"Miracle" Old Fart Shooting Glasses

[Doublehelix]

First off a disclaimer, I have no interest in this company or their products other than buying them and loving them.

I saw a YT video the other day that changed my shooting life:



These shooting glasses are truly spectacular. I was TOTALLY skeptical and 100% convinced that these would NOT work for me, but I was getting desperate, so I tried them. All I can say is "wow".

I wear transition prescription glasses on a daily basis, and this makes it really difficult to find shooting glasses that work for me. I have read every article, and tried about a million solutions, including very expensive prescription inserts for some SPP glasses (the prescription insert ended up costing me over $300, than $150 for the glasses).

Long story short, nothing worked. Until now that is!

These glasses have magnification across the entire surface of the lens. Worthless for us that need bifocals, right??? That's what I thought too.

Here is what I did:

I went into CVS to their reading glasses stand, and tried on a bunch of different reading glass magnifications until I found the correct magnification that allowed me to see the front sight of my pistol in perfect focus (arms extended, fingers out like a gun, and than an inch or two further).

Armed with this information, you can take the magnification power (for me, it turned out to be 1.25X at that distance), and I went to Amazon to check these puppies out:

Elvex full lens magnifier glasses:

https://www.amazon.com/Elvex-RX-500...-2&keywords=elvex+full+lens+magnifier+glasses

At the bottom of the page, there is a equation that allows you to convert diopter to magnification (WARNING: These glasses are rated in Diopter units, NOT magnification.)

Diopter/4 +1 so for a 2.0 diopter it would be 2/4 +1 or 1.5X magnification. A 1.0 diopter would be about 1.25X magnification. PERFECT for me!!!

I ordered a set with the 1.0 diopter lenses, (the same ones as in the YT video as a matter of fact), and really did not expect to be able to see the target or the people around me, but for $10 a pair, I figured "what the heck", I had nothing to lose, and I am frustrated to no end with all of the other solutions I have tried.

As a side note, at the same time, I ordered a pair of SPP bifocal glasses that have the magnification at the TOP of lens to try out at the same time ($48).

I absolutely HATED the top lens bifocals from SPP, but could not believe how great these Elvex 1.0 diopter glasses work!!!

I wore them yesterday at a USPSA match all day, and it was completely amazing! I got home last night from the match, and immediately ordered a couple of pairs of sunglasses, and a 3-pack of the clear lens glasses as well.

When I like something, I tend to shout it from the mountain tops, but when I don't, I tend to be quiet about it.

These are the best solution for old fart shooting glasses that I have seen so far, BAR NONE!

I was so skeptical that if they were not only $10, I probably would have never bought them, I was so convinced that they would be like walking around with reading glasses on all day and having everything blurry and I would get dizzy and sick, etc. Instead, they are an absolute miracle!!!

For anyone that decides that they want to try them out, be sure to follow the steps that I did and get the right magnification for focusing on your front sight first, (don't guess!!!), and then be sure to use the diopeter-to-magnification equation I typed above to get the right diopter lenses. Even if you use reading glasses for reading now, the correct magnification to get your front sight in focus might be different.

I am in heaven, and can actually see my front sight as clear as a bell, and can also focus on the target quite well, and have NO ISSUES with seeing the world around me.

GREAT PRODUCT!!!

 

[bannockburn]

James

Thanks for the heads up! I too suffer from getting a decent sight picture and as you say, for $10 it's worth a try. Thanks again!

 

[rpenmanparker]

That is all well and good...unless you are near sighted. Then you would need your near sighted distance prescription over the entire lens (like when you were young) but corrected by the + factor in diopters like the bottom part of a bifocal. So if your distance Rx is -4.5 diopters, and you want +1.25 magnification, that would be -3.5 diopters over the entire lens (-4.5 + ((1.25-1)X4) = -4.5 + 1 = -3.5. That might work fine, but needless to say, it ain't gonna be $10. And I have to assume that distance vision will be degraded some, kind of like when your eyes have gotten worse, but you are still wearing old glasses. This thing about focusing on the front sight is fine, but you still have to be able to see the bullseye. I am afraid that all the gains on the front sight will be lost past about 10 yards where you can't really see the target.

