Progressive eyeglass users?

[Festus]

Love being able to see - HATE wearing glasses. All the on-and-off to glass really gets old quick. Always smudged or fogged (especially if trying to glass with them on).
Driving, walking, stairs haven't been a problem for me.
Haven't shot bow this past year with them but getting ready to try it for this year.
I guess I really preferred contacts for hunting situations and feel like that will be the way I go for this year. The trick will be to find the best script or combo for archery. There are some other options with contacts also. There are multi-view ones (which I didn't care for). I actually think I like a distance contact in one eye and one for close in the other eye (for twisting turrets, bowsights, reading headstamps, and notching tags).

Randy did a podcast recently about this very thing.

Hunt Talk Radio: EP 144: Eyes of a Hunter with Doctor Tom Sather

In this Episode (144) of Leupold's Hunt Talk Radio, Randy shares a mic with long-time friend, hunter, conservation volunteer, and optometrist, Dr. Tom Sather. Topics include all things vision-related to hunting and shooting, age and the eyes, eye disease, surgery or glasses or contacts...

hunttalk.libsyn.com

 

[JEL]

I have been wearing progressives for years and simply put have no issues with them. I hunt, shoot bows, drive, glass, everything with them on and don't even notice. Proper fit is a big deal with progressives.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Been wearing them for 2 years now, and they're fine. No issues driving, your eyes do adjust easily to them. I was in the same boat - bad eyes for reading, and ok for distance. The progressive lenses work well for me. I still take them off to shoot or if I'm just driving, but they're mostly on my head as I work and transition from computer to writing, etc. Have to go get a new pair soon. These are all scratched up thanks to my clumsiness.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Thanks for the feedback so far, some great stuff.

What about driving? Any issues there? I was test driving a car with my mother-in-law last week, and without my readers I couldn't read the control buttons on the steering wheel. The dash is a little blurry, but the numbers are big enough I can still read them.

No issues whatsoever. I think if the progressives work for you, as in you get used to wearing the fairly quickly and can intuitively look through “the right spot,” then you shouldn’t have trouble in any normal situations like driving.

 

[tarheel]

Thanks for the feedback so far, some great stuff.

What about driving? Any issues there? I was test driving a car with my mother-in-law last week, and without my readers I couldn't read the control buttons on the steering wheel. The dash is a little blurry, but the numbers are big enough I can still read them.

No real problems with driving, slight shift in proximity to other vehicles by making them appear a bit closer than they really are. The biggest problem comes when landing an airplane as the runway appears to be closer by about a foot and a half so if I'm not careful the touchdown can be a bit harder than desired. I usually slide them down my nose and look over the top of the lenses to get a better feel. If I leave them in place I have to make sure to look through the center of the lens to get the least amount of shift.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

The biggest problem comes when landing an airplane

The closest I'll come to landing an airplane would be jumping my mountain bike. Guessing I'll probably leave them off for bike riding.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Seems to me the guys who start with bifocals then switch to progressives have the most trouble adjusting.
Also of importance to you there's no problem with wing shooting once you get used to them.

 

[tzone]

I’ve been incredibly fortunate with vision my entire life, and still have 20/15 vision EXCEPT I am losing my reading distance vision very rapidly. It’s making some aspects of my job difficult and I get tired of putting reading glasses (or looking for them) all the time.

For those of you who have gone to progressive lenses, what are the cons to doing so, if any? Do you wear them in the field while hunting? Do you wish you’d done it sooner or, or was it not as worthwhile as you thought it would be?

Thanks.

I wear them every day. And have them in my sunglasses. It took about an hour to get used to them. Maybe a bit more.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

I wear them every day. And have them in my sunglasses. It took about an hour to get used to them. Maybe a bit more.

Did you have to pay for the sunglasses? My vision insurance isn't all that outstanding and I don't know if something like that would be covered.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Another major problem with progressive lenses is you lose to "wow" factor of looking down over your glasses in a disapproving fashion. So that's a pretty big negative.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Also of importance to you there's no problem with wing shooting once you get used to them.

That's really good to know. I think I can get by without them for bird hunting at least for a few more years. I can still read the distance to Finn on the Astro for now. Notching an elk tag, now that's a much more difficult task....

 

[tzone]

Did you have to pay for the sunglasses? My vision insurance isn't all that outstanding and I don't know if something like that would be covered.

Yes, but I get some coverage on insurance. I have crappy eyes and have pre-glaucoma, so I pay a bit extra for better insurance. With that, I get glasses every calendar year. So If I buy glasses today, I can get another set on Jan 1. My prescription really doesn't change much so getting each set of lenses every other year works. For now at least. I'm sure that will change in the future and I won't be able to play that game.

