Eyewear for prescription users

andyealing

Does anyone know of a resonably priced eyewear system for prescription users? I'd like the option of interchangeable lenses but without paying hundreds of pounds.

None of the cheaper systems on Wiggle or Evans seem to be compatable with prescription inserts.

Cheers,

AndyEaling

fatgb

Bolle do a range of glasses that will meet your requirements. Forget about the curved Oakleys. I'm using a pair of Ray Bans with reactolite lenses. Hope that helps.

jswba

Tifosi stelvios looked good when I was searching for a pair. My friend gave me a pair of his that were pretty good:

http://www.rapideyewear.com/products.html

I use them every day. Not specifically for cycling, but they work!

andyealing

Wow guys. Thanks for the advice. I think the Innovation system sounds ideal http://www.modelglasses.com/innovation.htm. They're only £39.99 plus the cost of the inserts.

JC.152

Specilizeds are good as well
tthe 2 pictures are the glasses you can get an insert for

master_grunthos

you have to be pretty careful with these. if you have a high prescription like me you'll struggle to get curved lenses that aren't inches thick at the edge. i have a pair of rudy project perception frames, now replaced by the exception i think.

I tried Bolle but the lenses cause the frame to bend straight rather than wrap, getting the lense curve fitted to the frame is important.

The flip up on the rudy projects is very handy for times when you've got tinted lenses on and you go under trees or it gets dark during a ride.

All this does work out pretty expensive i'm afraid but for me it's worth it as they get daily use.

JC.152

I got my specilizeds over a year ago and are similer to a rudy project set up but the insert is a tenner and the glaasses were 60 when i got them but that was with a auto colour changing lens which has been good and theres no flipping up glasses

paul_or

This is a really useful thread. I have been kicking myself for the last month, because I had a hire car for work and when the guy came to pick it up, in my hurry to empty my stuff out, I neglected to remove a plastic case from the centre console bin containing my Oakley prescription glasses, all £285's worth! OUCH!!

I'm currently riding with normal glasses, and this morning I was blinded for several minutes by sunlight reflecting off wet roads.

So....assuming the Oakleys don't turn up like a lost cat....

These prescription inserts - are they a 'standard' size/shape, and where do you get them from? Also any idea of prices?

Thanks

The Shiny

Not the answer you are looking for but why not contacts?

I have only recently taken to wearing them after years of wearing glasses (I'm 48) and can't believe how easy it has been. It's also reasonably cheap. The fitting/test from Specialeyes was £22 including 30 lenses.

I now buy the lenses from daysoft over the 'net for £19.96 for 64 pairs.

I have quite a simple prescription (-1.5 in each eye) so perhaps I'm finding it easier than some people would but it's been so much better and opens up your options.

Why not give it a try?

kingrollo

Try www.optilabs.com - they do cycling specific spec (no inserts needed) for around £100 - Ive had a pair for years and been really pleased with them.

kingrollo

Try www.optilabs.com - they do cycling specific spec (no inserts needed) for around £100 - Ive had a pair for years and been really pleased with them.

schlepcycling

kingrollo wrote:

Try www.optilabs.com - they do cycling specific spec (no inserts needed) for around £100 - Ive had a pair for years and been really pleased with them.

+1

I have a pair of their prescription photochromic glasses which means I don't need to change lenses.

Gav2000

There is an advert in the current Cycling Weekly for http://www.shadowvisor.co.uk. It's a visor that can be velcroed to the front of your helmet. I wear glasses and can no longer wear contact lenses so am considering giving this visor a try in an attempt to stop my watering eyes.

Gav.

Hugh A

Another vote for Optilabs - my wife has a very good pair of sunglasses from them.

If you don't fancy their glasses, they can fit prescription photochromic lenses to a number of other frames if they are not too curved. I have a pair of Rudy Project Fobos (now superseded) which have been really good. Any decent opticians should be able to do the same if your lense prescription isn't too extreme and the frames not too big or whole-face wraparound.

Mossrider

And another for Optilabs photochromic. I use them all the time (including at night). I have a damaged eye that makes me particularly sensitive to light / cold air etc and they have made a huge difference (although they are possibly not the trendiest glasses in the world...). Once they are, on you can forget about them; you don't even have to take them off when it gets dark.

stagger

AndyEaling wrote:

Does anyone know of a resonably priced eyewear system for prescription users? I'd like the option of interchangeable lenses but without paying hundreds of pounds.

None of the cheaper systems on Wiggle or Evans seem to be compatable with prescription inserts.



I have some adidas evil eye explorer with presription inserts from my local optician. They work well, 3 sets of lenses . All the parts are replaceable and the lenses are easy snap in fittings.. All up with inserts was £150 i think

andyealing

Thanks for all the replies. I did try the contact lens route over the summer but apparently I have a strong blink reflex which makes it difficult to put them in. After attempt number four at the opticans and very red eyes, I decided that maybe contact lenses weren't for me.