 

[SharpDog]

I have found that 1. Getting good prescription shooting glasses (I use Ranger 68's) which I use for everyday wear helps a great deal. and 2. If you have a good eye doctor he will correct for many variables and not just the power magnification (things such as barrel distortion). So far I have stuck to bifocals but I'm thinking of trying out progressive lenses on my next go-around. Note that these glasses must come in 'digital progressives' which match any areal distortion you may have with your eyes.

I got these. The lenses are easily user-interchangeable. They have a digital Progressives technology that can mimic any needs (e.g. bifocals) as well as advanced custom coatings (I got the 'All-in-one' for basic needs, the Blackout for sunny days, the Freshwater Green for hunting/fishing). The 'Win/Win' is another good choice. Every 2 months or so they'll have a 20+ percent off sale. The next one will likely be July 4th.

https://www.sportrx.com/randolph-engineering-ranger-classic-68mm-cable-temple.html

Make sure to check out their pre-built guide:

https://www.sportrx.com/prebuilt-guide

I also got these mil-spec ones for work since I destroyed the frames of the previous pair. Mil-spec means the frames are more durable:

https://www.sportrx.com/smith-gray-man-tactical.html

I have seven pair from this company ... great optical quality. Good shipping but you need to stay on your toes because sometimes products may be discontinued between your order and their fulfillment. They'll take care of you but they have been caught unawares when that happened and I had to ask them 'where are my glasses' ... They also carry Oakley, WIley-X and Costa as well as all the other name brands.

 

[Swifty Morgan]

Do they fog up when it's hot and humid? Some glasses confine water vapor worse than others.

 

[Doublehelix]

This thing about focusing on the front sight is fine, but you still have to be able to see the bullseye. I am afraid that all the gains on the front sight will be lost past about 10 yards where you can't really see the target.

This is what I thought as well, which is why I was totally skeptical, and "knew for sure" that these would not work for me for the reason you are stating. That along with trying to walk around with magnified glasses. I was wrong, and I absolutely love them.

You can choose to feel that way, and that is cool of course, but these glasses work perfectly for me, even at longer distances. Maybe because I am only using the 1.0 diopter lenses, I don't know. I had no problem seeing targets 25 yards away yesterday. None.

I was totally expecting to try these for $10, and then throw them away as another idea down the drain.

Now, I'm a believer.

I honestly have no stock whatsoever in this company, and honestly, I really have any reason to convince you to try them, other than if enough people buy them, they will continue to make them for a long time. I am probably going to stock up on a bunch of the 1.0 diopters, both clear and tinted, and then also probably buy a few extra pairs with a higher rating for "someday" just to be safe.

Do they fog up when it's hot and humid? Some glasses confine water vapor worse than others.

I have only used them one full day (yesterday), and then for a short time today, and it was hot as crap, and pretty humid both days. No issues. I will have to use them some before I can answer with 100% certainty, but they seem to be fine.

One thing I noticed... I did not have them in a case, and threw them in my range back after the match yesterday, and of course threw the bag around a few times, and then today, went out to the range with my wife, and did some tossing around of the range bag. When I took the glasses out today, I noticed a small scratch (idiot scratch??? ) on one of the lenses. I am guessing that at $10 a pair, there is not much scratch resistance.

Be sure to buy a case to keep them in (I just ordered one for my clear ones and one for my tinted ones).

 

[rpenmanparker]

This is what I thought as well, which is why I was totally skeptical, and "knew for sure" that these would not work for me for the reason you are stating. That along with trying to walk around with magnified glasses. I was wrong, and I absolutely love them.

You can choose to feel that way, and that is cool of course, but these glasses work perfectly for me, even at longer distances. Maybe because I am only using the 1.0 diopter lenses, I don't know. I had no problem seeing targets 25 yards away yesterday. None.

I was totally expecting to try these for $10, and then throw them away as another idea down the drain.

Now, I'm a believer.

I honestly have no stock whatsoever in this company, and honestly, I really have any reason to convince you to try them, other than if enough people buy them, they will continue to make them for a long time. I am probably going to stock up on a bunch of the 1.0 diopters, both clear and tinted, and then also probably buy a few extra pairs with a higher rating for "someday" just to be safe.



