Turning and bi-focals

[KEW]

I've held out as long as I can, but it is time to get some bi-focals.
I had pretty well decided on progressive (no-lines) lenses.
However, I just watched the AAW sharpening video and noticed that Bonnie Klein was wearing Bi-focals with lines.

I figure I will adapt to either system and be reasonably happy, but I am hoping to hear from people who have tried both, or who are opticians on this topic who can outline the pros and cons of both systems.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Captain Eddie]

Love the lines

I have been bi-focaling for about 12 years and love the lines. I find that the lenses are cheaper, work as well and are okay for turning. I clean my plastic classes with "son-of-a-gun" vinyl cleaner and have do so for 10 years. I also coat my visor with the same product. It prevents fogging, covers scratches and if finishes or glue hits them, it comes right off. I buy the scratch warranty and get a free lense replacement in about 6 months. Warranty, $39.00, Lenses, $79.00 DUH!

 

[Tom Lewis]

I have trifocal glasses with lines. They were easy to get used to and I have never had a problem.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Concessions to aging. Time to say good-bye to the pleasure of reading on your belly with a pillow under your chest. Think I miss that the most, but it's certainly no fun trying to work underneath the tractor or car either. Everything you need to focus on is a tad near or far, or a bit off-line.

Turning's not that much of a problem. I'm trifocal because I had the CRT distance and the soldering distance to account for when I first became eligible. Turning falls in the clear or at most in the center for me, though with they way things are spinning, it's not as if I need to focus.

Hint for you - don't shag flies with trifocals.

 

[john lucas]

I tried no line and couldn't use them. I only had a 3" square area in focus at any time and it felt like I had to move my head around constantly to find focus. I'm sure I was just moving my eyes but it still bugged me. My boss loves his. My secretary has contacts with one eye for close ups and one for distance. She swears by that. If you try the no line be sure they have a return policy if they don't work for you. Mine did so I simply took them back and got the bifocals.
I have lined bifocals but I'm pretty sure the next time will be trifocals. My lenses will probably look like lenticular glass before long.
Micheal nailed it. Working on the car with bifocals sucks. You can never get your head in the right position to focus on something. I got some lenses ground with the close distance on the top and the bottom. I think they are called industrial grind lenses. This way when I'm driving nails overhead I don't have to move my head so much. It also helps working on the car, especially when your laying on your back under the dash.

 

[Bill Boehme]

My lined trifocals are not a problem when turning. After a bit of adjustment , you never even notice the transitions. I would suggest getting the type with lines as oppposed to the ones without.

What I really want is a pair of glasses that can be inverted.

 

[williamwestbrook51]

I have tried both.
In my opinion the no lines are a danger in the shop. Just sighting down a straight board is enough to convince me. The straight board will appear to have a curve. You lay the edge of the board along a table and it is flat. You are constantly trying to find the focus spot in the no line lenses.
I have prescription bifocals in safety frames. I also have a collection of non prescription look overs that I fall back on for not so close work.

Good luck.

 

[KenN]

Kew,

I slid into multi-focal about 20 years ago, and had problems with the line, so have had progressives (no lines - I'm sure that they are tri-focal by now) ever since. I'm active outdoors as well as in the studio - both at the lathe, bench and other machines, reading, or sitting in front of a computer screen. I find that when I need distance vision - hunting and the like, the top third allows me the entire lens width in-focus. The lower two thirds cover the mid-to-close range without much usefull periphery - but at those ranges, I don't need it. I'm 20/20 at 8" with naked eyes, but if it's closer or farther, I'm out of luck.

I'm really satisfied with the progressives and don't have any problem at the lathe - or anywhere else, for that matter because of the specs. I reckon that we all get used to what we have pretty quickly, but I like the cost of the lines - progressives do cost a bit more.

I'll bet you'll be OK whichever you choose.

 

[Angelo]

Bifocals

I have the progressive lenses. I like them. I showed the Optometrist how far away my face is to the wood when turning and he adjusted the focal length for that distance. Normally the focal length is +/- 16". What I need for turning is something that focuses at 10" to 12" in the middle of the lens. Then I adjust my face from there.

A

 

[Ron Sardo]

I tried no line and couldn't use them. I only had a 3" square area in focus at any time and it felt like I had to move my head around constantly to find focus. I'm sure I was just moving my eyes but it still bugged me.

Ditto!
I got to the point where my arms weren't long enough. I tried glasses with lines and without, both drove me crazy, just not a big enough focus area

I wear half glasses, (you know... ones like Ben Franklin wore on the end of his nose). I look over the top when I'm not reading.

