Buying prescription sunglasses online...confusing!

[aja8888]

Now that my eye exam of yesterday is over with very little change from three years ago, I am researching new sunglasses for use when playing golf and driving on my long trips that I have planned for later this year.

The last prescription sunglasses I bought were from Zenni in 2019 and they were grey (no gradient tint) and the lens was so dark I just couldn't wear them.

So for the last several hours, I have been researching frames and sizing and came up with a style and size I can live with (I hope). That would be an Aviator frame with a lens width of 56 mm and depth of 44 mm. Using my last order as a guide, I have the other dimensions locked in and my only concerns are selecting from the various options in lens type and coatings, etc, all of which are just adding to the cost.

I have a progressive lens prescription and will use that.

Based on the bad luck with the solid grey tint (very dark) last time, I am considering a grey gradient tint as I hope that would make them not quite as dark in my viewing area. Any thoughts on that assumption?

Also, any recommendations on the various grades of lens and coatings for these occasional use sunglasses?

Another question I have is related to transition sunglasses glasses which I have never owned....will those "transition" in a car while driving? Or does one have to be totally in the sun?

So far I have researched Zenni and "39dollar glasses". Thanks for any help here.

 

[harllee]

My husband buys his regular distance prescription glasses from Zenni and gets the clip on sunglasses as an add on and has been pleased with that.

 

[braumeister]

Another question I have is related to transition sunglasses glasses which I have never owned....will those "transition" in a car while driving? Or does one have to be totally in the sun?

I've had transitions a couple of times and didn't like them at all. No, unless things have changed recently, they won't transition in the car. They will turn dark fairly quickly when you step into the sunlight, but then when you go into a building they take much longer to get clear again.

 

[retire48in2018]

We get glasses that have a designed magnetic add-on (take off) polarized glasses. Get a couple extra sunglasses - 1 die in car, etc - in case lost or broke

When wearing the magnetic addition - it’s not apparent to others that they are add-on

 

[Jeffman52]

I've had transitions a couple of times and didn't like them at all. No, unless things have changed recently, they won't transition in the car. They will turn dark fairly quickly when you step into the sunlight, but then when you go into a building they take much longer to get clear again.

The newer ones will transition somewhat in the car but not like in full sunlight. Nothing has changed on the time to change back.



I have actual prescription Sunglasses that I wear in the car when driving and sometimes in full sun when just walking around. But if I happen to be out with my regulars with transitions, it sure helps for them to darken.

 

[Freedom56]

Have you considered photochromic lenses (clear indoors, darkens outdoors during the day)?


https://www.zennioptical.com/blog/do-zenni-photochromic-lenses-get-the-same-dark-as-transitions/

 

[aja8888]

Have you considered photochromic lenses (clear indoors, darkens outdoors during the day)?


https://www.zennioptical.com/blog/do-zenni-photochromic-lenses-get-the-same-dark-as-transitions/

That's one of the questions I asked in my original post. Some guidance has been posted above. Any thoughts on "gradient tinting" vs. one solid tint?

 

[38Chevy454]

I agree transition lenses are not very good. Especially coming in from outside, take much too long to clear up. Tried them once, never again. I do have a few pairs of single vision sunglasses, while my regular are progressive. Being nearsighted, worse case with the single vision sunglasses, just take them off to see close if I can't see enough details.

I will say that I always had grey tint, but tried brown tint and I really like them. So now have 2 brown tint sunglasses and couple old grey tints. I have not tried gradient tinted.

 

[Dawg52]

I will say that I always had grey tint, but tried brown tint and I really like them. So now have 2 brown tint sunglasses and couple old grey tints. I have not tried gradient tinted.

I have brown in my golfing sunglasses. On cloudy days I can still see well whereas grey is just too dark. But I like the grey ones when driving or walking on the beach. Both have their place.....at least for me.

 

[zinger1457]

Oakley makes a golf specific lens 'Prizm Golf' that is very good, I have a pair and it does help track the ball in flight. Can get the Prizm Golf lens with a prescription but it will be pricy, probably close to $500 including the frames.

 

[FiveDriver]

I'm not sure if this discussion includes 'polarized' lens, but I've found them to be very helpful when added to prescription sunglasses. For Driving, Boating and any outdoor activities...they're worth the extra expense.

 

[aja8888]

I'm not sure if this discussion includes 'polarized' lens, but I've found them to be very helpful when added to prescription sunglasses. For Driving, Boating and any outdoor activities...they're worth the extra expense.

Yes, thanks for the reminder. The polarization gets rid of the glare.

 

[eytonxav]

Zenni doesn't offer solid tints in different levels of tint? I use a pair of amber lightly tinted sun glasses for pickleball that I've had for several years that I got from my eye Dr.

 

[jollystomper]

I had transition prescriptions back in the day, but I did not find them as effective as standalone sunglasses. Currently I get my prescription sunglasses from 39DollarGlasses.com. It is cheap enough to have 2 pairs, 1 kept in each car I drive. They are both a brown tint, but one is darker that the other.