I have only used them one full day (yesterday), and then for a short time today, and it was hot as crap, and pretty humid both days. No issues. I will have to use them some before I can answer with 100% certainty, but they seem to be fine.

One thing I noticed... I did not have them in a case, and threw them in my range back after the match yesterday, and of course threw the bag around a few times, and then today, went out to the range with my wife, and did some tossing around of the range bag. When I took the glasses out today, I noticed a small scratch (idiot scratch??? ) on one of the lenses. I am guessing that at $10 a pair, there is not much scratch resistance.

Be sure to buy a case to keep them in (I just ordered one for my clear ones and one for my tinted ones).

Okay, fair enough. But you aren’t near sighted, right? Those glasses would cost me $400 minimum by the time I had the distance prescription applied.

 

[Doublehelix]

Okay, fair enough. But you aren’t near sighted, right? Those glasses would cost me $400 minimum by the time I had the distance prescription applied.

You are right, I am far-sighted for sure, but as I get older, I have had to wear progressives with correction for both near and far vision.

I am sorry that I have no information for those that are near-sighted, and I guess I should have made that clear in my original post. I hope I have not mislead anyone.

I do consider these "old fart glasses" for sure, so for those that have lost their ability to focus well on the front sight, and still need some help at distance. Once again, I am sorry if I mislead anyone into trying these that might have other conditions where these glasses won't provide the needed assistance.

I spent almost $500 on my last pair of progressive shooting glasses, and they have never worked well. Very frustrating for sure. I was excited to find a great solution (for me) that only cost $10 and wanted to share.

I am not an eye doctor, and know next to nothing about vision correction, so please take all of my comments with a large grain of salt!

 

[rpenmanparker]

You are right, I am far-sighted for sure, but as I get older, I have had to wear progressives with correction for both near and far vision.

I am sorry that I have no information for those that are near-sighted, and I guess I should have made that clear in my original post. I hope I have not mislead anyone.

I do consider these "old fart glasses" for sure, so for those that have lost their ability to focus well on the front sight, and still need some help at distance. Once again, I am sorry if I mislead anyone into trying these that might have other conditions where these glasses won't provide the needed assistance.

I spent almost $500 on my last pair of progressive shooting glasses, and they have never worked well. Very frustrating for sure. I was excited to find a great solution (for me) that only cost $10 and wanted to share.

I am not an eye doctor, and know next to nothing about vision correction, so please take all of my comments with a large grain of salt!

You did fine. It’s a good tip. I just was trying to verify my thought that it wouldn’t be $10 for everyone. The approach should work for everybody, just not at that price. Thanks for the tip.

 

[rpenmanparker]

The problem with my progressives is that the + added portion of the lens is too low toward the bottom of the lens. I would have to tilt my head way up to use it. If it could be more up, I think that would make a good pair of shooting glasses. Or just some bifocals with a very large close vision area that reaches up past the middle of the lens. It is easier to drop your head forward to use the top of the lens than to tip your head back to use the bottom.

 

[entropy]

Even if you use reading glasses for reading now, the correct magnification to get your front sight in focus might be different.

Not might be, will be. Intermediate distance vision add is 1/2 of the reading add. Also, if you have distance correction, you either have to add (for a plus, also known as hyperopic or farsighted) that amount to your distance Rx, or subtract it from (for a minus, also known as myopic or nearsighted) your distance Rx. I'm glad they work for you, doublehelix, but they will only work for those with little or no distance correction, little or no astigmatic correction, and that have presbyopia. Those of us with other additional problems (the aforementioned distance and astigmatic problems, plus any prescribed prism) will not be able to use them. The % of emmetropic (those having no other vision problems) emerging presbyopes is about 10-20% of emerging presbyopes.

It is easier to drop your head forward to use the top of the lens than to tip your head back to use the bottom.

Decot will make upper D segs (occupational bifocals) on the top of the lens for rifle and pistol shooting.

 

[denton]

I'm glad you found something that works for you. Thanks for passing along the tip.