 

[Joyce Baldauf]

I solved the problem by having a separate pair of safety glasses made with the reading portion of a bi-focal made into the entire lense. They are great for working on anything whether overhead or in front of you as the lathe is. I wear these in conjuction with a face shield -- call me overly cautious. These glasses were not expensive. They were single lense prescription and safety frames don't have designer names associated with them, so they are not expensive. They came with side shields too and they stay in the shop.

 

[Charlie Knighton]

lines

i have tried both and much prefer lines, i am very happy to see, i have had successful cataract surgery on each eye this year, it's very scary when your eyesight starts to go

 

[Gordon Seto]

There are no-line and there are quality no-line (like Progressive and others). I have been wearing no-line from my optometrist for almost 20 years. I recommended them to my wife; she had her made at deep discount place. She had all the distortion problems and couldn't get accustomed to them. So she returned them.

2 years ago, she gave them another try and expecting a lot of getting used to. This time she had no problem at all. The technology of no-line lenses has advanced a lot and some has better quality (less distortion) than others. I just had a new pair of Hoya brand made; the lenses were custom ground. I don't even notice any distortion at the corners of the lenses.

Lee Valley has stick-on magnifying lenses may solve the looking up problem.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=52602&cat=1,42207,42216&ap=1

Gordon

 

[Richard Baker]

Love 'em, Hate 'em

Bi-focals w/ lines; I like to know which focal I'm focaling through, as it were. But the "close up" lenses are too small, in wrong place, etc., for serious looking at stuff. Have multiple pairs of cheapo "reading glasses", various magnifications centered about the "close up" focal length, for various tasks. It's a PITA, but does help to see stuff without appearing to be studying the ceiling. One pair for using this old slow-a@@ computer. Another pair for reading. A couple more pairs in the shop. And like that.

If you can get a refund on the "continuously variable" type if you hate 'em, it might be worth a try. They have priced me out of the market.

 

[Brian Hahn]

I have lined bi-focal safety glasses for normal use and a pair of reading prescription safety glasses for turning, reading, etc. I use my previous pair of reading glasses when I'm at the computer.

 

[Jim Stoppleworth]

I had no line bifocals for about 15 years with no problems. 2 years ago I had to go to trifocals. Optometrist said the tri's only come with lines. Has that changed?

Jim

 

[Mike Cunningham]

Computer length

Normally I wear progressive lenses however for turning I wear safety glasses that my opthomolgist prescribed with a "computer distance" focal length. In otherwords, the entire lens corrects to the distance that my eyes are from my work. They're great!
Mike

 

[Gordon Seto]

You can also have no-line glasses made for "computer distance". Only the very top is for mid/far distance, you can still see who is coming in from a distance through the top part of your lenses. The majority of the lenses is targeted around your target distance.
I have one of this "office no-line glasses" made while I was visiting Hong Kong. I love it, but I don't think I can afford it if I have to pay the retail at my optometrist.

Gordon

 

[Frank Alvarez]

Bifocals

I've tried the bifocal contacts but glasses hurt my nose and ears and are always falling off or misplaced or scratched. I used bifocal hard contacts for years and had good vision though the sand in your eye feeling was not very nice. I recently got bifocal soft contacts and I can't believe what a pleasure they are . Because I have a bad astigmatism, I still need cheap magnifying glasses for really fine close up work but for the most part I can work at home, shop and office without the magnifying lenses. I don't even know I have them in for the most part. Even around dust they don't bother me. Just another option to think of.

 

[Bill Boehme]

One other comment is that I currently have a pair of the currently stylish narrow (about 1" top to bottom) glasses. They may look stylish, but for trifocals, the slits for each range are almost like looking through a peep hole. My older hoot-owl trifocals are much more comfortable for everything that I do.

Besides, there aren't a pair of glasses in the world that will make me look better anyhow.

Bill

 

[Vernon Oberle]

progressive trifocals

I have been using progressive trifocals for many years and love them much better than the old lined lenses. I think most of it is what you get used to. Any change from that is distressing. What you should really try to to refine a cruve with prisms in your glasses. I usually have to rely on feel or just say I think thats good enough. I with the other guy that wants a pair of inverted lenses for working on the under side of a piece of equipment. What a pain !!

 

[john lucas]

I agree with Bill. I want the stylish glasses but in reality you can't make Bozo look like Brad Pitt no matter how stylish the glasses so I guess I'll just get another set of glasses that look like the scientist in Honey I shrunk the kids.
I did use my industrial glasses that are ground on the top and bottom last night working on the car. Those things are worth their weight in gold even though they look kind of strange.