I've been trying to price up the Specialized Helix option, as recommended above, but it's really difficult to get an optician to give me a price for glazing the RX insert. Despite showing them a picture of the insert, you just get a blank expression and some random figure about how much it will cost. I've been quoted everything from £25 (Boots) to £90 (D&A). I'm also slightly concerned about just how much the specs will weigh when glazed and whether they'll be fogging between the shield and the insert. I believe this is a common problem.

Thanks for the tip about Optilabs. I've seen the 10 out of 10 review on one of the cycling websites. It sounds like these are designed for job. Now all I need is £150 to pay for them - maybe I could sell the bike? :shock:

batch78

I've just had a pair of inserts glazed £145 from VisionExpress :shock:

Local opticians and other high street chains quoted £90 but took a week to do.

Kind of wish I'd gone with some Optilab photochromatics!

They're not much heavier with the insert but fogging is an issue.

woodywmb

Tesco do sports glasses with prescription lenses for £35.

daniel_b

Woodywmb wrote:

Tesco do sports glasses with prescription lenses for £35.

Indeed they do, and they look significantly like the ones posted up earlier in the thread:

AndyEaling wrote:

Wow guys. Thanks for the advice. I think the Innovation system sounds ideal http://www.modelglasses.com/innovation.htm. They're only £39.99 plus the cost of the inserts.

JGS

The specialized glasses system is great. The NXT lenses are almost unbreakable, and if you do manage to smash a lense, the prescription bit is still safe. I have had bits of gravel ping into my lenses that came from the back of my mates MTB at around 35mph and it didn't even mark them.

JC.152

someone back on the first page said about contacts which i wish i could do but when i went a few years ago to try them i couldn't do the putting them in and out of my eyes. anyone know any ways of improving being able to do contacts??

MIsterGoof

JC.152 wrote:

someone back on the first page said about contacts which i wish i could do but when i went a few years ago to try them i couldn't do the putting them in and out of my eyes. anyone know any ways of improving being able to do contacts??

If you have problems with the blink reflex and physically cant stop your eye closing well
poke yourself in the eye,

well not poke but keep touching your eye

If its the the mechaics of putting them on or taking them out then try this http://forum.contactlenses.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=987

MIsterGoof

JC.152 wrote:

someone back on the first page said about contacts which i wish i could do but when i went a few years ago to try them i couldn't do the putting them in and out of my eyes. anyone know any ways of improving being able to do contacts??

If you have problems with the blink reflex and physically cant stop your eye closing well
poke yourself in the eye,

well not poke but keep touching your eye

If its the the mechanics of putting them on or taking them out then try this http://forum.contactlenses.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=987

JC.152

cheers for the contact lens advice it was that i had trouble touching my eye last time I went,i'll probably just have to keep practising poking myself in the eyes

AndyEaling asked earlier in this topic the differance in Specilized Helix weights so I've weighed mine with and without prescription but I don't think the weights are completely right but this is what I got
normal nosepiece without prescrition insert=30g
RX nosepiece with prescription=45g

The Shiny

MIsterGoof wrote:

JC.152 wrote:

someone back on the first page said about contacts which i wish i could do but when i went a few years ago to try them i couldn't do the putting them in and out of my eyes. anyone know any ways of improving being able to do contacts??

If you have problems with the blink reflex and physically cant stop your eye closing well
poke yourself in the eye,

well not poke but keep touching your eye

If its the the mechanics of putting them on or taking them out then try this http://forum.contactlenses.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=987

To get the leses in is just practice. When I started I wasn't gentle enough, I was trying to poke them in. You need to just get them close to the eye slowly and they sort of suck themselves onto the eyeball.....weird but true, well for soft lenses anyway.

To get them out I use the squeeze method, just push the top and bottom on the eyeball at the same time, that causes the eyeball to change shape and out they come, no touching of the eye at all.

I'm a bit like a born again christian about this I'm afraid, I just can't believe how easy it is and I'm regretting not doing it years ago.

JC.152

thanks for the contacts advise.i've been practising this week becuase when i first posted the question I couldn't touch my eyes but i can do now and i'll give contacts a go when i go opticians

paul_or

For what it's worth, I have now made some progress myself in this vexing matter, which may be of some interest to others on a budget. I can't be bothered to re type it, so click here, where I have made a couple of blog posts on the subject:

http://paulmor.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/prescription-glasses-for-cycling/

http://paulmor.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/cycling-glasses-part-2/

.....

iain_j

+1 for contact lenses

Before I could get signed up for them (by D&A) they had to see me putting a set in and taking them out again, to make sure I could do it. I thought I'd never get them every failed attempt was making my eyes redder and more sensitive and so even harder to get it right.

Two years later it's second nature.

JC.152

I went for contacts today after practising what people had said a few weeks ago (attempt no2 at opticians) but about halfway through the trial i just clicked and was able to put them in and take out 2 or 3 times in a row so hopefully they'll be alright.

JohnnyAllez

Well worth the effort to master putting contacts in, best thing I ever did. Can now use any standard cycle specs, sunglasses in the car, safety specs at work etc.

Mine are Toric lenses (One Day Acuvue thowaways), get `em online from Tesco Opticians.