Transistions lens for glasses, any better?

[geepondy]

Last time I had transistions lens was 20+ years ago. Why they worked sorta ok outside, they didn't work well inside a car when driving, only dimming slightly and took awhile to lighten back up when going inside. Are they any better now? Am going to get a new pair of glasses at Costco.

 

[karlthev]

Yeah better but still don't dim well in a car in my opinion. The windshield blocks the UV rays as I understand.


Karl

 

[BB]

Yea, they require UV to darken--many car windows now have UV protection in them.

I always enjoyed using Transition lens for walking around/work use--they cut just enough glare without having to bring sunglasses (or clip-ons) with you.

However, they are not dark enough for me to use as regular sunglasses--and I am still looking for very dark prescription/polarized lenses... Have not found those yet (at a reasonable price).

-Bill

 

[slick228]

I love my transition lens. It's the best thing since sliced bread!

 

[Norm]

My experience is the same as Karls.
Norm

 

[Flying Turtle]

They do seem to work better than the old kind. Still not real dark, but they lighten up pretty quickly when you get out of the sun.

Geoff

 

[Cuso]

Well I bought mine at Sams Club. Not bad for the price including Anti-reflective and anti-scratch, but im not impressed. Im very sensitive to sunlight and ended up buying a pair of clip-ons. IMHO save the dough and get a pair of prescription sunglasses.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

I've been using Transitions for several years - they're like a second pair of pupils! Handy. Of course, they don't darken in the car, and they take a few minutes, but I've been very happy with them.

 

[geepondy]

I do have a pair of prescription sunglasses but there are times when I think the transistions might be nice, like say walking around outside with the prescription shades and then going into a store but your regular glasses are back in the car. I think at Costco they said the lens were $100 plus the cost of the frames and all their frames are under a hundred dollars.

 

[cave dave]

I just got a pair of prescription new technology "Drivewear" polarized sunglasses, they start out light brownish yellow and get a bit darker in the car and a bit darker still outside the car. They were an extra $90 over regular polarized and they are nice but I don't think it was really worth it. They don't get light enough for me to wear on cloudy days, but I like a very light tint on my glasses.

http://www.drivewearlens.com/effect.php
"Younger Optics officials say that Drivewear lenses are the first with the capability of darkening when the wearer is behind the windshield of a car."

 

[gadget_lover]

I have the transitions from Costco. They work well for me. I often don't realize how dark they are till I take them off.

Inside they are almost 100% transparent. Seems that way anyway. They transition from dark to light faster than my eyes adjust.

Daniel

 

[gorn]

Costco has two different shades of transition lenses. Gray and kind of a copper tint. I have them on all my glasses. They are well woth it. They transition very fast, not like the original ones.

 

[TigerhawkT3]

How fast are we talking here - like, about five minutes?

 

[Flying Turtle]

The lenses seemed to change from dark to light in about 2-3 minutes. This is a lot faster than the old (20 yrs. ago) kind.

Geoff

 

[Gene]

Be aware that they work about 3X better with glass lenses than plastic. I have terrible eyes and can only get my lenses in plastic as glass lenses would be far too thick and heavy. I have some of the "improved" transistion lenses and they work pretty well but wish they got darker. As geepondy said, they're great for running errands where you don't have to switch between sunglasses and regular glasses.

 

[TorchBoy]

My understanding (in my little corner of the world) is that Transitions is now a brand name. My brother has some and he raves about them. They certainly work very quickly. For driving he has some wrap-around, fit-over polarised sunglasses.