 

[davidcaskey]

you don't need a prescription

In looking at your comments, I have noted that many of you are under the impression that you need special corrective glasses for close work. Actually, all you need are a set of glasses with a specfic magnification. Go to the nearest Barnes and Noble and they have a reading glass stand. Try the various glasses till you are able to just read the fine print with the lowest magnification. That is your prescription. You can then buy numerous pairs at Sams or another discount store. Of course, if you want bifocals then you must get these from your doctor. Also, many safety glasses are made with a corrective magnification in them. These can be bifocal with the upper part lacking in any corrective capability. I use these safety glasses and reading glasses instead of the more expensive bifocals as I had laser surgery and do not need the correction for nearsightedness.

 

[KEW]

Thanks for the wealth of information. The idea of dedicated single-focus shop glasses sounds pretty good.
I wonder if the reading glasses will work well as I do not believe they'd address my astigmatism problems (but I'm pretty clueless on this).

I tried no line and couldn't use them. I only had a 3" square area in focus at any time and it felt like I had to move my head around constantly to find focus. I'm sure I was just moving my eyes but it still bugged me.

John,
FWIW, I had a similar experience.
I had a set of "Ovation" progressives made 5 years ago. I was just beginning to be on the edge of needing the bi-focals and used my insurance in combination with a "buy one pair, get the second pair 50% off" to get a single-focus in nice frames and a trial pair of progressive glasses in dorky frames for $59 more (the insurance went towards the nice frames and the progressive lenses). My experience with the progressives was that I could readily adjust to them.
Fast forward 3 years. I go to Target and order progressives with a new prescription. I get the glasses. The focal band is too narrow and I cannot (am not willing to) get used to them. I complained and they reworked my prescription and replaced the lenses. Still no good. I was frustrated, but it was clear that they could not fix the situation. Life is busy and I assumed my eyes had gone out of kilter enough more that the lenses couldn't work as well as my older trial pair. I stuck with my 5YO single-lenses.
A year later, I visited with my optometrist with the trial pair that worked well and the more recent pair I could not adjust to. He examined the glasses & the prescriptions and explained that there was a substantial difference between some brands. I went to Target to see what they sold (what NOT to get) and they said they discontinued their old brand because of problems and they now sell "Ovation" brand/model progressive lenses. He said my prescription had not changed much and a new pair of progressives should work as well as the original trial pair.
So it may be the aggravation you experienced was due to the brand of glasses.

 

[john lucas]

I have problems with single focus glasses because I like to look around the room and out the shop window. They gave me headaches because everything further than 3 feet was blurry.
I have to get a new pair of glasses (no insurance though) I may ask about the ovation no line. As I remember the no lines that I had showed curved boards but I think my first pair of glasses did also. My eyes must have adjusted to it because I trued up a shelf by eye the other day and then checked it with the lazar level and it was dead on. probably just luck but I talked myself into thinking it was skill.

 

[Paul Engle]

I take mine off when on the lathe ,I have 20-200 and use the progressive (no line) in poly carb 300$ . I love em at work just make sure which ever you get that they are the right distance to focus as the optician can change it some what for you before they are ground. my first pair was up close and the new ones are good for about 3 to 4 feet. if computer bound you may want up closer for optimum focal length or a tri-focal to give you another option, been wearing bi's since high school so am use to the " fllicker" ....sure like the progressive tho , no line jump. took alittle to get use to but I like em.

 

[Jake Debski]

I guess I'm fortunate, progressives have been my every day glasses for 10+ years. Liked them from day one. However, in the shop, I have a pair of ordinary bi-focal safety glasses. I can't get my self to spend the money on two pair of progressives and I like the extra protection of safety glasses and a full face shield.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I agree with Bill. I want the stylish glasses but in reality you can't make Bozo look like Brad Pitt no matter how stylish the glasses so I guess I'll just get another set of glasses that look like the scientist in Honey I shrunk the kids.
I did use my industrial glasses that are ground on the top and bottom last night working on the car. Those things are worth their weight in gold even though they look kind of strange.

I would modify the last sentence to read, "those things cost their weight in gold even though they are made of plastic."

For David,
I am fairly certain that everyone who wears glasses knows about drugstore reading glasses. I used them in the past, but like John, I find them useless in situations where I am looking at things that are different distances. I used half-frames for a while, but they were not much better.

Bill

 

[John Nicholas]

Glasses

I have lined Tri Focals. I order safety glass and the scratch coating.

Occassionally, when doing a lot of glueing etc - I put on a cheap pear of reading glasses from Wally World.

