This question seems to plague all whose prescription has - evolved - with time. There have been similar threads on Flyer and pPrune, I believe, with as many answers as there are posters. It might be worth a search there if you want detail.
I didn't know that about photochromatics; I just thought they weren't recommended. They don't work inside the aeroplane anyway!
The last pair I had didn't seem to be a patch on the old heavy glass Reactolights I had thirty years ago, so I've gone off them for any use.
I'm currently using varifocals with an added heavy sunglass tint, which is acceptable. It's just an optician-added copy of a Rayban tint, I think, nothing fancy. Being short-sighted, it seems to be the easiest option to have two pairs, one of which has the sunglass tint. This works for driving and flying. I could have had a graduated tint, but prefer all or nothing.
I'm yet to be persuaded that those who advertise specialist services for flying can offer better than a decent ophthalmic optician but I've found one has to specific about ones needs.
Last time my prescription changed, I ordered a couple of cheap and cheerful spare pairs (one grey tint; one plain) from http://www.taikoeyework.com/ They arrived within a week, neatly packaged, from Hong Kong.
I need glasses for reading but I accept the slight blur on instruments. I find that wearing glasses is a right pain in the ....temples, due to headset pressure on them. The ideal thing would be to have a set of RN gasmask specs which are the "John Lennon" type with strips of metal rather than stalks, to the ears.
My optician told me that few people actually need varifocals, most people need a lens for short distance and a lens for distance. For flying a smallish reading bifocal half moon in the lower inner portion of the lens means you still have good peripheral vision in the distance lens. which occupies over 3/4 of the lens. I have used such glasses for years, with reactolight glass lenses which though heavier than plastic are far more resilient to scratches.
I guess it comes down to what you feel comfortable with. As far as frames go, I have never had discomfort when wearing a headset; decent ear seals and well fitting frames should overcome any problems.
The CAA used to recommend rose-tinted glasses so that you wouldn't be upset by the schedule of charges.
I tried a pair of glasses a few years ago after getting eye strain butI couldn't cope with the weird errors that the glasses gave to my eye/finger targetting (if you know what I mean) since I'd be trying to press the centre autopilot button but kept hitting the right one instead. I could've also done with some that had a strong tint on top but clear lowers so that the screens didn't disappear when you put the glasses on.
Another factor might be the fact that you don't want a birdstrike smashing the shattered lenses into your eyes?
Anyway, Ron, have you bought the......ummm.... you-know-what..... yet?
The weather is so cold round here that the Pigeons have given up trying to escape. I still managed to miss, though. (Lee Enfield No.1 Mk3, .410g) I bet there's some good shootin' up the railway line from you.
Anyway, Contact lens technology arose from the discovery in WW2 that perspex splinters caused less eye infections than glass splinters. I was wondering if the specs these days were glass or plastic.
I dont need any lens for distance vision so I have been using plain lenses with a little +1.5 reader inset in the lower centre. These were freely available in US drugstores, however I have scratched,sat on/otherwise damaged my supplies and they seem to have disappeared off the shelves, on my last US trip I searched in 3 cities without result.
This arrangement is good, with no obstacle/frame separating the plain lens from the optical correction lens. I need to find a regular supplier.
Welshman, have you tried the Mile-High Sunglasses, they do prescription pair "Aviate" I use the normal shades for all my flying activities, and find them very reasonabley priced.
I thought that the fog lights were yellow to reduce the glare reflected directly back to the driver.
If you wear yellow glasses for flying some of the information on your charts will be very difficult to see. This doesn't happen with neutral grey shades.
Contact lenses and RayBans works for me. I could not get on with vari-focals due to the serious distortion and loss of peripheral vision (frames in field of view etc).
One of the most useful ways to keep the light levels at your eyes comfortable is the good old baseball cap, worn the correct way round of course.
