Optilabs

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Mick F
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Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

I want some cycling glasses, and I've been trying to use my normal sunglasses. These are varifocal and I can see distance, near distance and I'm able to read too. Trouble is, I'm getting neck-ache from holding my head up to see properly as sunglasses aren't really suitable for cycling.

I checked out the Optilabs website
http://www.optilabs.com/site/prods.php?pfid=0,8,11,17
and studied the lens options, and gave Optilabs a ring to ask questions. I was aware that they'd send out three frames for you to check them out and see the fit on approval.

I rang them on Friday morning, and WOW! here are my three samples in the post on Saturday! Such service! :D
Included in the pack is a label with their address and stamps to cover the postage back to them.

Meanwhile, I've decided on the frame I want, and as soon as I can get a new eye-test, I'll be ordering from them.

Watch this space. :D
Mick F. Cornwall
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Optilabs

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Your going for a low CAT tint :?: 0 or 1
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
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Mick F
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Re: Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

I'm going for their Ultra2000.
Laminated, photochromic, polarised, varifocal.

Phoning tomorrow to book an eye test ........ free coz I'm old. :lol:
Mick F. Cornwall
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Optilabs

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I see now I visited their website.

You might want to email them and ask for a cat rating of that lens :?:
Seems that Photochromatic wil almost certainly mean a variable Cat rating :?:
Some on the net will only go to Cat 1, yours might be more :?: If so they should say not to be used for driving, you know where this is going.............
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
mike_dowler
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Re: Optilabs

Post by mike_dowler »

For anyone else who had no idea what this was about:

http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/rep ... asses.html
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ncutler
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Re: Optilabs

Post by ncutler »

My advice for sunglasses would be this:

Ignore all the high street chains, and ignore all the 'specialist' internet suppliers who supply glasses for cyclists, or golfers, or rabbit trappers, or ......... or fashion victims or ......

Go find a good, professional, optician. He can source any sort of lens, in any sort of frame, and if you tell him what you want to do he'll be happy to have a long discussion about frames, tints, multi or bi-focal, lens coatings, lens suppliers, frame suppliers, whatever.

And if you think driving or cycling make demands on sunglasses, try landing a light aircraft on a Westerly runway about half an hour before sunset ...........

I'm serious about this - ignore all the marketing wonks, go and see someone who knows what he's doing. It will be cheaper in the end, too.

Nick
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mike_dowler
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Re: Optilabs

Post by mike_dowler »

Just to point out, Optilabs are a 'proper' opticians, and do regular glasses. They just also have a reputation as sunglasses suppliers.
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georgew
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Re: Optilabs

Post by georgew »

Great firm. They were the only people at the time who could supply curved lens in my prescription and I've never regretted my decision to buy.
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Mick F
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Re: Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

Mine arrived yesterday.
I picked the "Eclipse" frame in black/silver.
http://www.optilabs.com/site/product.ph ... &prodid=61
Lightweight, and a good secure fit.

I went out yesterday evening by car and found them fine for driving. They went darker in the late sunshine despite the fact that car windscreens are supposed to filter out UV. Opltilabs state that these lenses are good for driving, in fact they are called Ultra 2000 (Drivewear®) lenses.
http://www.optilabs.com/site/lenslab.php?ll=4

35miles today on the bike in bright sunshine and later cloudy weather. I could see my Garmin clearly and the road ahead clearly too. I'm no stranger to varifocals but these were a little different mainly because the lenses are curved rather a lot. They took a bit of getting used to, but after an hour, I almost forgot that I had them on.

Verdict:
Excellent. :D
Mick F. Cornwall
firedfromthecircus
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Re: Optilabs

Post by firedfromthecircus »

Can I ask what prescriptions people have had from Optilabs? I am quite short sighted which are the worst kind of lenses for curved frames so I am interested to know if you have similar. 8)
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Mick F
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Re: Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

Can't comment for you.
I just have old eyes. Good vision but my eyes are tired and stiff. Need reading glasses, and my arms aren't long enough these days. Varifocals are good for me for general use, but bifocals or single vision are better for close work or computer screens.

Varifocals work well for driving or cycling and gardening, but useless for reading and terrible for seeing when I'm shaving.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Optilabs

Post by thirdcrank »

Mick F wrote: ... Varifocals work well for driving or cycling and gardening, but useless for reading and terrible for seeing when I'm shaving.