 

[rtraverdavis]

My vision insurance isn't all that outstanding and I don't know if something like that would be covered.

Get ready for a different kind of “wow factor” then. Sort of blew my mind how expensive progressives are—at least with good lenses and all the coatings. All said and done the glasses I’m currently wearing would cost almost a grand if I had to pay for the whole thing out of pocket.

 

[marshman]

My wife was 20/100 when she had Lasik done 20 years ago. She's still 20/20. She said it was worth every penny.

I have had Lasik, and it is a good thing, but they can only correct for short sighted or long distance one or the other. My far vision is outstanding 10 years into it. the progressives are for looking at the phone and GPS.

 

[tzone]

Get ready for a different kind of “wow factor” then. Sort of blew my mind how expensive progressives are—at least with good lenses and all the coatings. All said and done the glasses I’m currently wearing would cost almost a grand if I had to pay for the whole thing out of pocket.

Yeah, the get pretty close to that. I think my insurance is VSP?
They must pay on time too, because the sales people get pretty excited.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

That's really good to know. I think I can get by without them for bird hunting at least for a few more years. I can still read the distance to Finn on the Astro for now. Notching an elk tag, now that's a much more difficult task....

I was at that stage for several years before it was just better to wear them full time.

 

[Bob-WY]

I've had progressives for years, never had bifocals, but as I got older my reading distance vision started getting as crappy as distance.

I had to get a non-standard progressive, couldn't handle the standard ones, they put "glasses frames" on my face with sensors, then had me stand infront of some type of machine that flashed lights from center, up, down, right, left randomly and told me just look at the light that flashes in whatever way is natural. It measured how much my head moved as opposed to my eyes. Results then generated some type of different progressive lense, MAN WHAT A DIFFERENCE.

I'd rather wear my distance correcting contacts hunting, makes glassing easier, but also peripheral vision is critical in a tree stand when you hear something to the side or behind you. Also I've had issues shooting down when I didn't bend at the waist, suddenly you're looking through the reading part and everything is blurry. Nice form reminder though!

I carry cheap-o cheaters (3.5) so I can do silly things like fill out my tag

 

[widnert]

Thanks for the feedback so far, some great stuff.

What about driving? Any issues there? I was test driving a car with my mother-in-law last week, and without my readers I couldn't read the control buttons on the steering wheel. The dash is a little blurry, but the numbers are big enough I can still read them.

Driving was the worst thing for me when I tried progressives. I got severe vertigo. Walking was only slightly better. I ended up getting trifocals instead. Got the reading lens, a mid-range to see the dash when driving and then my distance lenses. I only really wear them at night though - for driving. Hunting, I don't use glasses at all. I bought some collapsible readers to keep in my bino pack for if I need them. Thankfully, my vision hasn't deteriorated enough yet to force me to wear glasses full-time. Just readers.

 

[Dan O]

Several years back I got a pair of shooting glasses that were progressive. The lenses were sized big as most shooting glasses are. I needed help reading the sight adjustments on my Vernier iron sight and MVA scope mounts. I shoot BPCR silhouette. I found the vision for sight adjustment to be fine. But the vision using the sights was a trick to do. There is a narrow line down the center that is focused perfectly. The focus gets worse the more I looked out of sides of the lens. I used them for a year trying to make then work. I then went to the bifocal set as low in the lens as possible and no progressive just normal correction. This has worked out much better for my needs. I have had lasik years ago and my vision is just shy of 20/20 and the little correction helps when shooting iron sights. I have needed reading glasses since the lasik surgery and the Dr. warned me before hand that I might need cheaters for reading. So that's my story of progressive lens.

 

[peterk1234]

Thanks for the feedback so far, some great stuff.

What about driving? Any issues there? I was test driving a car with my mother-in-law last week, and without my readers I couldn't read the control buttons on the steering wheel. The dash is a little blurry, but the numbers are big enough I can still read them.

They are great for driving. You will really notice the difference because of the need to read the dashboard. Hey, I have been basically blind in one eye all my life due to a lazy eye. All it is good for is peripheral vision. Then my good eye started to bother me for close up. Then it needed a bit of correction for distance. If it can work great for one-eyed Pete, it will work for you

I decided not to even consider things like surgery or contacts because of the one eye thing. My doctor was after me since childhood to always wear protective glasses because the loss of my right eye would be doomsday. So once I needed the correction, I went for glasses and never looked back. Only time I hate them is rain, or if I put mask on my nose and it fogs up.