# Glasses



## normanaj (Mar 6, 2021)

As of today I've officially joined the glasses wearing club.Even with insurance they are not cheap!


----------



## kruizer (Mar 6, 2021)

If you are a vet, the VA will give you an eye exam and glasses for free.


----------



## jcam222 (Mar 6, 2021)

normanaj said:


> As of today I've officially joined the glasses wearing club.Even with insurance they are not cheap!


Once you’ve got that first prescription check online folks like Zinni Optical for glasses. Our kids got many pairs there growing up. They still order from them. Cost is far under retail and the quality was always excellent.


----------



## JLeonard (Mar 6, 2021)

Wait til you move into bifocals........That will make you feel your age, and then some.
Jim


----------



## normanaj (Mar 6, 2021)

kruizer said:


> If you are a vet, the VA will give you an eye exam and glasses for free.



I'll going back to lens crafters and cancelling that order!


----------



## normanaj (Mar 6, 2021)

JLeonard said:


> Wait til you move into bifocals........That will make you feel your age, and then some.
> Jim



Progressive lenses were prescribed.


----------



## JLeonard (Mar 6, 2021)

normanaj said:


> Progressive lenses were prescribed.


Yep you are officially old....Congrats brother!   
Jim


----------



## sandyut (Mar 6, 2021)

same boat here... I have used readers a couple years, but needed some distance glasses also.  Check out eyebuydirect.com
I picked up a couple pairs for about $45 - but my lenses are kinda thin...<-2.0

over 20 years ago my prescriptions were like -9 to -10 and that created coke bottle lenses...had Lasik about 20 years ago and its served me well...but time has taken a toll on the vision.


----------



## chopsaw (Mar 6, 2021)

I'm still using cheaters . I can't see up close for anything . Distance no problem . I can't even begin to look far away through those cheaters . Makes me sick . Gets tough working on stuff , because I have to get the glasses off when I look away from the work . 
Tried some bifocals that was a disaster . Could hardly walk . I looked like the scare crow from the Wizard of Oz .


----------



## Brokenhandle (Mar 6, 2021)

My last pair of bifocals I took back... got dizzy walking, prolly looked like I was drunk.  They lowered the bifocal part then I was fine.

Ryan


----------



## smokeymose (Mar 6, 2021)

When I turned 40 I went from 20/20 to needing glasses for distance to keep my CDL. I tried contacts for a while but still needed cheaters to read. PITA.
Just use no-line bifocals now. Been past due for new ones for a couple of years now but I hate to spend the money while these still work.
I'll never learn to like wearing glasses, but there are a lot of things I don't like about getting older...


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 6, 2021)

chopsaw said:


> I'm still using cheaters . I can't see up close for anything . Distance no problem . I can't even begin to look far away through those cheaters . Makes me sick . Gets tough working on stuff , because I have to get the glasses off when I look away from the work .
> Tried some bifocals that was a disaster . Could hardly walk . I looked like the scare crow from the Wizard of Oz .




I don't remember where I got them, but when I was Chainsaw carving, I found a pair of Bifocal Safety Glasses, with side flaps too.
Only Bifocals that ever worked for me. 
Only cost me $20.

Bear


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 6, 2021)

normanaj said:


> As of today I've officially joined the glasses wearing club.Even with insurance they are not cheap!




Welcome to the club, Norm!!
I've been using cheap Reading glasses from the Drug Store for 35 years.
Started with 1.25---Now I'm at 2.00 magnification.

Bear


----------



## chopsaw (Mar 6, 2021)

Bearcarver said:


> Bifocal Safety Glasses, with side flaps too.


Yup . I used to get them from work . I just can't get used to them . I have some here somewhere .


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 6, 2021)

chopsaw said:


> Yup . I used to get them from work . I just can't get used to them . I have some here somewhere .




Let me rephrase that:
Those glasses were actually;
Upper half just clear.
Bottom Half for my Farsightedness.
I gave them to Bear Jr, because that's another thing he got from me---Same Eyes.
Read license plates @ 80 yards, but can't see much close up.

Bear


----------



## forktender (Mar 6, 2021)

normanaj said:


> I'll going back to lens crafters and cancelling that order!


NEVER buy from Lens Crafters they are crazy high. Go to Walmart their glasses use Nikon lens that come with a  warranty that will replace your lens and frames for 1 yr. So if you scratch the lens they replace them for free or if you break the frames they will replace them as many times as you need to in that one yr time frame. They replaced my last set 3 times on the lens and 4x on the frames on my last set. And the Nikon lens are by far the best polycarb lens out there they are smudge resistant and super clear. I'm extremely hard on my glasses as you can see, so I'll never buy them anywhere else. And they are way, way cheaper than len crafters.


----------



## chopsaw (Mar 6, 2021)

Bearcarver said:


> Those glasses were actually;
> Upper half just clear.
> Bottom Half for my Farsightedness.


That's what I had . Top clear , bottom for reading and up close .