 

[aja8888]

Zenni doesn't offer solid tints in different levels of tint? I use a pair of amber lightly tinted sun glasses for pickleball that I've had for several years that I got from my eye Dr.

They offer something called "fashion tints" which are several colors that look very light. The basic tints are just three colors and have no different densities. The fashion tints seem so light on the website but in real life,who knows?.

I think I will go with the gradient tint as that seems to be a dark at the top and gradually lighter toward the bottom of the lens.

Thanks for all the replies and talking me out of the transition lenses. The new ones are on order as of this morning!

 

[OldShooter]

Regarding tint density and gradient tints, if you are willing to tread the lunatic fringe, you can make pretty much whatever you want.

Plastic lenses are tinted by immersing them in heated baths of simple water-based dyes. Tint can be reduced by what I would call "bleach" but what the industry calls "neutralizer." This can be done at home at least for lenses that do not have coatings. A little poking around on the internet will provide education.

I figured this out when I was flying and wanted a red/orange tint haze-buster with a fast transition to near-clear for looking at the instrument panel. (These were magnetic clip-on glasses with plain vanilla lenses.) I bought some dyes and neutralizer on line plus a little plastic and metal fixture that held two lenses for dunking. I MacGyvered a way to heat the solutions in a glass beaker and, after some trial and error, it worked fine. The changes were relatively slow -- maybe 15-30 minutes depending on what I was trying to accomplish.

That worked fine for tints and bleaching, but getting the gradient was kind of a pain. The reason is that I didn't want a sharp line, rather a slow transition. What I ended up doing was slowly moving the lenses up and down in either the color or the bleach for the whole dunk period. Definite PITA, but I did get the result I wanted.

 

[mpeirce]

I'm not sure if this discussion includes 'polarized' lens, but I've found them to be very helpful when added to prescription sunglasses. For Driving, Boating and any outdoor activities...they're worth the extra expense.

One downside though is if you are looking at something that’s polarized.

Our car has a heads-up display and they only way I can see it with my sunglasses on is to tilt my head a bit.

 

[aja8888]

Regarding tint density and gradient tints, if you are willing to tread the lunatic fringe, you can make pretty much whatever you want.

Plastic lenses are tinted by immersing them in heated baths of simple water-based dyes. Tint can be reduced by what I would call "bleach" but what the industry calls "neutralizer." This can be done at home at least for lenses that do not have coatings. A little poking around on the internet will provide education.

I figured this out when I was flying and wanted a red/orange tint haze-buster with a fast transition to near-clear for looking at the instrument panel. (These were magnetic clip-on glasses with plain vanilla lenses.) I bought some dyes and neutralizer on line plus a little plastic and metal fixture that held two lenses for dunking. I MacGyvered a way to heat the solutions in a glass beaker and, after some trial and error, it worked fine. The changes were relatively slow -- maybe 15-30 minutes depending on what I was trying to accomplish.

That worked fine for tints and bleaching, but getting the gradient was kind of a pain. The reason is that I didn't want a sharp line, rather a slow transition. What I ended up doing was slowly moving the lenses up and down in either the color or the bleach for the whole dunk period. Definite PITA, but I did get the result I wanted.

Very clever!

 

[W2R]

I should feel guilty after reading this thread, but I don't.... After my cataract surgery I haven't needed any distance prescription at all. So, I can just get "normal" sunglasses like teenagers get. Since I'm used to spending a lot on glasses, I bought some expensive Ray-Ban sunglasses with polarized lenses in the exact shade of gray that I like best, 8 years ago right after my cataract surgery.

They are wonderful! OK, I should stop cackling with glee....

 

[Qs Laptop]

The last prescription sunglasses I bought were from Zenni in 2019 and they were grey (no gradient tint) and the lens was so dark I just couldn't wear them.



So for the last several hours, I have been researching frames and sizing and came up with a style and size I can live with (I hope). That would be an Aviator frame with a lens width of 56 mm and depth of 44 mm.

I'm a veteran buyer from Zenni and I can tell you that these are a large set of lenses but that might be desirable in an aviator style sunglasses.

I have a progressive lens prescription and will use that.

You want your lens width and overall frame width to be such that the pupils of your eyes are centered in the lenses or perhaps only a millimeter or two off center. Yes, they can adjust for this when they grind the lenses but if you have a pupillary distance of say, 60 mm and your lens width is 57 and your frame width is 142, that's a big @ss set of glasses for your face, and you won't be viewing through the center of the lenses, but mostly the third of the lens closest to the bridge.

Based on the bad luck with the solid grey tint (very dark) last time, I am considering a grey gradient tint as I hope that would make them not quite as dark in my viewing area. Any thoughts on that assumption?



Also, any recommendations on the various grades of lens and coatings for these occasional use sunglasses?

Gradient tints might be the ticket. On the other hand, it might be distracting having the tint change when you're on the golf course and looking at a distance versus looking down at your scorecard.

