prescription shop (safety) glasses

[julie Graf]

i am looking for a good pair of prescription shop glasses. i think. it depends on how much they cost.

i'm talking STRONG prescription - not reading glasses. i wear contacts but have been wearing my glasses more and more for day-to-day, and hate to have to put in my contacts so that i can wear safety glasses.

any experiences? i know there are some cheap online glasses places out there - anyone ordered from them?

[glenn bradley]

Just bite the bullet and go to a real optometrist, not Sears or WalMart. Ask for some Bausch & Lomb safety glasses for the woodshop. The doc will know what to do. The imortant thing beyond the lense is the frame. True safety glasses are made more or less backward to regular frames. The design prevents the lens from being pushed into your eye as opposed to keeping the lens from falling out (although they of course do this too.

Your ejoyment fo your shop time will soar. Get anti-glare and anti-reflective coatings or a combo. Again any good doc will know what to recommend. Don't forget the little side pieces if your frame choice is not wrap around. I didn't like the distortion of the wrap arounds so I have the side-lites. The downside is they don't fit in the case with the sides on but this has not proven to be a problem.

[Jude Kingery]

Julie, Glenn's advised you well and I'd agree. I always wore contacts for years, then did safety glasses with the little close-up tear drop and finally went with prescription tri-focal safety glasses, with the side pieces, from my optometrist. They were somewhat expensive, but no more so than regular prescription glasses, or comparable. And I have REALLY liked them, they're perfect to see any and everything I'm doing clearly, comfortable. I'd bet you'll be pleased if you go that route! Good luck. Jude

[Ron Jones near Indy]

My ophthalmologist gave me the prescription and referred me to Sam's Club. No line bifocal safety glasses with side shields were about $150. Very good use of $150! Use them in the shop, for lawn work and on the job.

[Mike Henderson]

I bought some bifocal safety glasses on the web. They have no prescription in the top and you can choose your power in the lower part. I think I got 2.25 diopters in the lower. They were about $12.50 each and I bought two so I could always find one. I don't remember where I bought them but can do a search through old e-mail messages if that's the kind of glasses you're interested in.

They've worked very well for me.

Mike

[I think I got the pointer from a posting on this site. Try doing a search on safety glasses and see what you find.]

[John Canfield]

My prescription is about a -3.0 in both eyes and a few years ago I bought some 'real' safety glasses at my optometrist. I wanted real glass and not plastic because I have ruined plastic glasses with spray painting. Tried safety goggles to keep the spray off my glasses, but some leaked through anyway. I was able to clean the plastic up to a great extent, but over time the paint overspray became accumulated and I would have to junk the glasses.

The real glass cleaned up quite easily. The significant disadvantage was the weight, however but I did get used to wearing them . If you have lots of correction, plastic might be the only feasible solution, but they can be harder to keep clean.

-=John=-

[Matt Meiser]

I just ordered myself a pair before the New Year since we were changing vision plans and I had unused benefits that were about to expire. Since my regular glasses are almost new, I decided to get safety glasses. They were suprisingly inexpensive even before what the insuarance pays--under $100 IIRC. This is from an independendent place too that I've been getting my glasses from for something like 25 years now.

[julie Graf]

thanks for all the replys

my prescription is -8 in one eye, -8.75 in the other. so plastic is the only option, really.

my last pair of prescription glasses from the optometrist was over $500. (not including the frames)

i've been reading about cheap online places and wanted to hear from someone who has tried it.

i may try the sams club route.

i don't have much money to spend on them - if they are too expensive i'll just stick to contacts....

[Greg Cuetara]

Julie.
First if money is an issue and you don't mind shopping at wally world then I would try there first. I picked up mine for $47. $27 for the frames which are real safety glass frames and then $10 per lens for any perscription. They have many different frame options...some are more expensive and some are cheaper. I know some have already said here they will not shop at wally world so I would try a real eye doctor...although my eye doctor wanted to charge me $300 for the same set of safety glasses. Contrary to Glenn I would NOT get any coatings on the lenses. The anti-glare coating can scratch and break down much quicker in a shop setting and I was told by more than one place...including my eye doctor that they would not do the anti-glare because it would be more dangerous within a few months becuase it would be harder to see out of the lenses. I just got the straight plastic lenses and I have had them for 9mo now and they work great in the shop. I do wear the anti-glare and anti-reflective on my work glasses but mostly because I do so much computer work I don't see a need for them in the shop because i am not staring at a computer screen..lol.

Good luck and whatever route you decide to take it is definately worth it to have dedicated safety glasses for the shop.
Greg

[Greg Cuetara]

btw. I would also try the search function because this topic has been discussed many times before.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Julie,

I wear prescription safety glasses exclusively. I have to wear them at work....so wear them in the shop too. Only way to go IMHO.

[Matt Meiser]

I forgot to make the point that the one's I'm buying will be a respectable backup pair. They aren't quite as nice as my regular pair but they aren't terrible looking either. They are leaving the side shields removable so I can do that if needed.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I went to Wal Mart for my safety glasses. The eye exam and safety glasses (Z87's) were less than I paid elsewhere for just the exam. Glasses won't be in until later this week though. Again I opted for the removable side shields. I only need the bifocal part of the glasses. When doing the exam, the doc said read the bottom line. I did, it said 20/20. Then he checked my up close vision. Very different results.

[julie Graf]

i tried walmart and my lenses alone would cost $208 :(

i am really looking for someone with a high prescription to see how the glasses work/feel. with such a high script, there is some distortion around the edges of the lenses with regular lenses. so with the wrap-around type safety glasses - how does this work? anyone?

[Thomas Canfield]

Julie,

I had about your prescription in trifocals (-8.5 and -9 or so) before cataract surgery. I wore "OSHA approved" safety glasses with the required frames, etched lenses, and clip on side shields then with plastic lens. Now I have prescription safety glasses with clear upper and corrective trifocals ( +1 and +2), cost about $150 at local optical glass shop not associated with the optomologist facility, but one that does a lot of safety glasses for a local company. The safety frames are not as stylish or expensive, but the trifocal lens are a little more. I did not find the "on-line" bifocal safety glasses to have the working area that I needed, and OK for limited reading only, but did not fill my need (3 pair later). I now only wear a pair of +2 grocery store reading glasses ($10) to read otherwise, even at the computer and reading engineering drawings at work. Cataract surgery ended the high power glasses after about 55 years, but left me needing glasses under 4' focal length.

Go for a good pair of prescription glasses - you will not regret the initial cost with the better working vision.

[Mick Zelaska]

Try http://safetyglassesusa.com/safreadglas.html I bought several pairs of bifocals from this site and have a pair staged at every machine. I even put a pair of the stick-on bifocals on the upper part of pair of plain safety glasses to use when working overhead.