----------



## Fueling Around (Mar 6, 2021)

Been very near sighted since my late teens.
Switched to contacts and good until about 10 years ago.
Yep need the readers. Started at 1x and currently up to 2x for general handyman and 2.5 if i need to read the fine print

Lenscrafters are spot stores.  Quality depends on their on site grinder technicians.  I got a great pair for my non contact use.  Cut $100 from the price to delete bifocals.  I don't read when the contacts are out


----------



## SmokinAl (Mar 7, 2021)

Well you just have to get older, cause Medicare pays for cataract surgery. Got it done a couple of years ago & have 20/20 vision again. Don’t need glasses of any kind, but I do use # 100 cheater’s  to read small print.
Al


----------



## Winterrider (Mar 7, 2021)

Progressive lens wearer. Hate them with a passion. Almost harder to see things very close (tying  hooks, cleaning reels, small carburetor work) etc. Have had the bifocals repositioned a few times on different pairs. Just sucks...


----------



## Fueling Around (Mar 7, 2021)

Winterrider said:


> Progressive lens wearer. Hate them with a passion. Almost harder to see things very close (tying  hooks, cleaning reels, small carburetor work) etc. Have had the bifocals repositioned a few times on different pairs. Just sucks...


Years ago I worked in a machine shop.  The old guys all had jewelers loop attachments for their safety glasses to read drill size and micrometer scale.
i used to rib my supervisor as he used a double eye magnifier.
What goes around comes around?  40 years later, I use this Harbor Freight cheapo as it provides binocular vision.


----------



## noboundaries (Mar 7, 2021)

Once upon a time I could practically see thru walls. Not now. Tried progressives for everyday wear. Could read, could see far, but mid-range was worthless. Got tired of putting my face against the grocery shelves just to see prices. Went to tri-focals with a lowered lense split and life is good. I do wear mid range-close range progressives for computer work.


----------



## Bearcarver (Mar 8, 2021)

chopsaw said:


> That's what I had . Top clear , bottom for reading and up close .



I used to wear a Mask when Chainsaw carving (shoulda started that 40 years earlier), but they weren't the greatest masks. In the Winter I couldn't see, because the leakage steamed up my glasses really bad!! LOL

Bear


----------



## Jersey Jimbo (Mar 8, 2021)

What's nice with the VA  when your glasses are done they send them to you.  No need to go back.  I have my appt at the end of the month, was canceled last year due to the virus.


----------



## daspyknows (Mar 8, 2021)

Skip Lenscrafters unless they can do the glasses in an hour.  I need progressives and they wanted $1,000 for 2 pairs AND I was expected to wait 2 weeks.  Costco did it faster and for half the price.  With progressives mail order is problematic since they need to "fit" them for the progressive point so you can see both distance and close.


----------



## Norwester55 (Mar 9, 2021)

I just switched from contacts to progressive trifocals. I'd worn contacts for 40 yrs and with them I had 20/15 vision but had to wear readers for close up. Without them I could see close up just fine. Until recently anyway.  Realized my arms weren't long enough to read anymore. Costco exam and glasses with Transitions lenses ran $299 and a pair of single vision sunglasses were $130. I'll go through Zenni for the sunglasses next time though or get a pair of Transitions driving lenses since that's the only time I need them.


----------



## bill1 (Mar 10, 2021)

There are a very few tasks (taking notes in a large conference room comes to mind, which isn't happening much during Covid) that I use bifocals for.   For everything else, I just grab one of several sets of glasses right for the job.  So there's my infinity prescription ("+0") I call my driving glasses, a "+1 diopter" version I call my garage glasses, a "+1.5" I call my computer glasses, a 1.75 for most reading, and a +2 diopter version I call my Bible Reading glasses (for small print).  I have sunglasses in both +0 and +1 for driving and gardening.  I seldom pay over $12 for glasses, using ZenniOptical or Goggles4U.  For about a buck Zenni lets you inscribe your name and my diopter code on the inner bow, so I don't have to buy weird colors to keep them all straight.  

Plus, I need large/long bows and the on-line vendors allow you to search by temple arm length.  The brick-and-mortar optical dispensers just aren't that helpful.  So I recommend getting a prescription (and glaucoma checks, etc) from an optometrist or ophthalmologist and order your own optical hardware DIY.  I have a lot of astigmatism but the cylindrical part of my Rx doesn't change much so I only go in every 2-3 years.


----------



## dls1 (Mar 10, 2021)

SmokinAl said:


> Well you just have to get older, cause Medicare pays for cataract surgery. Got it done a couple of years ago & have 20/20 vision again. Don’t need glasses of any kind, but I do use # 100 cheater’s  to read small print.
> Al



Did the same 14 months ago and I'm back to 20/20 also. Only use cheaters for reading, computer work, etc. Only problem with the cheaters was that I kept misplacing them so I ended up buying a 10-pack that I split between the house, 3 cars, and a brief case. I still get caught if I'm in a store or restaurant and am trying to read labels, menus, the check, etc. and forgot them.

As I recall, the procedure was $7,500 per eye. Medicare paid everything but a $100 copay per eye.


----------

