had the dreaded eye test today as i wear glasses and 2 years is up. I dont do vision express or specsavers due to errors on thier part that took months to sort.
soon as i sat down the with optition he asked what i did for a living. I told him i was a lorry driver (class 2) he almost rubbed his hands together and said oh you make good money then wich earnt him the look and a comment of other jobs pay better like all things. his comment was well i read in the paper that you can earn 70,000 to which i responded yes if there are 260 sundays in the year. which confused him. so i elaberated with well i read that optitions can earn 300,000 a year.
anyway as the exam progressed he kept saying things like as your a lorry driver you should have this oryou need this type of lense because your a lorry driver
so question is
who here drives in polorized lenses at all times regardless of time of day and weather
who here has “digital” lenses (a lense that has magnification at the bottom but not varifocal/bifocal)
who here has special antiglare coating
In sunny weather - polorised lenses - sunglasses are a waste of money - polorised lenses once you try them you won’t go back .
anti glare coating - its an option I haven’t tried yet but my mates have told me its good . I supposse you have to try it to see if you like them .
Contact lenses for driving and my prescription bi-focal glasses for reading and surfing the net when I’m working. At home, I just wear my glasses. If it’s a sunny day or low winter sun, I use a pair of cheapo (£25) sunnies from Mr Bezos’ emporium. I’ve spent large amounts on Ray Bans in duty free lounges and Gibraltar only to lose them or in one instance, have them stolen.
Standard lenses here, albeit vari focal with anti scratch coating. I would never use reaction lenses for driving, as there`s nothing more dangerous than driving out of bright sunshine into a tunnel and being unable to see. I also have the 2nd half priced pair of identical frames as sunglasses, so IF I damage the normal pair while out on the road (which I have done before*) I have the ability to swop parts over or switch out the lenses.
*I`ve broken frames with curtain poles blowing in the wind, and even managed to bust a pair closing the side locker
I wouldn’t bother with polarised lenses. They aren’t recommended for pilots as they can affect your ability to read certain instruments. Similarly, I had a Nissan Qashqai (awful, just dont!) With a TFT screen that I couldn’t read properly with polarised sunglasses.
Essentially, you just need to be able to legally see. Everything else is to help the
optician pay for next year’s holiday to the Caribbean…
Truckulent:
I wouldn’t bother with polarised lenses. They aren’t recommended for pilots as they can affect your ability to read certain instruments. Similarly, I had a Nissan Qashqai (awful, just dont!) With a TFT screen that I couldn’t read properly with polarised sunglasses.
Essentially, you just need to be able to legally see. Everything else is to help the
optician pay for next year’s holiday to the Caribbean…
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I had a pair of sun glasses with these type lenses , I could read the tacho display and the sat nav was hard to see as well
Ignore everything the optician says, just get your prescription results then buy your glasses online, they will be a ■■■■ site cheaper than getting them from the optician.
I have polarised lenses with antiglare. The polarised lenses help during the day instead of using sunglasses, the antiglare helps when night driving because of the headlights. I paid extra for the lenses, but got 2 pairs of glasses for the price of 1, so it sort of cancelled itself out in the end
I now have varifocal lenses in my glasses. Took a bit of getting used to after years of conventional lenses but happy with them now.
I`ve tried the reactolite types but as said, they are slow to react in/out of tunnels etc. Newer types are quicker, apparently.
I have another pair with identical prescriptions and a tint for bright sun. Always have an old pair with me as well in case of breakages. (That is compulsory in some EU countries by the by)
Go for anti scratch coatings as that protects them.
My sister has contacts and swears by them, but just the idea makes me squirm.
peirre:
Standard lenses here, albeit vari focal with anti scratch coating. I would never use reaction lenses for driving, as there`s nothing more dangerous than driving out of bright sunshine into a tunnel and being unable to see. I also have the 2nd half priced pair of identical frames as sunglasses, so IF I damage the normal pair while out on the road (which I have done before*) I have the ability to swop parts over or switch out the lenses.
Reactolite (and other forms of photochromic lenses that darken automatically in bright conditions) don’t actually work when driving as the windscreen blocks almost all of the UV light that they need to activate them. BTDTGTTS and wasted money when I bought my previous glasses…
I just keep my old glasses (prescription is nearly the same) in my bag as a spare pair so that if my regular glasses become unusable I have something that more or less fits the bill to comply with the law (I have Code 01 on my driving licence).
peirre:
Standard lenses here, albeit vari focal with anti scratch coating. I would never use reaction lenses for driving, as there`s nothing more dangerous than driving out of bright sunshine into a tunnel and being unable to see. I also have the 2nd half priced pair of identical frames as sunglasses, so IF I damage the normal pair while out on the road (which I have done before*) I have the ability to swop parts over or switch out the lenses.
Reactolite (and other forms of photochromic lenses that darken automatically in bright conditions) don’t actually work when driving as the windscreen blocks almost all of the UV light that they need to activate them. BTDTGTTS and wasted money when I bought my previous glasses…
I just keep my old glasses (prescription is nearly the same) in my bag as a spare pair so that if my regular glasses become unusable I have something that more or less fits the bill to comply with the law (I have Code 01 on my driving licence).
