Shooting glasses -- tri-focal or progressives?

[CarlCyrus]

Last year I finally had to get glasses. Have been wearing drugstore cheaters for several years, but they started giving me headaches. So...after my checkup I got progressive glasses in a transition lens, hoping to use them for everything from reading to fishing/shooting. I think they suck. Field of vision is too narrow, and I think the close-up reading portion is ground too low (almost at the bottom of the lens, making me raise my chin and look through the wire frame).

A week ago I went back for a checkup and talked to the doc. He uses tri-focals....he also thinks progressives suck.

I bought a set of Randolph Engineering Ranger Sporter shooting glasses. The Rx lenses will go in the frames, and all kinds of polarized/colored lenses can be clipped on the front.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with an optician. Do I stay with progressives, or go with tri-focals? Do I really need tri-focals in a shooting glass? Can I get away with bi-focals (mid and far), and dump the close-range reading portion? Would love to hear from the Kahr community on the pros/cons of progressives, bi-focals, tri-focals. I'm going to post this on the 1911 Forum (my other gun)

Carl

[getsome]

Hi CarlCyrus, I wore glasses from age 7 up to age 46...My eyes were starting to change to the point that I needed Bi-focals to be able to see far off and read close up...Well that lasted about 2 weeks when I fell down a flight of stairs due to the stupid bi-focals so I tried contacts and hated them, couldn't stand bright sunlight and had to constantly use drops...Well then I decided to do the lasik surgery and it was the most fantastic thing I have ever done for myself...It changed my life and I would do it over again a million times...It didn't hurt a bit and I was only off work for 2 days....It is wonderful to be able to see again...They did my left eye for distance and the right for up close...Sounds like it would mess you up but it works and I don't even notice it unless I close one eye...Works great for shooting too as my right eye is for up close and I'm right handed so the front sight is crystal clear with the target slightly less clear....The surgery was the best money I have ever spent and my only regret is that I waited so long!!!...:cool:

[crazymailman]

You may not need tri-focals. I think that depends on the strength of magnification needed, but not sure. But, I have a friend who had his shooting glasses made with the bi-focals on top rather than the bottom. He said they work great for shooting.

[Bawanna]

I only need help up close but can see where dumping the up close reading part would be a bad thing as you need to read case head stamps and maybe look at your gun if something goes wrong.
It's frustrating as heck not to be able to see where you want.
I got some shooting glasses that just have a little magnifier section low and inside on each eye. Works well enought to maker sure I'm not putting 45's in my 22 and stuff.
From the sound of that lasik surgery I think I'm gonna look into that. Being able to go without reading glasses again would be a truely good thing.
I can add it right next to a cochlear implant. I guess they can make deaf people hear a little bit. I think I need a whole complete rebuild.

Back on track if your doctor likes tri focals they might be worth a try. I think the trick is getting the right magnification in the right spot on the lense which seems like it would be a sizeable task.

[Bawanna]

You may not need tri-focals. I think that depends on the strength of magnification needed, but not sure. But, I have a friend who had his shooting glasses made with the bi-focals on top rather than the bottom. He said they work great for shooting.

I know alot of rifle shooters prefer that setup. Bi-focal on top.

[robmcd]

I wear progressive glasses with 2.50 lower. I have no problem with the glasses, although I did order them with the reading section raised up slightly, and a lower "sidewalk vision" section. Very expensive.

My eye Doctor is Richard Colo of Suffield, CT, who is one of the pre-eminent shooters' eye Doctors. I am strongly right eye dominent, and shoot with both eyes open. Dr. Colo set up a pair of Randolph Ranger Sporters for me with single vision left lens set for distance, and a single vision right lens set for front sight distance. When I put them on, and my eyes adjust for a couple of minutes, I can see the target rings and also see the front sight crystal clear. I was amazed! I also have clip-ons for them that are tinted for trap shooting - the left lens in non-prescription, and the right lens prescription corrects my focus back to distance.

I only use my shooting glasses for bullseye target work or trap/skeet shooting. I wear my regular glasses for tactical shooting practice.

