A question of optics

[GrumpyGregry]

I have to wear glasses to read or use a computer. They are fine for that but ruddy useless for working on the bike. I have no idea if this is the correct way to look at it but the focal length is all wrong. I need something that focuses about six inches in front of my nose and none of my current crop of specsavers do that, it all goes blurry and horrid.

Now boots and various places sell reading specs, dirt cheap. It is just a case of standing very close to the chart and trying various pairs until I can see what I doing? Or is a more scentific approach valid based on what the numbers are on my current prescription.

and on a related note why the heck do they print the cooking instructions on processed food so small?

 

[Aperitif]

Take a cruddy chain with a nice removable link into Poundland, greg. Hang it on one of the protuberances (there must be many) by the mirror and try specs on until you arrive at that 'Robert is your Mother's brother' moment. Take specs, pay a £ and go home and maintain trusty steeds (the bikes too)..

 

[661-Pete]

I don't have any experience of off-the-peg reading glasses (I have a prescription) but my guess is, they won't have the dioptre strength to suit for very close-up work. You'll probably have to go to an optician and get a proper prescription. I had some close-up glasses made up for myself - shorter focus than the 'reading' section of my bifocals that is - for exactly the same reason. Ironically, I don't really need them, because I can see pretty close up just by taking off my normal glasses, but I got them for free.

I'm afraid that's what getting old does....

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I don't have any experience of off-the-peg reading glasses (I have a prescription) but my guess is, they won't have the dioptre strength to suit for very close-up work. You'll probably have to go to an optician and get a proper prescription. I had some close-up glasses made up for myself - shorter focus than the 'reading' section of my bifocals that is - for exactly the same reason. Ironically, I don't really need them, because I can see pretty close up just by taking off my normal glasses, but I got them for free.

I'm afraid that's what getting old does....

Yep - that's what I do - take my glasses off. Cheap as chips.

 

[Globalti]

You just need vari-focals. Bloomin' fantastic.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

You just need vari-focals. Bloomin' fantastic.

I reckon you are relatively new to varifocals. You will soon be taking them off for close work.

 

[661-Pete]

If Greg doesn't need corrective lenses for normal distance vision, why should he need vari-focals (or bifocals, for that matter)?

Close-up reading glasses are what's needed. Half-moon, if he doesn't mind the stigma and can get used to them (they take a bit of getting used to, as did my bifocals).

 

[Zoiders]

Try workware/medical supplies for clip on corrective lenses that flip down.

 

[zacklaws]

I need glasses for anything close up, and have accumulated a range of glasses from 0.5 - 3.0 dioptre. The 0.5 for watching TV, and the 3.0 for close up modelling, and repairs on my bike etc when I need to be close up, about 8 inches. The 1.0 and the 2.0 are what I use for reading , depending on how far away I want to hold my book, and also working with.

For cycling, I carry a pair of 2.0 which I bought for about £2 in a small case which suffices for repairs out on the road, but I am blessed that both eye's are the same, otherwise this is not an option as I would need different strenght lens in a pair of glasses and have to get them prescription.

It was only by accident that I discovered the 3.0's for modelling, as I put two pairs on at the same time once and thought this is magic to see such fine detail. I sometimes think about carrying two pairs whilst cycling so that if I need good magnification then I can put both on.

But if you do need to see within about 6 inches, then you need to be looking at 3.0, trouble with them though is you can soon make yourself dizzy if you start looking out of the field of view where its all blurry. My work around that though is to wear a pair of 1.0 or 2.0 and then put the 3.0 over the top but lower down, then you can look over the top and see through the others.

 

[Globalti]

I reckon you are relatively new to varifocals. You will soon be taking them off for close work.

I do. For anything closer than 12" I just look over or under them, I can focus to about 5" without my specs though not for too long because the convergence makes my eyes ache.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I only wear glasses for reading books, papers and pc screens. I tried poundland but one pair fell apart when I took them off the stand so I got some special agent foster grants 3.0 from Boots using the points on my Boots card.

Next weekend I'm going down there with my Garmin Vista HCx and a piece of string corresponding to the distance my eyes are at from it when on my bike. Why? The darned thing is near useless as I can't read it without my glasses on, and even then I need to move my head into the 'zone' where it is all in focus. If I have to stop to put the glasses on it sort of defeats the object....

Using the rack of glasses in Boots I can figure out what diwotsit I need and then I can order some of those clever stick-on lenses, if only I could remember what they are called, to add to the bottom of my plain non corrective cycling glasses so this year I can follow my GPS more easily.

Getting old(er) is not a bundle of laughs...

 

[Steve H]

Not sure I'd cut corners or try to save a few quid here. Go to an optician, tell them what your problem is and get a proper eye test done. You don't have to buy the specs from the optician if you think they are way too expensive there. For the price of the eye test they will tell you exactly what you need. This will ensure you aren't straining your eyes using the wrong prescription etc. They have to provide you with the results of the prescription nowadays rather than forcing you to buy specs from them.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Been there, done that, last year when I had my scrip updated. Two national chains and one independent could not deliver what I needed for less than the price of a new pair of wheels.