What's the point of varifocals if they are useless for reading?
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Mick F
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Re: Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

Varifocals have a lens with distance at the top, graduated seamlessly through intermediate down to reading at the bottom.
If you use the reading part for reading, you can only see part of a line at once and have to move your head to see the next part in focus because the focus is at a narrow angle. This is all very well if you are a natural head-mover when you read. Maybe 50% of the human race is like this. The other 50% are eye-movers.

I'm a eye-mover. I read a whole line at once, not one word/phrase at a time without moving my head at all. Because I'm like that, I find it almost impossible to read a book ....... mags and newspapers are awful! :shock: Even sitting at this computer, my head doesn't move, I can see all over the screen without moving. Mrs Mick F is a head-mover and I find it comical to watch her reading. :lol:

With varifocals, I can actually read of course, though not happily. I can use a mobile phone to text and read the screen, I can operate my bike computer, read a map (though not happily) read menus in cafes etc. Anything you want, I can see in focus, but I have to "aim" my head rather than my eyes.

The bit of the lens in the middle is "intermediate" and is good for arms-length stuff and slightly beyond. This is subject to head-movers and eye-movers problems too. Distance bit tends to be wide angle and less susceptible to focus problems - for me anyway.

If I want to shave, I have to turn my head to see my scurry face and neck. By turning my head, I have to look through a different part of the lens, and it isn't in focus! I'm better off without glasses! I have a pair of bifocals for this. Wide angle on both segments of the lens. Also, I have a pair of intermediate single lens glasses that are great.

I could have had bifocal Optilabs glasses (and saved £75), but the division line between reading and intermediate would be disconcerting. Also, I'd have to look over the top for distance. Therefore I could have had tri-focals perhaps? Maybe just bifocal reading/distance? but that would leave me not seeing stuff at arms length. Fixing the bike on a breakdown would be difficult.

Varifocals - for me - are a good compromise. Not perfect, just a good compromise.

Only real solution would be three pairs of single lens glasses, but that would be stupid just to go out riding my bike.
Mick F. Cornwall
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Re: Optilabs

Post by thirdcrank »

Mick F wrote: ... If you use the reading part for reading, you can only see part of a line at once and have to move your head to see the next part in focus because the focus is at a narrow angle. ... .


My current specs are varifocals and I've just ordered some new ones having had them for about 3½ years. Before that I'd had bifocals for some years. Your experience of varifocals is different to mine. The bit I've quoted prompted me to check and I find that without moving my head or the reading matter ie by just moving my eyeballs normally, I can easily read about 25 lines of the ordinary text in my newspaper (Daily T) that's about three column inches. Had it been some sort of test with money resting on the outcome I could have read more.

Since I typed the above, I've realised that you were talking about letral rather than vertical movement. A newspaper's not the best test because the column format doesn't lend itself to reading across a page. I've looked at some A4 letters etc to check what I do. I can comfortably read an entire line just by moving my eyeballs naturally.

AFAIK, the effective part of a varifocal spectacle lens is shaped rather like the face in Munch's "Scream." ie the bit at the bottom for reading etc is appreciably narrower than the bit at the top for distance. I can understand why there might not be so much width of view close-up but it's not so noticeable as to bother me.


I can only presume there are varifocals and varifocals.
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Mick F
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Re: Optilabs

Post by Mick F »

And there are eyes and there are eyes.
I'm no stranger to varifocals. I have three sets now, and all exhibit the same "problem" for me.

I've chatted to opticians (note the plural) and all agree with me. It's all to do with you and your eyes. Varifocals suit some perfectly, and doesn't suit others at all, and some folk are in between.

At the opticians a week or so ago, they were trying to talk me into a trial of varifocal contact lenses. We had a long chat about the idea and they had an offer on for disposables for 30 days free. I asked how varifocal contacts worked and it was explained, but TBH I don't want the hassle as spectacles are fine for me, and I appreciate the plusses and minuses. For most of the day, I don't need correction at all and only ever need it for accurate work: computers, reading etc. Socially (down the pub or shopping) or watching telly or life in general, I don't need them.

Driving is good. I can read the dashboard as well as see distance out through the windscreen and through the mirrors. Ditto cycling for the same reasons ........ hence this thread. :D
Mick F. Cornwall
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