[Ol'coot]

I have the same problem and tried progressives and could not stand them as they really affect your peripheral vision. I am near sighted and have worn glasses for distance since I was 17. I work on a computer all day and do not wear glass as I can see the screen very well although I do need so magnification for things closeup like tying on a fishing lure when fishing, etc. I tried bifocals and they work well for everything except shooting , You still need to tilt you head to focus on the sights with one section of the lens and then back to focus on the target. My doc is a avid shooter himself and when I discuss my issue with him he said in a reassuring voice "let me fix you up" and went to his office and came back with his a glock in his hand he then put a set of frames on me that allows him to change different lens combinations in the frame and he had me stand in my normal shooting stance and kept changing the lens on my dominate eye (right in my case) until the front sights on the glock was sharp and the rear sight was clear enough to get a good sight picture he kept the weak eye with my normal distant vision prescription and told me I need to learn to shoot with both eyes open, I had these lens install in a large set of aviator frames I had to practice shooting this way mentally think about it for a bit but soon I was shooting better that I had in years a bit as the target down range and gun sight just magically just overlay on each other. My wife's eyes are almost exactly the same as mine and after trying my glasses once she made an appointment with my doctor and he did the same for her with the same startling results. If you doctor or optician is not a shooter I would find one that is before placing an order for shooting glasses. I can't tell you what an improvement this has made in my shooting.

[earle8888]

I was having the usual bifocal shooting problem. Eye doctor is shooting enthusiast and got me into tri's progressive grind, expensive BUT light weight and work great. Took some getting used to, but worth it.

[Jeremiah/Az]

I am a sporting clays shooter & bifocals were blocking me from picking up low birds. I had a pair of glasses made with very small & very low bifocals. They work well. I did have Decot make me a pair of shooting glasses without the bifocal & only far rx.

Gettin' old is a b*tch, but better than the alternative!!!!!

[OldLincoln]

I had tri's for years in the old large pilot type teardrop shape lens. The mid range was for computers and with them I could help users without messing with glasses. So I really liked them but wife hated them, calling them nerd glasses.

I tried progressive in a smaller frame (she picked it out) but I couldn't even read a piece of parer without swiveling my head. I changed them out for tris but the lens was so small I had trouble seeing anything in the middle range. Now I have normal bifocals (near/far) and computer bi's (near/mid) and do okay.

I suggest that unless you get large frames, don't bother with tri's. If how you see is more important than how you look then by all means get the larger frames. If your shooting glasses are only for shooting make them fit what you do. Take a gun with you to the eye doc and stop the guessing. Probably get you right in and out too!

[CarlCyrus]

...Now I have normal bifocals (near/far) and computer bi's (near/mid) and do okay.

I suggest that unless you get large frames, don't bother with tri's. ...

The glasses won't be exclusively for shooting. I'm not a bullseye shooter. I probably spend more time on the water fishing and in the woods hunting than shooting. My distance vision is good (not perfect), and I put the Rx glasses down and wear normal bug-eyed Maui Jim's for driving and fishing, until I have to tie a lure to the line. I've tried those clip-on/flip-down 2.0x cheaters clipped to the Maui's for tying on the lures. Works ok, until the sun goes down and then I have to go back to the progressives. I can walk around the house and workplace without glasses fine. But, I spend most of my day in front of a computer. I've had a number of people tell me to go with a bi-focal computer lens for indoors and a progressive for all of my outdoors activities. I was thinking in this direction when I bought the large frame RE Ranger Sporter with the colored clip-ons. Use them for outdoors and driving, and switch to bi-focal computer glasses in a smaller frame for all my time working the computer and reading/proofing hard-copy documents. So basically I end up with two glasses, one large-frame for outdoors/general purpose, and one small-frame for indoors mostly computer/reading. My big decision for the new RE Rangers is progressive or bi/tri-focal. They are big enough to have a tri-focal put into them. Thanks for all the input so far. Carl

[garyb]

I found an inexpensive solution for me, until I find something that works better. www.safetyglassesusa.com (http://www.safetyglassesusa.com) has safety glasses with bifocals on top AND bottom of regular lenses. You can get the reading part in different strengths. The top bifocals are decent, not ideal for handun - the bottom bifocal is good for reading, and the regular lens for distance. Works OK for me. But still looking for a better solution. These were very cheap, I want to say around $15 or so. Can't remember exactly.

However, I also found a pair of "shooting" glasses which are a bit more expensive. The add shows them taking a shotgun blast without breaking. These shooting glasses allow you to fix reading lenses (like flip ups, but without the flip up) to the inside of the nose piece within the safety lenses. The nose piece is optional. This is a set up specific for shooting. You can get flip up reading glasses cheap $12 in various powers. It is just a matter of finding the strength needed and removing the flip up portion. Then place them in the nose piece inside the shooting glasses. I have only read the ad about this set up and don't know how well this works, but it is not cheap.