Here's a little different solution: http://www.meritcorporation.com/products.html

You stick that on the lens of your glasses for your dominant eye and crank down the size of the aperture. Presto! Front sight, rear sight, and target are all in focus. It's the same as stopping down a camera lens to get more depth of focus. If you're outdoors with plenty of light, it works great. Dim light, not so much. Still, it seriously tightened up my pistol and iron sight rifle groups in the situations where I can use it.

 

[RETG]

So, a person gets these fancy glasses or attachments so when they go to the range they shoot great. Now you are used to shooting with these glasses/attachments and you are in public and have to use your gun for self-defense, what do you do? Chances are the glasses/attachments are in your shooting bag. (I am not asking about safety glasses that we all should be using and if we don't have them we can still shoot quite well, just a bit riskier for the eyes.)

Don't we all agree is is best to practice and learn how to shoot with the gun you will be carrying, so wouldn't it make sense to practice and shoot with the sight we will have when out and about in public with the gun?

 

[Jack B.]

So, a person gets these fancy glasses or attachments so when they go to the range they shoot great. Now you are used to shooting with these glasses/attachments and you are in public and have to use your gun for self-defense, what do you do? Chances are the glasses/attachments are in your shooting bag. (I am not asking about safety glasses that we all should be using and if we don't have them we can still shoot quite well, just a bit riskier for the eyes.)

Don't we all agree is is best to practice and learn how to shoot with the gun you will be carrying, so wouldn't it make sense to practice and shoot with the sight we will have when out and about in public with the g

So, a person gets these fancy glasses or attachments so when they go to the range they shoot great. Now you are used to shooting with these glasses/attachments and you are in public and have to use your gun for self-defense, what do you do? Chances are the glasses/attachments are in your shooting bag. (I am not asking about safety glasses that we all should be using and if we don't have them we can still shoot quite well, just a bit riskier for the eyes.)

Don't we all agree is is best to practice and learn how to shoot with the gun you will be carrying, so wouldn't it make sense to practice and shoot with the sight we will have when out and about in public with the gun?

That's why I have a laser on my carry gun. Don't have to see the front sight.

 

[rpenmanparker]

So, a person gets these fancy glasses or attachments so when they go to the range they shoot great. Now you are used to shooting with these glasses/attachments and you are in public and have to use your gun for self-defense, what do you do? Chances are the glasses/attachments are in your shooting bag. (I am not asking about safety glasses that we all should be using and if we don't have them we can still shoot quite well, just a bit riskier for the eyes.)

Don't we all agree is is best to practice and learn how to shoot with the gun you will be carrying, so wouldn't it make sense to practice and shoot with the sight we will have when out and about in public with the gun?

Sure. Two things about that. One can drill with different protocols for different purposes during time on the range. With special glasses for target shooting performance. Without such glasses for SD training. Second, one can choose one’s SD optic to optimize one’s SD capability without special glasses. So when I carry, which is rarely, it is with a tiny red dot optic. That is just my solution. YMMV

 

[Walkalong]

I am afraid that all the gains on the front sight will be lost past about 10 yards where you can't really see the target.

When I first started suffering from the "over 40" loss of close up vision and the sights got fuzzy, this was true for me, really messed up stuff farther out, but as my eyes got worse the 1X reading glasses clear the sights up pretty well and far out isn't much if any worse. Of course the downside is my vision had to worsen first. *sigh*

I keep 1X readers in my range bag. I wear 1.25X around all the time, low on my nose so I can look over them. I really need 1.5X to see really close up.

So, IMHO, if you still have great vision far out, those glasses might be a bit irritating looking through them for everything, but if your far eyesight has also deteriorated, they may be perfect.

Really depends on your eyes.

 

[entropy]

That's why I have a laser on my carry gun. Don't have to see the front sight.

I don't have sights on one of my carry guns, shoots better without them, and a laser for it; the other has a built-in laser. (S&W BG38)

 

[Doublehelix]

So, IMHO, if you still have great vision far out, those glasses might be a bit irritating looking through them for everything, but if your far eyesight has also deteriorated, they may be perfect.

Really depends on your eyes.

I agree that everything is going to depend on your eyes and your specific needs as has been pointed out several time in this thread.

My distance vision is actually pretty decent, and it has only been fairly recently that I have had to have magnification added to the upper portion of my progressives. I can still pass my driving test eye exam without correction, which is pretty cool!