Zenni used to have different percentage of tints on sunglass lenses, like 80%, 60%, 40%, with 80% being the darkest. I don't see that anymore. However, I do see what they call "fashion tints", which have a lighter tint to them. You might take a look at light gray fashion tint.

I always get polarized sunglasses when I buy glasses. It really cuts down on the glare. The downside is that it adds a lot to the cost, but I consider it worth it.

As far as lens grades, if your prescription is not too extreme OD and OS from say, -1.25 to +1.25, and you're not going to be wearing these sunglasses too much, just get the basic lens which I think is 1.50 index. If your prescription is stronger than that I would start with a 1.57 index lens. In any event, when you get to that point in the selection process Zenni will suggest a lens index for you based on your prescription.

If lightweight glasses is a goal of yours then I would move up to a thinner profile like a 1.61 or 1.67 index.

I get anti-reflective coating on sunglasses, which seems counterintuitive, and I don't even know if it works on sunglasses, but for only $4.95 add-on, I'm in.

I've never had transition lenses so I can't comment.

 

[Qs Laptop]

My husband buys his regular distance prescription glasses from Zenni and gets the clip on sunglasses as an add on and has been pleased with that.

I've had the magnetic clip-ons which is a fantastic idea, however, I found some disadvantages.

I would get eyebrow hairs pinched in between the lenses or the magnetic surfaces and so when I made facial expressions I could feel a little pinpricks of pain on my eyebrows.

Another thing was the inconvenience of taking off the tinted clip-on portion. Where do you put it when you get home? Where do you put it in your car if you drive somewhere? I was always worried about these clip-on shades getting scratched.

Another thing is the constant taking them off and putting them back on again causes fingerprint marks and they get dirty quickly. Being a relatively thin and flimsy construction, it's not easy cleaning them.

 

[aja8888]

I'm a veteran buyer from Zenni and I can tell you that these are a large set of lenses but that might be desirable in an aviator style sunglasses.





You want your lens width and overall frame width to be such that the pupils of your eyes are centered in the lenses or perhaps only a millimeter or two off center. Yes, they can adjust for this when they grind the lenses but if you have a pupillary distance of say, 60 mm and your lens width is 57 and your frame width is 142, that's a big @ss set of glasses for your face, and you won't be viewing through the center of the lenses, but mostly the third of the lens closest to the bridge.





Gradient tints might be the ticket. On the other hand, it might be distracting having the tint change when you're on the golf course and looking at a distance versus looking down at your scorecard.

Zenni used to have different percentage of tints on sunglass lenses, like 80%, 60%, 40%, with 80% being the darkest. I don't see that anymore. However, I do see what they call "fashion tints", which have a lighter tint to them. You might take a look at light gray fashion tint.

I always get polarized sunglasses when I buy glasses. It really cuts down on the glare. The downside is that it adds a lot to the cost, but I consider it worth it.

As far as lens grades, if your prescription is not too extreme OD and OS from say, -1.25 to +1.25, and you're not going to be wearing these sunglasses too much, just get the basic lens which I think is 1.50 index. If your prescription is stronger than that I would start with a 1.57 index lens. In any event, when you get to that point in the selection process Zenni will suggest a lens index for you based on your prescription.

If lightweight glasses is a goal of yours then I would move up to a thinner profile like a 1.61 or 1.67 index.

I get anti-reflective coating on sunglasses, which seems counterintuitive, and I don't even know if it works on sunglasses, but for only $4.95 add-on, I'm in.

I've never had transition lenses so I can't comment.

Thanks for the great information.

I ordered the grey gradient tint and I did notice the fashion tints but was too chicken to try one. My PD is 68 measured by my optometrist last week. I have a mild prescription and went with the Aviators that are not the widest and only 44 mm deep. I ordered the 1.61 index. So, we will see. I have been ordering from Zenni for over 10 years now (how time flies!).

Finding some old emails, I have also ordered glasses from "39dollarglasses" and replacealens.com out of Denver, Colorado in the past.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Thanks for the great information.



I ordered the grey gradient tint and I did notice the fashion tints but was too chicken to try one. My PD is 68 measured by my optometrist last week. I have a mild prescription and went with the Aviators that are not the widest and only 44 mm deep. I ordered the 1.61 index. So, we will see. I have been ordering from Zenni for over 10 years now (how time flies!).



Finding some old emails, I have also ordered glasses from "39dollarglasses" and replacealens.com out of Denver, Colorado in the past.

With a PD of 68 mm you should be fine with those lens sizes.

If you remember, post back in this thread a couple of weeks from now and let us know how you like the gradient tint. I've always meant to try them but I've been chicken.

 

[aja8888]

With a PD of 68 mm you should be fine with those lens sizes.

If you remember, post back in this thread a couple of weeks from now and let us know how you like the gradient tint. I've always meant to try them but I've been chicken.

I'll post back after I get the sunglasses. Thanks again for your help!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I used to price shop all sorts and I just get from Costco now.