering with closing the visor. I never found a position for the right lens that would give me a clear image with both eyes, due to the angles and distances involved. For a centrally mounted GPS, or a tankbag map holder, both lenses might be usable.
Using just the left eye works OK, though a simultaneous blink of the right eye helps in bright light. The viewable area is limited as putting the lens on the visor moves it further from my eye, and area in focus becomes smaller. I can see the entire screen but the very corners are cut off unless I move my head from side to side a little bit.
The lens does not obstruct my usual field of view at all. Last week I ran an errand without the GPS, afterward I went back out to the garage to make sure the lens had not fallen off since I could not remember seeing it.
I find that I get 90% of the info I need from the GPS screen (map and speed) by looking at it directly, but the stick-on lens really helps with the smaller details. Having the lens on the visor means that I don't need to fuss with glasses when putting on my helmet. (Still have to carry a pair for off the bike, though.)
I've recently learned that there are similar stick-on magnifiers for scuba dive masks. Though some I see on Amazon are flat ground glass glued in place, these seem to be larger versions of the Hydrotac lenses: Aqua Dive Optx Flexible Dive Mask Magnifiers. With a 1.6" width, these will provide a wider field of view than the 1.2" Hydrotac lenses and will probably be my choice when I inevitably need more magnification.
