I am of that age now that I have my first pair of varifocals.
Definitely is going to make me change some of my driving habits. Already my head is starting to resemble that nodding Churchill dog!
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What I found was that over the first two or three pairs I adjusted how high up my eyes I wear them, if you see what I mean.
I used to find my constantly moving my head to focus, but partly getting used to them and partly changing them a bit has made a huge difference.
I have certainly found that with VF the difference between a good pair of glasses and a bad pair is quite small.
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Agree with FM2R.
The frames must sit so the your pupil is lined up with that point on the lens.
There is a tendency to move your head from side to side for best vision.
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>>There is a tendency to move your head from side to side for best vision
The width of focus is also customisable. Mine have varied between begin able to read a broadsheet just moving my eyes, or having to move my head side to side because not more than a few words are in focus at any time.
I detest getting new glasses, it is so difficult to ensure that an individual optician gives me exactly what I know I want.
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I tried varifocals for driving but for me a a pair of long focus glasses is a much better and safer solution. When I am driving there is very little that I want to see clearly close up i.e at reading distance. As long as I can make out the speedo, which I can, I have much better distance vision through any part of the lenses with a pair fixed focus glasses.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 13 Oct 15 at 08:38
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20 years on and Varifocals are fine for me.
Initially I found somethings could be awkward - caught out reversing into garage using the wing mirrors - tight turn before straightening up to go back - clipped the wing mirror on the doorpost - looked like a bigger space on one side than the reality.
No damage other than pride of getting in in 1 sweep rather than having several bites at getting the car in the garage.
The car does not go in the garage now - storeroom for visiting Grandkids' scooters & toys, lawnmowers etc etc. Xtrail & CRV is too tall to get in by an inch or two..
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I have used varifocals for 30 years with no real problems..
Ideal for beekeeping where close attention to combs is required... (I am very long sighted)
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On my second set in around eight years. Prescribed for me after I found myself taking ordinary short sight prescription glasses off to read and struggling with odd fine/close task. Changing the year die on the office franking machine was what finally brought it home.
Soon got used to them for driving, cycling etc. Only near miss was almost losing my footing on stairs at work due to an illusion in the transition section of the specs. It helps though that I prefer a deep 'Rayban' type frame; cannot imagine v/f working with fashionable letterbox styles.
The reading prescription and increasingly the mid distance transition don't work well enough though unless I hold head/eyes in a position that's not comfortable. My job involves using computer while talking on the phone and I simply take my glasses off at start of my shift. If the manager takes me off phones to deal with a rush of 'drop ins' then I find myself interviewing clients without my glasses. Fortunately I'm not so severely short sighted for that to be a problem.
In fact, with a bit of squinting and my better eye I can read a number plate at the statutory distance. Cannot however read signposts or other detail in a way I'm remotely comfortable with. Must be thousands of drivers doing just that though.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Tue 13 Oct 15 at 10:24
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>> Only near miss was almost losing
>> my footing on stairs at work due to an illusion in the transition section of
>> the specs.
>>
I'm up and down steps quite a bit as I visit lots or rural dwellings that are built either above or below ground level. Being a clumsy oaf at the best of times (Think Jeremy Vine, same build but without his dancing skills) I wouldn't last a week without breaking a bone somewhere or other.
Switching from reading to distance glasses is a pain, but not actually a painful one, if you see what I mean.
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Tried them, hated them, head was bobbing up and down on the bike like a Churchill dog - too much work to focus between the speedos and road..
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>> to focus between the speedos and road..
Why do you have to keep looking down at your Speedos Rob? Just to make sure they're still on?
:o}
Varifocals would be dangerous on me. I like to see properly, and have distance glasses and readers which cover long sight and short sight. Never need them both at once.
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I thought a man of your worldly experience would have biked in budgie smugglers...!
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>> I like to see properly, and have distance glasses
... which have a very effective coating that goes dark in sunlight. Hard stuff too, doesn't scratch when wiped.
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"a very effective coating that goes dark in sunlight"
I don't think it's a coating - it's in the material. I have the same, but it doesn't work under glass, as it's activated by UV. Works on my bike (polycarbonate visor) but not the car (glass windscreen) which is mildly annoying.