I don't need glasses for distance. I do need the reading glasses to see the front sight (1.25X). This still allows me to see the target. Just my situation and maybe others have the same issue.

I wish I could find decent looking safety glasses with full lense magnification in various strengths (1.0-3.0X) There is one style available, but the entire thing is clear plastic and look like glasses a mad scientist would wear. I may get a set because they are cheap.
Anyway, just some input. Hope it is helpful.
Thanks.

[OldLincoln]

You can also get stick-on magnifier dot things to put on your glasses. They claim to be really good for shooters.

[jlottmc]

The problem I just figured out I had with my new glasses, is when I shoot a rifle my line of sight is right at the edge of the frame, and my front sight is worse than with out. I still have 20/20 but the whole reason I got the silly things is that I couldn't see my front sights as fast or clearly as I wanted. I wear the glasses all the time, and they work great for everything but rifle shooting. Guess I'll have to get another pair or two to have a back up, and be able to see that front sight.

[jlottmc]

I could care less for optics. Never really saw much need for them unless I was planning on shooting at more than 800. I can shoot farther than that with irons, but really don't want to. I never really fell in love with optics, just seemed like it makes for more to keep up with and hump in/out. I don't deny that optics have their place, but the majority of my long guns are old military bolt actions. I have a semi-auto 22, and two shotguns as well. Of those, I may add a P/U scope for the M44 (fun rifle, and with a scout mount well you get the idea), a red dot for the pump shot gun, and maybe a better scope for the 10/22 (one I have is garbage, won't hold a zero, and is fixed power). Then again, I may leave well enough alone. Plus I have had bad experience with a scope. Left eye out of socket, hurt like hell, not eager to try that again.

[CarlCyrus]

I am a sporting clays shooter & bifocals were blocking me from picking up low birds. I had a pair of glasses made with very small & very low bifocals. They work well. I did have Decot make me a pair of shooting glasses without the bifocal & only far rx.

Gettin' old is a b*tch, but better than the alternative!!!!!

Thanks for all the input. I had a session with the optician. After explaining the amount of time I spend fishing looking for diving birds in the distance and sitting in a deer blind, he recommended single focal length (distance) for the RE Ranger shooting glasses. They will be my general purpose driving/boat-driving/sporting/sun glass and will work well for skeet and trap. He recommended bi-focal progressive for computer use (mid range and reading). He also discovered that the PX ground the transition progressives I have VERY wrong...almost 7mm low in the blank. So he is going to fix the transition-progressives. In short, I'll end up with three glasses. One for reading/computer use (most of my workday), one for hunting/fishing/boating where I spend most of the time scanning the horizion and 50-100 yard range, and one for general purpose. I still have one gap. When fishing I spend most of the time at distance, looking for diving birds, swiming fish, driving the boat, etc., but occassionally need to focus on the electronics (gps/chartplotter, and radar) which is at computer distance. I may look into the "stick-on" cheaters on the inside/lower portion of the RE Ranger sporting glasses so I can see the electronics, tie on lures/flies, and fiddle with scope settings. Thanks again for all the input/comments. Carl

[garyb]

Old Lincoln,
That was an excellent suggestion. The stick ons could be added to the lens of the shooting glasses for the dominant eye. The stick on magnifiers are only about $12/pair. Cheap option. The magnifier could be positioned exactly as needed on the dominant eye lens only. One pair could do two sets of safety glasses. This eliminates the bifocal at the top of bottom of the lens. I can place it on the lens exactly where I need it to see my front sight better. My right eye is my dominant eye and could be used for seeing the front sight. My left eye is my weak eye and could be used for seeing the target. Kind of like contacts (one for reading and one for distance), but used on safety glasses. Seems as though it will work for rapid acquisition once used to it on the range. I am going to give that solution a try and see how it works. Googled "stick on bifocals".
Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jeremiah/Az]

Jlottmc, Plus I have had bad experience with a scope. Left eye out of socket, hurt like hell, not eager to try that again.

Could you elaborate? I've seen some "purty" bad cuts, but, man!!!!!!!

