Anyone wear Vari-focal specs?

Hi All,

I'm short sighted and over the past year or so my distance and very close vision has become a little worse. After visiting the Opticians this week I've been recommended for vari-focal lenses.

I was wondering if anyone uses these and how are they for model making and fine detail work? I also make model kits with brass etch detailing.

Regards,
Ed.

Hi Ed

I have had a pair of vari-focal glasses for about six weeks now. I have to say that I have struggled, more so with reading, with these. Fortunately I also had a normal pair at the same time and I use these for any lengthy reading or fine work. I was told that most people take 4-6 weks getting used to them. I find that for normal use they are very handy, not having to change specs each time and find driving OK with them. Thats just my personal opinion, others may differ.

Good luck anyway.

Brian

Hi Ed, I wear varifocals, have been wearing them for about 12 years. I don't have to remove them for any reason, work or leisure. I trust that you wear glasses for driving and maybe TV viewing. Regards, Bear..

I've worn vari-focals for a few years soon got used to them, but I find that I cannot see if things are straight and level.Things seem to have a very slight bow in them.I have got round that by asking the wife "is that straight?'' But apart from that I have had no problems.

Mark P.

Thanks guys for your encouraging responses.

My current glasses are just the sinlge focal length and I wear them all the time. I'm like Mark in that I have trouble seeing theings straight and level with the curvature of the lens' , but I've been used to that for years.

Cheers,
Ed.

I am a clock repairer and I have worn varifocals for a while and they work great with a optivisor for close work

Ed

I've had varifocals for 20+ years with no problems at all but I guess the strength of your prescription(s) could affect how you cope with them. I don't remember ever having a problem but I can read OK without my glasses anyway and, if I'm reading in bed say, then I don't usually wear my glasses.

Norman

Hi Ed, I agree with all the comments above and I to wear varifocals, only one extra bit of advice, make sure you get top quality lenses and not buy on get one free as many chain optitions sell. Go for Zeiss, Nikon, Varilux, or some other top make recomende by you optition--expensive yes but not in the long run--quality pays!

John

The most expensive lenses do give you a better (wider) image but if your prescription is liable to change you might regret buying them. 12 months ago my £250+ varifocals were great, now they are just so much junk because I need a new prescription. I switched back to having 2 pairs of normal glasses.

Chris

Varifocals do take same getting used to (as do regular bifocals) since your eyes/brain have to train themselves to automatically look through the right part.Moreover they actually distort the image at the edges which your brain needs to tune itself for. They need perseverance at at first and I've known several people who simply gave up.

I've had mine for years and they are generally fine in the shop. For fine work (electronic soldering etc) I swap them for one of several pairs of cheap, single dioptre reading glasses (in different strengths depending on what I'm doing).

They (varifocals) are absolute crap for watching TV from a recliner! I actually have a single vision pair for that (I also use those for driving long distances - it's more comfortable). To complete the set, I also have a pair of prescription single vision reading glasses which, again, are more comfortable for extended periods.

My varifocals are still used 90% of the time though. I've been through the middle-age variability and my eyesight is pretty stable now.

I echo what Chris says: eyesight is generally relatively stable in youth and "older" ages but in the middle years it often changes rapidly. If yours is undergoing frequent changes, you would do better waiting some years for it to settle unless you like shelling out for expensive lenses.

When I first got varifocals 12 years back, Ithey took a bit of getting used to. If I looked at a fixed point on a tiled floor and swung my head from side to side, the perswpective of the grout lines seemed to change. After two or three weeks, that stopped but I still have trouble with things like holding a saw so it will cut vertically. I have a cheap pair of reading specs to my prescription, which I use sometimes and they seem to help. They certainly assist with overhead jobs like wiring a ceiling light fitting, where I would otherwise be trying to look up through the long-distance section.

Since my mid-fifties, my prescription has changed little; presumeably the lenses in my eyes reached the point where they couldn't get any stiffer.

