Apart from going naturally long sighted as I get older, my eyes are near as dammit 20/20. Over 4ft away, my sight is basically fighter pilot - the only part of me that is…
It’s tolerable in my daily driver, but the MX dash is a lot closer. I’ve tried perching my readers on the end of my nose, which works from the point of view of being able to focus on everything, but the top of the lens/frame is a bit distracting and the nose pads always feel like they’re punching my nose shut.
So, before I resort to the expense of bifocals has anybody else suffered and dealt with this problem? I was thinking some tiny half-moon Heinz Wolfe style jobs (hard to find) so I’m all ears for alternatives.
The wonderful Debbie from Prism Optical Services listened to my needs then sat me at a desk in front of a window.
This simulated a dash and a windscreen. Carefully marking a felt tip line on a dummy pair of glasses she then had lenses made up to match.
The result was a pair of bi-focals that have a divide line exactly at the windscreen base when driving. Perfect long distance and a perfect view of the rev counter reading 7000.
Half the price of Boots and ten times the service.
If you type in, Small half moon reading glasses on Ebay , there’s a selection on there, some without a top rim, some from China, all under a tenner . worth a look .
I’ve worn varifocals for quite a few years. When I was a lecturer, it become a complete pain with readers. Glasses on, read notes,glasses off address students and repeat. Hardly wear them at all nowadays since retiring. Tried reading glasses only, recently and could not get on with them at all. Gone back to varifocals but TBH, hardly wear them at all. The distance for the readers was the issue for me. Even at arms length was not quite right, varifocals cut the mustard. They are a cost though but got two pair, different frames from £99 range, one with tints for sunglasses and only paid around £150 all in. Worth it IMO.
I would suggest that you get proper Varifocals/Bifocals, a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of your nose will not go down well with the politzei/insurance in the event of an “incident”.
Slightly out of the box here, but have you considered getting one of those revlimiter instrument faces? They’ll make them as you like so you can make the numbers larger or even colour code them so you know that the red mark is 70 for example. Then carry a very cheap pair of reading glasses for when the warning lights that are out of the ordinary come on.
Varifocals are the way to go. Both myself and OH have them, they take a little getting use to but wouldn’t be without now. Couldn’t be doing with changing glasses all the time. My problem started having to read small print in poor light but also needed to focus on something/someone at distance whilst at work, the on and off with the glasses was a pain.
Completely agree with Mick as I’m on my third pair. Takes a bit of getting use to at first but well worth it. I do have a pair of readers as well which I prefer if I’m on my PC or reading for long periods. Some opticians offer a discount of 25% for over 60’s (Specsavers) so worth asking about this too.