I have light sensitive lenses, they work just fine while driving, adjusting to differing light levels within a minute or two. Windscreen makes no difference to their reactivity
I have the anti glare coating on my glasses but I have astigmatism (funny shaped eyeball) which means when light hits my eye it spreads out making night driving a right pain. The anti glare coating which has been updated to mitigate the effects of newer led headlights is amazing. Been using it for 5 years now and it definitely makes a difference for me. Not sure what it would do for folks with normal eyes though.
Terry Cooksey:
I have light sensitive lenses, they work just fine while driving, adjusting to differing light levels within a minute or two. Windscreen makes no difference to their reactivity
Odd - even the lens manufacturers agree that modern windscreens stop their photochromic lenses from reacting due to the blocking of UV light. What make are yours?
Terry Cooksey:
I have light sensitive lenses, they work just fine while driving, adjusting to differing light levels within a minute or two. Windscreen makes no difference to their reactivity
Odd - even the lens manufacturers agree that modern windscreens stop their photochromic lenses from reacting due to the blocking of UV light. What make are yours?
Mine are transitions lenses, bought them off glassesdirect.com a few months ago. I wear them every day and can’t notice any difference between how they react to light when in or out of a vehicle
s3amu5:
I have the anti glare coating on my glasses but I have astigmatism (funny shaped eyeball) which means when light hits my eye it spreads out making night driving a right pain. The anti glare coating which has been updated to mitigate the effects of newer led headlights is amazing. Been using it for 5 years now and it definitely makes a difference for me. Not sure what it would do for folks with normal eyes though.
Same here , I hate night driving in a truck as those LED head lights are evil
Also have trouble with the trailer markers in my mirrors because of it as well
Terry Cooksey:
I have light sensitive lenses, they work just fine while driving, adjusting to differing light levels within a minute or two. Windscreen makes no difference to their reactivity
Odd - even the lens manufacturers agree that modern windscreens stop their photochromic lenses from reacting due to the blocking of UV light. What make are yours?
Mine are transitions lenses, bought them off glassesdirect.com a few months ago. I wear them every day and can’t notice any difference between how they react to light when in or out of a vehicle
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The manufacturers state (being careful about their choice of words) that even their very latest super-dooper “XTRActive” lenses only offer “moderate” darkening when used in a vehicle due to the UV blocking properties of the windscreen. Granted though this is an improvement on no darkening at all.
I have plain lenses and some cheap polarised clip ons. I can flip them up and down as they are hinged too, so suddenly going into a tunnel doesn’t bother me.
Not the most stylish I know, but that doesn’t bother me.
I went through a period when I cursed other people’s lights to the extent that I avoided night driving away from streetlights if I could. I had two pairs of glasses, one for distance and one for reading.
Then my optician told me I had cataracts. A couple of months later I had them done (simple day surgery) and no longer needed distance glasses and no longer suffered from glare.
I still need reading glasses, but I buy them online from some firm in Hong Kong at £4.00 the pair. Pretty much disposable at that price.
I have normal lenses for distance vision with anti-glare. The anti-glare works very well but with a couple of caveats:
They CAN alter colors (they progressively filter blue light the stronger the tint - the coating itself has a green hue to it but appears clear when you look through the lens). Mine are very slight and I can see normally.
The coating does come off over time. Mine has flaked and actually is noticable when looking through the lenses though it doesn’t obstruct my vision. It’s like they are permanently very slightly dusty.
The point of anti-glare/anti-reflective coating is to prevent internal reflection of the lens causing multiple images particularly when looking at or slightly to the side of lights. VERY useful for night driving! It does work well, and I would definitely have it again.
I’m not convinced about polarized lenses. Anything with LCD displays will be unreadable (even your phone/GPS). I have very dark neutral color tinted sunglasses with anti-UV coating. They work for me.
TruckerGuy:
I’m not convinced about polarized lenses. Anything with LCD displays will be unreadable (even your phone/GPS). I have very dark neutral color tinted sunglasses with anti-UV coating. They work for me.
Disagree. The polarizing layers in LCD screens are normally arranged at 45 degrees and 135 degrees (there are two of them) to the horizontal. Polarized sunglasses are arranged so as to block horizontal light (in order to block reflected glare). Your phone/GPS display will remain perfectly visible unless you tilt your head (or the phone) by about 45 degrees.
I work nights (have I mentioned it before? ) and have 2 pairs - plain normal lenses for spares only, and reactolite with anti-glare that I wear all the time. Tried swapping to see if the anti-glare does anything, but I can’t see a difference. (Not saying it doesn’t, but I can’t see it). Don’t know about reactolite in the truck, but they certainly work in the car.
All I will add is don’t just pay for features because the optician said so - go away and think/research first.
) and have 2 pairs - plain normal lenses for spares only, and reactolite with anti-glare that I wear all the time. Tried swapping to see if the anti-glare does anything, but I can’t see a difference. (Not saying it doesn’t, but I can’t see it). Don’t know about reactolite in the truck, but they certainly work in the car.