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>> "a very effective coating that goes dark in sunlight"
>>
>> I don't think it's a coating - it's in the material. I have the same,
>> but it doesn't work under glass, as it's activated by UV. Works on my bike
>> (polycarbonate visor) but not the car (glass windscreen) which is mildly annoying.
>>
>>
My experience with photochromatic lens does not match yours.
I posted a long while ago to beware of them when driving.
I was in a car driving from bright sunlight into a ( at that time) an unlit tunnel and of course no vision.
So be prepared for such situations and take off/ lift up glasses on entry.
I have such specs now and they work in the car.
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Interesting. There must be different chemistries. Do yours have a name, such as 'transitions' do you know? If I took my glasses off while driving, I would be a liability!
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>> Interesting. There must be different chemistries. Do yours have a name, such as >>'transitions' do you know?
>>
Specsavers supplied them "Reactions"
>> If I took my glasses off while driving, I would be a liability!
I had been driving for a few hours in bright sunlight and had forgotten the lenses had darkened when I entered the then unlit tunnel ( The famous Homer tunnel in New Zealand )]
I was a bit startled at having virtually no vision. After the first OMG removing my specs restore some idea of direction. Better than with the specs on. They of course lightened up with no sunlight.
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I was sitting in a board meeting yesterday and realised that if I looked from side to side without moving my head, the surface of the table was resembling a wave coming into the beach!
I have always wore my glasses just off my eyebrows to prevent grease and moisture on the lenses but these new glasses need fully pushed up my beak to the top.
In the car, it is more the sideward glances, like over the shoulder , junctions etc are now requiring full head turns.
Can't even sneak a discreet glimpse of a passing Lady now !
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Just wondering how big your eyebrows actually are Bobby?........:)
Pat
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How big are the glasses? Mine don't reach my eyebrows.
Maybe Bobby has some of these:
goo.gl/y633lf
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>> Maybe Bobby has some of these:
>>
>> goo.gl/y633lf
I understand that Euro Car Parts sell suitable wipers for those.
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I knew I had a photo of Bobby somewhere...
goo.gl/3tRx67
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The mind boggles:)
Bobby, get a grip man and give them a couple of weeks, you'll never know they're any different!
Pat
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>> goo.gl/y633lf
Quite fashionable c1990 I think. Had a similar style myself.
Wish I could grow a beard like that though.
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I have a perfectly set up pair of varifocals. No need to nod head or look sideways, perfect for driving (instruments and distance) absolutely super. They are now 5 years old, so the prescription is drifting out, but like mark I am scared I wont get another pair so perfectly set up.
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>> They are now 5 years
>> old, so the prescription is drifting out, but like mark I am scared I wont
>> get another pair so perfectly set up.
I think that's part of my problem. The current set are not as well set up as the originals. Have an impression that the close/mid distance segments don't extend across full width of lens.
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>>Have an impression that the close/mid distance segments don't extend across full width of lens.
It seems that unless you specifically ask for it, then they don't. And the last time I got some in the UK it was quite an argument to get them to supply me with them. Don't know why.
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>> Wish I could grow a beard like that though.
Anyone can surely? Thing is, why would anyone want a filthy insanitary bush of face fungus on the bottom of their mug?
Beards are disgusting.
Sorry, can't stay and talk. I'm just off to Saudi to promote homosexuality.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Tue 13 Oct 15 at 20:12
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>>I was sitting in a board meeting yesterday and realised that if I looked from side to side >>without moving my head, the surface of the table was resembling a wave coming into the >>beach!
This was My problem reversing into garage!!
>>I have always wore my glasses just off my eyebrows to prevent grease and moisture on the >>lenses but these new glasses need fully pushed up my beak to the top.
Dennis Healey died the other week - he of the "bushy eyebrows" so someone has to take up the challenge.
Either that or do as I do when I get a haircut - "Ears & Eyebrows" as the final snips
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>> Either that or do as I do when I get a haircut - "Ears &
>> Eyebrows" as the final snips
This is how I get my ears done at my local Turkish barber's:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlmGGVQeU4E
Always get given a lovely glass of sweet tea too.