I tried the no line - didn't work. My wife loves hers. She has gotten hers from Lenscrafters in Wichita and our Derby optometrist. The higher priced progressives are worth the price.

I think you have a pretty good variety of opinion, it seems to be making the point you need.

John

 

[gran]

I have progressives. They seem to work well for me. I do find myself seemingly having to move my head to find see things. On a side note I had to tell the women I work with the I'm just trying to get them in focus and not giving them the elevator eye. at least that is my story

 

[waltben]

I've had 'executive' style bifocals for about fifteen years, with the lines. I'm so used to them that they don't bother me. Since I've got good close vision, I get the lower half ground so I can focus at about two to three feet - perfect for working on a computer or a lathe.

 

[tdrice]

I've used both and much prefer the progressive. Mine are from a good optician (they take a lot more than an hour to make) In safety glass with safety frames. They are the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night. :cool2:

 

[JRQuesada]

I tried the progressives and hated the fact that I had to move my head instead of my eyes. Just did not seem natural. I am fortunate in no longer needing a distance prescription. For the shop I use the standard polycarb eye protectors with Optx stick on bifocals. The stick on lenses cost about $10/pair . I also use them on all my sunglasses. They have worked just great for me and if they are lost or damaged they are much less expensive to replace than standard prescription lenses.

Joseph

 

[JJaworowic]

Bi focals

I have no line bi focals. I had the optician make a second pair with a focal distance of about 24 inches. This puts the lathe, bench grinder and most of the lathe work I do in focus. I don't have to extend my neck to look out of the bottom of the bi focals.

 

[woodwish]

As my eyes were getting older and my arms shorter I started with cheap reading glasses from WalMart or even Sam's (in three packs) with little trouble, then decided to splurge for some "real" bifocals as I needed some distance correction also. Never could learn to like them, eye doctor suggested contacts of different power in each eye. Dominant eye has a +2.50 for closeup and other eye has +.75 for distance. Thought it was the dumbest idea in the world to wear two different contacts but it takes your mind about 10 minutes to get used to it. Wear them all the time now, and have for the last 5 years. Thought dust in the shop would be a problem but it really isn't. I do always wear clear safety glasses in the shop and my Trend Airsheild while turning.

 

[Maia007]

I have had progressives for 10-12 years. Hated them for the first three months. After that, they were fine. Your body (head) needs to "learn" to move up and down (only slightly) to sight them in when precision focus is needed. The adjustment period is therefore longer than ordinary bi-focals, which require less head movement. After the adjustment period, it the movement becomes second nature.

In the shop, I wear progressive safety glasses with a different (longer) focal length for typical lathe and bench work. You need to work with your optometrist and explain your needs in detail so you will be happy with whatever you get. For my safety glasses, I went to an industrial practitioner who understood what I wanted. It was pricier, but I ended up really glad that i did.

I would never, ever go back to "lined" bifocals after finally getting used to progressives.

 

[C Edward Moore]

Hold still!!

Last week I was cutting grass and suddenly realized that I wasn't wearing glasses. A branch had gotten me in the face pretty good and probably knocked them off. The next pass probably mowed over them because they haven't been seen since - despite a lot of looking.

The optometrist could see me the next afternoon and I needed a new prescription anyway. I got the new glasses yesterday and I am having a heck of a time adjusting to them. I wonder if wearing an older prescription for a week affected my vision. Right now the room keeps moving on me and my depth perception is terrible. Turning with them might be a real challenge. As I tilt my head slightly left and right I'm getting distortion and things move. I find my face is getting too close to this computer screen and I don't like it.

Mutter, mutter, cuss, cuss, ... Hold still!

 

[Gordon Seto]

Ed,

Don't get used to the new glasses.

Ask you optometrist to check them. The lab might have made a mistake filling the prescription. That has happened to me.

Gordon

 

[C Edward Moore]

Gordon, you are right.

I don't know who is at fault, but I just walked up to the shop and I felt like a midget in a wheat field. I'm about 6 feet tall and I felt like I was 4' tall. I turned a top - because that's what I have been doing for some Cub Scouts - and the wood felt like it was 12" from my face. I checked and it was 16 1/2" from the lenses to the dowel, no where near 12". I have excellent clarity, but the depth is all wrong and it affects my balance.

I'll call when they open. Maybe tri-focals would help?

Thanks,

 

[C Edward Moore]

Mystery solved

The optometrist introduced an astigmatism correction for the first time. That was the only real change in the prescription. They are going to reduce that correction and see if that reduces my perception problem.