So, if you do get varifocals, persevere with them. Then you won't have to go through the sort of pantomime I did in art galleries, admiring a picture through a "distance" pair of specs, then exchanging them for my reading pair so I could read the explanatory label attached to the wall beside the work.

My lenses are also "Variolux" so they darken in bright light. That helps when driving and reading in bright sunshione.

Andy

Hi Ed,

I too have used varifocals for over a decade. As Sid and Andy says, it takes some time to get used to them. For most of my work I use my varifocal glasses, sometimes for small work a magnifying lamp in addition since I also need more light. I guess that's getting old.

Thor

I know its a pain but I prefer two pairs of glasses and switch as needed. My wife has for many years been using varifocals, usually things are ok but she has to be careful when approaching kerbs or steps. I have seen a few people have nasty falls as a result of misjudging the pavement edge.

JohnF is spot on with this and the quality of the lense is the biggest factor. High quality lense will give good all round vision but the cheaper ones give only perfect vision in the centre with distortion to the edges. Unfortunately the optitions don't fully explain this.

I slide my glasses up and down my nose to adjust the focus.

Neil

Fair point, Ray. My near and far vision must be nearer to overlapping than Mrs Lyons's. Through the distance part of my varifocals, I can read this with my eyes 15" from the monitor. Standing and looking down at my toes through the reading section, I can see obstructions on the floor - a bit blurred, but perfectly distinguishable, so tripping up isn't a problem for me,. I suppose it all depends on the .individual, and I'm just lucky in that respect.

Varifocals are expensive and prescription only, so unfortunately you can't try before you buy.

Andy

The only time I have difficulty with my varifocals is when I have to do close work above my head - as when trying to wire something under the baseboard of my model railway layout. Any other slight difficulties, such as straight lines appearing a little curved, you will get used to and work with.

Your optician can make up a pair of single-vision glasses for particularly close work using one of your old frames if necessary, especially useful if you have an odd prescription as I do (one eye significantly stronger than the other).

> (they are coming back into fashion)

About time too! I hate looking through a letterbox, it's amazing how fashion can make millions of people tolerate a less than satisfactory solution for such a critical purpose.

Neil,

I had been myopic for years and wore glasses all the time. Then I had a cataract op and for a couple of years 'made do' with over the counter readers. I got fed up with carrying around 3 pairs of glasses however. I got top of the line varifocals and persuaded my optometrist, afriend, and the local vicar, tomake some varifocal safety glasses. Magic! You can see almost everything and infocus without the grubbiness of over the lens ones. For really small work I have one of those magnifier lights which is also good, bbutfrequently trips the RCD when starting which can be a pain. I would say go for it everytime in regards to. The varifocals. Afew days of peculiar vision but then it is almost like seeing was when you were 21 rather than 61!

Andries

I have worn Varifocals for 30+ years, and use them all the time. I do have a pair of single vision (near focus), but if I look away from the item being studied then I get dizzy and fall over!.

Best go for Varilux, and the bigger the lenses the better, the only disadvantage with bigger is they get closer to your face, and so get grubby/sweaty quicker.

I do have 2 pairs, one with Reactive coating, darkens in the sunlight, this doesn't work in the car as the windscreen has a UV filter in it, one without Reactive for use indoors and in poor light, as the Reactions are very sensitive.

The problem with Varifocals is that the near vision is at the bottom of the lens, and if you're bending down and looking up under a machine, then you can only see through the top part, the long focus, so it's all blurry.

The answer to this is a pair of clip-on magnifying lenses, especially those that only cover the top part of the lens (I thought I'd been short-changed when these arrived, but after I got anothr pair of "full-size" ones I found that the short ones were better). Then you can look through the top part of the lens, through the magnifier, and for close (12" work it's great. Then you can move away looking through the bottom half without the world spinning, until you flip up the clip-ons.

Phil

Where do these bloody smileys come from?

Edited By Robbo on 15/06/2013 10:06:59