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Maybe my time will come but I can't see why anyone would try to drive in varifocals if - as FB's garage mishap suggests - they have such a distorting effect on important areas of vision. There's nothing a driver needs to see that's within the usual reading distance range - everything is an arm's length away or more. Bobby and RP say they have (or had) to nod their heads to use the right part of the lens, which suggests they'd be better off without the reading part. How hard would it be to have a pair of distance lenses just for driving? You could even keep them somewhere big, safe, convenient and lockable, like - oh, I don't know - the car!
}:---)
As a fellow road user, I'm not thrilled by the idea that my fellow drivers are wearing glasses that impair their vision as much as they help it. For every NoFM who makes an effort to get his lenses exactly right - and can afford to do it properly - there could be ten who make do and aren't seeing as well as they should. (Plus all those, of course, who don't bother with opticians at all.)
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>> (Plus all those, of course, who don't bother with opticians
>> at all.)
>>
There's one in my family. Aged 73, never visited an optician in his life. I'm convinced he can't see properly, he's always waving things around when trying to read and squinting. And I think it's the reason he tailgates every car in front of him so horrifically (he doesn't hang around in his crew cab 4x4 pick up either). Too proud/denial of decay, I expect.
I've tried to gently talk him in to a visit, but no dice yet.
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It took me about a week or so to become comfortable with my first set of varifocals having only used reading glasses. I returned to the optician after a couple of days to discuss their suitability as I was not convinced. He said give it time, your brain needs to retrain itself to a slightly new way of seeing. He was right, their use became automatic after a few days. He also said point your nose at whatever you are looking at especially when decending stairs until you get used to them.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 14 Oct 15 at 12:22
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The vision required is a numberplate at 20.5m - this website simulates that quite nicely,but whether you can get him to use it is another matter. You will need a tape measure.
www.vutest.com/seedrive/
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>>(Plus all those, of course, who don't bother with opticians at all
Why bring me into the discussion :)
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I had varis years ago and could never get on with them. I didn't like, nor could get used to , the transition area. So, for years now, I've had distance and readers. I need really strong readers, 4.5 and 5, so I couldn't just go and buy some at Woolies.
A couple of weeks ago I was summoned by Debbie at the opticians for an eye check. My prescription hadn't changed but I was getting jacked off carrying 2 pairs, together with my prescription Polaroids and all the other kit an English gentleman has to carry. I opted for a pair of bi-focals. I've been using them for a week or so and I've really got used to them now. Haven't fallen downstairs once.
I've kept my old readers....probably better for reading a book. One reason for changing was that my rimless distance glasses were very flimsy and I'm a bit hard on them. When I went swimming on Monday, I forgot that I'd put them in my shoe and duly put it on. The rimless ones wouldn't have survived that.
Having had tons of eye treatments, my ' glare tolerance ' is low so I wear the Polaroids most of the time in car or on bike....makes a world of difference.
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I've worn varifocals for over 15 years now and driven a lorry (safely) with them for the best part of that.
If you need to drive and glance at close instruments to do it safely then you need to have a reading lens and a distance lens within seconds...varifocals provide that.
If you tell the optician what your job is and that you need to be able to glance over at the nearside mirror while looking ahead they alter the field of vision to full width.
>> - and can afford to do it properly<<
My advice is to buy the best and you won't regret it. It is, after all, a tool of the trade for a driver, and I don't skimp on those.
Pat
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>> Always get given a lovely glass of sweet tea too.
There are few smells more nauseating than burning hair. So that isn't for me.
I think it's an Ousmane Sembene movie that has a barber sequence in which a cut-throat razor is carefully inserted into each nostril in turn and rotated to shave the nose hair out. Just a bit frightening actually. You wouldn't want say an explosion in the street outside at the wrong moment causing the barber to jump.
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Burning hair?
Do they use a blow lamp?
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Most of us crumblies on here will recall the barber using a lit taper to ' cauterise ' the hairs on the back of your neck !
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>> Most of us crumblies on here will recall the barber using a lit taper to ' cauterise ' the hairs on the back of your neck !
Always hated it. Indeed I always hated barbers with a passion.
My fragrant middle daughter can cut hair and doesn't make a nasty smell.
The only decent barber I can remember was in a posh hotel the West End many years ago. That was a woman too. Finished the job with a cutthroat razor. Cost a fortune I thought, but then I was used to having my neck gouged with hand clippers by unpleasant barbers for 1/6d under parental pressure.