Nonetheless, I get along fine with these 1.0 diopter full-frame glasses. Standard reading glasses are horrible for distance and make me dizzy and nauseous. The bifocal shooting glasses I have tried are also horrible, even with ones with the magnification on the top. Maybe for static bullseye shooting, they are OK, but I shoot the action "run and gun" types of sports like USPSA/IDPA and they are absolutely horrible for those types of sports. Having the magnification on the bottom of the lens makes you have to tip your head up so you can see your front sight as @rpenmanparker states, which makes them pretty much unusable for run and gun.

As far as dealing with SD issues... Under stress, we are probably not going to be taking the time to perfectly focus on our front sights in these situations, and for me, I will most likely be wearing my progressive daily glasses anyway. I do like the idea of a laser for the bedside gun however.

 

[rpenmanparker]

What about what I suggested: pretty standard progressives but with the OC raised up several mm so you would have more close vision area on the lens and less distance. The distance part would be squeezed into less space but still be there. Think about a hybrid between a very narrow progressive lens with the distance half of it on top and a very deep progressive lens with the reading half of it on the bottom. That is just a crude description. Wouldn’t that let you keep a more normal tilt to the head for close up and still retain some distance capability, maybe with just a slight tilt down.

 

[Doublehelix]

What about what I suggested: pretty standard progressives but with the OC raised up several mm so you would have more close vision area on the lens and less distance. The distance part would be squeezed into less space but still be there. Think about a hybrid between a very narrow progressive lens with the distance half of it on top and a very deep progressive lens with the reading half of it on the bottom. That is just a crude description. Wouldn’t that let you keep a more normal tilt to the head for close up and still retain some distance capability, maybe with just a slight tilt down.

I have heard of these types of modifications, and I am sure they would work better than the current set of prescription shooting glasses that I currently have.

But... these $10 Elvex shooting glasses are working so well for me, at least at this point in my vision progression, that I see no reason to change for now, however others would probably benefit from your suggestion. I wish I would have done something like that the first time I had my prescription glasses made.

 

[rpenmanparker]

I have heard of these types of modifications, and I am sure they would work better than the current set of prescription shooting glasses that I currently have.

But... these $10 Elvex shooting glasses are working so well for me, at least at this point in my vision progression, that I see no reason to change for now, however others would probably benefit from your suggestion. I wish I would have done something like that the first time I had my prescription glasses made.

Of course. I'm thinking about the tough cases here.

 

[Jim Watson]

Being myopic, astigmatic, and presbyoptic, I require the high priced spread.
I wear monovision shooting glasses, can't see an advantage to progressive, although my daily wear glasses are.

 

[rpenmanparker]

Being myopic, astigmatic, and presbyoptic, I require the high priced spread.
I wear monovision shooting glasses, can't see an advantage to progressive, although my daily wear glasses are.

What Rx? Your standard distance Rx?

 

[entropy]

What about what I suggested: pretty standard progressives but with the OC raised up several mm so you would have more close vision area on the lens and less distance. The distance part would be squeezed into less space but still be there. Think about a hybrid between a very narrow progressive lens with the distance half of it on top and a very deep progressive lens with the reading half of it on the bottom. That is just a crude description. Wouldn’t that let you keep a more normal tilt to the head for close up and still retain some distance capability, maybe with just a slight tilt down.

That would require a new program for the mapping computer, not a cheap proposition, lots of R&D. It would also induce prism, as the OC and the PRP (prism reference point) must be the same to avoid unprescribed prism. Most OD's and MD's will not take the time to prescribe prism for such a lens, and many are not capable of it. (There is a formula used by lab techs to figure prism thinning for plus progressives that could be used, but unless your eye doctor had been a surfacing lab tech back before all the automation, they wouldn't know it.) It would also have tons of distortion throughout the lens, particularly trying to stretch the distance between the intermediate area and the reading area. A more workable solution would be to invert the Zeiss Continuum lens and set the powers so the distance power is on the bottom, and the intermediate on the top.

 

[Jim Watson]

What Rx? Your standard distance Rx?

Distance in left lens, intermediate (front sight) in right lens.