"Computer Glasses"
I wear a +0.50 when I'm sitting at a desktop computer.
Anything stronger than that falls in the "reading glasses" category, and forces me to crawl up to the monitor like I'm trying to figure out: "Is that a leg or an arm?" -- well you know.
Impossible to buy anything less than a +1.00 in any of the department stores.
The Bob Jones lenses are a good source for incremental lenses of less than +1.00 if you want to deal with lenses in the aperture.
In addition to needing a set of "computer" glasses, I was wondering whether the less-than 1.00 magnification might help me for highpower rifle shooting.
After much teeth-gnashing and taking the name of Google in vain, I finally found a source for glasses of less than +1.00.
Make a note of this, because you or somebody you know, will want these type of glasses at some point.
Here's the link:
http://www.computerglassesdirect.com/ordernow.html
I wrote a summary of some of my experience with them on the FAL Files at
http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=332659&highlight=glasses
Here's a cut-and-paste:
I was not impressed with the spendy bifocal offerings, and I refuse to go through the hassle and expense of an eye exam, and then pay for custom-made glasses that are nothing more than low-power readers.
I kept pecking through Google, and I finally found what I was looking for.
http://www.computerglassesdirect.com/ordernow.html
Straightforward LOW-POWER glasses.
The site offers a PDF document that is supposed to help you figure out what "power" you need. That document just gave me a headache.
So, I ordered three pair in three different powers respectively.
Level-1 = .25 Diopter (Slight Magnification)
Level-2 = .50 Diopter (Medium Magnification)
Level-3 = .75 Diopter (Strong Magnification)
At the computer, the .25 glasses didn't have enough horsepower.
The .50 glasses were just about perfect, and they make a HUGE DIFFERENCE for me. I can finally see the monitor, and everything on the desk (especially the keyboard keys) with reasonable clarity.
The .75 glasses seemed OK too, but they made my head feel just a touch "swimmy," and didn't seem to offer any more clarity than the .50 glasses.
I think the 0.50 glasses also just became my new shooting glasses for pistol.
I used PayPal to pay for the glasses. Be careful if you use PayPal, because the site will charge you three separate shipping fees. I ended up getting dinged for about $20 shipping for three pair of glasses. The owner of the business (seems to be a mom-and-pop operation) was very understanding of my complaint about the triple-shipping-charge, and he said he's shipping me another pair of the 0.50 glasses gratis to compensate for the shipping overcharge. If I had to do it again, and I were ordering multiple pairs, I think I'd just send an email to Bob Colwell at
[email protected] stating what other glasses I wanted, and arranging for just a straight PayPal payment (not through the "shopping cart") so that the automated shopping cart wouldn't charge me multiple shipping fees. It only cost $6.10 to ship three pair Priority Mail.
Some of my shooting buddies are using the "computer glasses" to shoot pistol.
I agree, the +0.50 glasses really bring the pistol front sight into focus, and for shooting at a man-size silhouette at 8 yards, I can see where it makes sense to let the (big) target go blurry, and keep optical focus on the pistol front sight.
But, what does that have to do with highpower rifle shooting?
Well, you can try the different-power glasses from the computer glasses people.
Pretty inexpensive really, and you don't have to mess with lenses in your service rifle aperture.
If you're that guy who just HAS TO HAVE the +0.375 lens or the +0.625 lens, then the computer glasses aren't going to be for you.
I messed around with the computer glasses and my service rifle.
At 100 yards, I could smoke the reduced 600 target while wearing the computer glasses.
Just wow.
Problem came when I got out at "full distance" with the computer glasses.
At 300 yards I pretty much could hardly even see the target with the same glasses that worked so well at 100 yards.
So, what to do?
Hell if I know.
After experimenting with various prescriptions, I came to the conclusion that the most VERSATILE prescription for me was the one that made the targets crisp.
Yes, my front sight is fuzzy - but not so fuzzy that I can't still hold the 10-ring.
People will try to tell you that you can't shoot good scores if the front sight is fuzzy. I'm here to tell you, that piece of "conventional wisdom" is untrue.
Very confidence-inspiring too to be able to read the number boards clearly through the rear aperture.
I hear these stories about shooters who pick out some reference point on the berm, and then "count-over" some number of targets to get lined up on the correct target, and I just cringe. If I had to do that, I think I'd take up knitting.