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>> Burning hair?
>>
>> Do they use a blow lamp?
>>
Watch the youtube video I posted. The smell does linger, but it isn't one I mind. My barber uses a nice lemony cologne as well, so that covers it. A bit.
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You wouldn't want say an explosion in the street outside at the wrong moment causing the barber to jump.
Maybe a worry in some flea-bitten shanty town on the fringes of civilization, but our Vić lives in...
...ah, I see what you mean.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Wed 14 Oct 15 at 15:18
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Will. It's OK, Will. If you can just move beyond your status anxiety, we'll welcome you to your natural home over here in the People's Democratic Republic.
Your transition to peace has begun - you're already expressing your feelings about the Bodenisation of the world, and that's good. It's a start. Soon you too will cast off the Red Trousers and Padded Ladies' Gilets of Bourgeois Oppression.
Soon you will be freed of the compulsion of the Three Pointed Star and Teutonic Propeller - Griffins Rampant and Blue Ovals await in our Workers' Paradise.
We've got cracking kebabs, too.
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Griffins Rampant...
I thought for a moment you meant Saabs, but I don't think you do, do you? V... V... It's no good, I can't bring myself to say it.
But what I want to know is...
...who told you about my padded lady's gilet?
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Wed 14 Oct 15 at 15:47
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You have a padded lady ?
I've looked on Amazon.....but no luck yet.
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Plenty round here, all testing the properties of Lycra to its limits.. :-(
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Drifting the thread, 'eye' have been experimenting with contact lenses for vanity reasons. As I have quite a high prescription it isn't quite possible to match my specs for clarity, though my optician assures me I am legal to drive.
The most noticeable affect is at night, where headlights in my auto dimming rear view mirror no longer take on a greenish tint.
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Don't they? I think mine still do, although I prefer to swap contacts for glasses if I'm driving at night.
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I know what you mean there WDB, but as a contacts newbie getting the lenses in and out is still a bit trial an error, so changing when out and about is a no no...
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I really need glasses for reading (I always forget whether that is short sighted or long sighted). I have a very weak prescription for long distance which is neither here nor there.
So I am informed there is nothing comparable to varifocals, which makes sense. Thus I am informed that if I wish to use contacts then I have to get used to one eye in focus for reading and one eye in focus for distance with the 'other' eye fuzzy in both cases. I was assured I would get used to it.
That together with the trauma in removing contacts was too much for me.
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>> That together with the trauma in removing contacts was too much for me.
used to wear contacts, many many years ago. I got drunk one night and went to bed with them in.
Ouch, Ouch and Ouch again.
Went back to specs.
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Wouldn't dream of using contact lenses. My eyes are gritty enough already. I've always been phobic about touching them.
Anyway my eyes are different and I'd be sure to get them mixed up sooner or later.
Can't think why anyone uses them actually, apart from models and other professional beauties. And specs can look all right on a girl (they're all girls to me, or nearly) if chosen carefully.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 15 Oct 15 at 00:27
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>>(they're all girls to me, or nearly)
You'd enjoy a holiday in Thailand, you know.
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>> You'd enjoy a holiday in Thailand, you know.
I doubt it FMR. I've done the third world thing, years back and in various places. More rough than smooth.
There's something rather brutal about gross economic inequality. Brings out the Catholic guilt in me.
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You see that thing sailing way over your head? That'd be the point.
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>> You see that thing sailing way over your head? That'd be the point.
WTF are you talking about FMR? Just remember that I'm a simple cat.
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"specs can look all right on a girl"
Quite agree. My daughter has contacts, but wears specs when she's power dressing for work. My partner only wears them for reading and not at all otherwise, but although she's self-conscious about them, they look fine to me!
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I got drunk one night and went to bed with them in.
Wouldn't be a problem with modern gas-permeable soft lenses, Z. On those blessed afternoons when I have time for a nap, I don't bother to take them out first; they are designed to be safe to sleep in, and there are types designed for those with extreme short sight, or other problems that mean they need help with handling, that can stay in for days on end.
Don't need reading glasses yet; optician's advice when I do is to buy off-the-shelf +1 readers and wear them over my contacts. Sounds a lot simpler - and cheaper - than varifocals.
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Varifocals! - No FM2R
