Transitions Lenses: Anyone Have Them?

[LarryG]

I'm due -- overdue, actually -- for a new pair of eyeglasses, and am considering trying the auto-darkening Transitions lenses. I need a pair of sunglasses for driving and bike riding, but I dislike having to keep up with different pairs.

Anyone have the Transitions lenses? If so, how do you like them? Drawbacks? Are they an expensive upgrade compared to clear lenses?

If it matters, essentially the only time I wear glasses nowadays is while driving/biking and while watching TV. I used to be as near-sighted as Mr Magoo but with advancing years, I've gotten so I can read, look at a computer screen all day, and work in the shop without needing corrective lenses. I've worn bifocals for close to 15 years but this time around, I'll be going back to single-prescription lenses.

[AAJIII]

I have used them for years. The only drawback is when you are driving. Automobile windows block UV rays and the transition lenses do not darken.

Other than that I love mine.

AL

[cwithboat]

I have avoided them because my needs for sunglasses are more often than not when I am driving or boating. It is my understanding that the color change is activated by ultra-violet wavelengths. Windshields block UV so the transition to a darker hue does not occur. Polarization is more important in my case. I don''t know whether transitionals come as polarizing lens.

[Ed62]

My wife and I both have them. We like them a lot. It seems that they react differently with different body chemistries. Hers will get exceptionally dark, while mine get only moderately dark. This can be a monir problem for her if she comes in from a bright sunlight day into a somewhat darkened room. But after a few minutes, they're OK. Different manufacturers might also react differently.

One thing we learned. When my wife got hers, they didn't darken much at all. We didn't think she got transition lenses. When she called the place where she got them, they told her to put them in the freezer for a couple of hours. She did that, and it made a very big difference.

Ed

[LinuxRandal]

Going in and out of buildings, they aren't as quick to change as the commercials make them seem (and it is a problem if your going in and out a lot).

What I found I prefered, are the magnetic sunglass clip-on's.

[steve-norrell]

I have avoided them because my needs for sunglasses are more often than not when I am driving or boating. It is my understanding that the color change is activated by ultra-violet wavelengths. Windshields block UV so the transition to a darker hue does not occur. Polarization is more important in my case. I don''t know whether transitionals come as polarizing lens.

Same here. I always get "photo-gray" lenses, but I also always get polarized, prescription sunglasses and will not drive without them. IMO, polarization is important for reduction of glare.

Regards, Steve

[Black wallnut]

I've had them in the past. I really liked them but since at that time my job was one of driving I also opted for the magnetic clip-on shades. Both were polarized.

[LCHIEN]

I have them on my prescription graduated lens safety glasses with clip-on side shields. I wear them all the time, being that I go to customer installations on oil rigs and platforms where I'm required to have them, in the office lab where I should have them and while working in the woodshop where I want to have them. So having one pair of glasses with few add-ons is of great benefit to me. There are titanium safety gold-colred wire-rim frames around that look almost like regular glasses, so I don't look like a dork when off work.

Anyway, I do like the transitions, while not as nice for reducing glare as polarized lenses they do help and the current models work quickly and effectively compared to the older stuff which took a long time to darken/lighten.

[JR]

I had my eyes fixed, with radial keratotamy, about 10 years ago. Nowadays they don't do it any more, using only laser treatments. My distance vision is now very good, but over time I have started to need reading glasses.

The big benefit to me was that I got to make sunglasses choicee independently of corrective lenses. To be blunt, I couldn't see myself wearing transition lenses on my bike!

FWIW - I used the medical savings account available at work to save up for the procedure. If you have this kind of thing it saves an amount equal to your income tax rate on the procedure.

JR

[LarryG]

Hmmm, looks like this is shaping up as a split decision.

Response time was probably the main thing I wondered about. I remember complaints from years ago, when photochromic lenses first hit the market, that they took way too long to lighten up after going indoors. OTOH, increasingly I'm taking my glasses off almost as soon as I go inside the house or office.

I didn't know about auto glass messing up the works. OTOH, I don't drive all that much: seven or eight thousand miles per year. I literally spend more time on a bike than I do in a car (during the spring/summer/fall, anyway) so it's that need that is really what is driving this. (Actually, I can almost see well enough without my glasses to ride without too much drama. A fast descent on bumpy pavement would be dicey, though.)

JR, I hear you, but I have a Size 8 noggin and a really round face, and the few pair of those swoopy wrap-around sports sunglasses I've tried on looked even dorkier than the Transitions would!

I asked my optometrist about radial K, many years ago; I don't recall exactly why but for my age and eyes he was lukewarm on the idea. I'll ask him about laser surgery when I go in this time.

Interesting comments so far -- keep 'em coming! Also, no one has addressed the matter of cost. Do the Transitions lenses add a lot to the tab?

[SARGE..g-47]

After having some of the problems mentioned with the older photo-gray's Larry, I wouldn't spend that kind of money to find out how the newer tech works for me. I had my glasses replaced not that long ago and I opted to go without.

But.. I bit the bullet and had them make me a pair of polarized in the same aviators style. The frames were the same so I got a deal buying two frames and paid the cost of polarizing the lens. They're not exactly giving glasses away these days.. so it can get expensive to go that route if you only need them for biking, etc.

If that's the case.. the magnetic clip shades would get you where you need to go with limited need for the real deal. Just depends on how much you really need polarized as it is the best router for heavy usage, IMO.

[Ed62]

Also, no one has addressed the matter of cost. Do the Transitions lenses add a lot to the tab?

I didn't mention it because I really can't remember what the difference was. I'm guessing in the neighborhood of $75.00, but I could be pretty far off.

Ed

[Slik Geek]

My experience is not recent, but I stopped getting the auto-darkening lenses because after a couple years, they began to not get as light indoors as they did at the beginning. Eventually, people thought that I was wearing sunglasses indoors. When I replaced those glasses, I fell for the "new and improved" claim, but still ended up with the same result - but perhaps they lasted longer before the started to always be a bit dark.

Now, I just get a separate pair of prescription sunglasses.

[mschrank]

I got the transistions lenses the last time I got glasses. The eye-doc really talked them up, saying they weren't anything like the ones my dad had in the 80's. BS

I'll never get them again. My reasons (most have already been mentioned):

• Take too long to darken when I go outside
• Take WAY too long to lighten when I come inside
• Don't get dark enough outside
• Don't work in the car

I'm thinking Ed is about right on the $75.00 upcharge. Any more than that I doubt I would've taken the gamble.

[LarryG]

Thank you very much for the input, everyone. I'm still going to ask my eye doc about these lenses, but it sounds like they're not the answer I was seeking.