[jlottmc]

When I was a younger pup, I learned to shoot lefty first. That cross eye dominant thing. My old man always had me sight his 7mmMag. He wears glasses, I didn't. His eye relief was different than mine, and the scope had an OLD style sun tube that came off the back of the scope (still haven't figured that one out). I forgot about the eye relief, and touched that 7 mag off. That sun tube came back, hit me just over the eyeball, in the eye lid, and dug that eye out of socket. Did you know that the optic nerve is the most sensitive nerve in the body? I found out that way. Thing about it was I was sitting there kind of stunned, while I was trying to process looking down range, and my boots at the same time. FYI, your brain won't let you do that, and people tend to lose consciousness quickly. Being in AZ you probably have a good idea of weather conditions in West Texas. Wind, sand, and soot only made things worse. Did you also know that your eyeball is what allows you to actually keep your eyes open? I have a memory of being piled in the truck, as the old man was holding a dangling eyeball with a wet paper towel, and a ride to the hospital, though I was not awake for it. Had to wear an eye patch for 6 weeks or so. Good thing it was right around Halloween. Yes, I did the pirate bit that year. The really funny part is that I have an astigmatism in the right eye (means the eye is shaped closer to a football), and not in the left. I've only had one optometrist find any evidence of that incident in the left eye, and have no astigmatism in it. That's the story, it's funny now.

[Jeremiah/Az]

That story made my eyes hurt!! I'm gonna think about your story everytime I shoot with a scope!!!!!

[Bawanna]

Shoot a scope, I'm gonna put goggles on everytime I clean my BB gun. I feel pain twangs in my feet and I've hardly noticed they were there for the last 16 years. That's gotta hurt.

I even thought of Dietrichs signature line. Cue head slap. Out pops eyeball.

A guy told me that once you have that happen it's easier to happen again. Maybe some duct tape with little slits to see out of to hold your eyeball in??

Just a thought.

[getsome]

I remember as a little kid hanging out with my cousin and he had some medical condition with his eyes, something like lazy eye where the eyeball isn't as secured in the socket as well as it should be normally...Well we were playing on a tire swing and jumping off as kids will do and he took off and landed pretty hard and immediately started screaming like crazy...I thought he hurt his ankle or something but when he turned around there was his eyeball hanging out on his cheek then I started screaming which caused his mom to run out to see what was wrong and then we had 3 people screaming....I will never forget that sight for as long as I live...:eek:....They got it put back in the socket at the hospital and he had the patch thing going for the rest of the summer....I never want to see something like that ever again!!!!....

[garyb]

Maybe some duct tape with little slits to see out of to hold your eyeball in??

Just a thought.

That's funny! Duct tape works for just about anything.

I can see my front sight great with my cheapo $10 reading glasses on. But I need safety lenses. In regards to stick on bifocal lens...I found a site for $15.99/pair with free shipping. www.stickonbifocals.com (http://www.stickonbifocals.com) I figured I give this a try with regular safetyt/shooting glasses and use one bifocal placed where I need it on my right - dominant lens. Problem with bifocal shooting glasses is that I need to tip my head back to use the bifocal...unnatural for me. If the stick on can be positioned on the dominant lens where it works, one pair will do 2 shooting glasses, as I only need one on the dominant lens. We'll see what happens. If the weak eye gets in the way, I'll duct tape it...haha.

[DKD]

You have to get use to the no line progress lenses. They also make them with a wider view for better periferal vision issues. I generally set my reading portion alot lower than most because I can pick up blurred vision because I have very good periferal vsion and it gave me a headache having them set too high in the frames.
Once I adjusted (at age 47) to wearing glasses my shooting numbers came back up to normal.

[jlottmc]

That was incidentally the most painful thing I've ever done, which is saying a lot. That was quite a trip. I still use optics, but really rifle interests are the old military surplus bolt guns. I like old guns. I do tend to hold my head WAY back with optics, and have long since learned to shoot right handed (dominant hand). It's kind of like the old adage of when you get thrown off a horse, get right back on him to show him you're not scared. Actually that works well for your mind too. As for the duct tape, that stuff hurts when you pull it off.

[100percent]

I am a 50 something optometrist. I wouldn't wear a trifocal for any activity. Get a Physio enhanced or a an ID lifestyle. I like the id lifestyle better for shooting.

Progressives get a bad rap for 3 reasons. Using a cheap progressive lens that is poorly corrected for aberrations and from any of them from being fit too far from the eye and not being fit with enough tilt. I fit bifocals and trifocals on patients who already have them. Also fit fit bifocals for patients who don't have the money. If you own a Kahr you have the money. You spend the money for the best equipment. Don't skimp on your glasses.

I wear regular index plastic lenses with Crizal Sapphire anti reflective and protective coating. I also use Transitions extra active or regular transitions. Trivex is a very durable version of plastic that is also very good.